This book was a huge disappointment. It had an interesting premise and an exotic locale, but the characters were completely unbelievable, so it was impossible to care what happened to them. Claire, the piano teacher of the title, is boring to boot. She goes from an unsatisfying marriage to an affair with a man who isn't very nice to her. As she wonders why she is doing this, so does the reader. Trudy Liang never comes to life as a real character, nor does Will Truesdale, the man they have in common.
The writing is cliched and amateurish. The author doesn't seem to know how to write about seduction or passion, so the characters go suddenly and jarringly from early encounters to already having slept with each other. The truth about the parentage of Locket, Claire's piano student, can be seen coming a mile away, i.e., the first time Will Truesdale asks about the child.
The descriptions of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Will's stay in an internment camp, and what people do to survive--or thrive--during the occupation are interesting, as are depictions of the social structure of Hong Kong with its snobbishness, class system, and underlying racism. This attempt at a novel is doomed, however, by its clichéd characters.
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