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A New York Times Notable Book A San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, and Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year “A gripping and resonant novel. . . . It immerses the reader in a distant world with startling immediacy and ardor. . . . Riveting.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times In 1886 a shy, middle-aged piano tuner named Edgar Drake receives an unusual commission from the British War Office: to travel to the remote jungles of northeast Burma and there repair a rare piano belonging to an eccentric army surgeon who has proven mysteriously indispensable to the imperial design. From this irresistible beginning, The Piano Tuner launches readers into a world of seductive, vibrantly rendered characters, and enmeshes them in an unbreakable spell of storytelling. Read more
Publisher : Vintage
Publication date : August 19, 2003
Language : English
Print length : 336 pages
ISBN-10 : 1400030382
ISBN-13 : 85
Item Weight : 8.8 ounces
Dimensions : 5.2 x 0.75 x 8 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #62,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #125 in Military Historical Fiction #464 in War Fiction (Books) #2,276 in Literary Fiction (Books)
#125 in Military Historical Fiction:
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Paperback
I loved Daniel Mason's A FAR COUNTRY, and due to several recommendations from Amazon reviewers I thought I'd try THE PIANO TUNER, his first novel. I was most impressed with the author's curiosity as a person and his intelligence. He spent a year studying malaria on the Thai-Myanmar border while at the same time working on this book. Mason imbues Edgar Drake, the protagonist, with much of what he learned. For instance, the native Shan people believed in divinations: "omens from the sky, the omens of flying birds, the omens of feeding fowl, and the movements of four-footed beasts . . . . one must look for augury in the eggs of hens, in the swarming of bees, and not only if but also where a lizard, rat, or spider drops on one's body." When Drake arrives in Mandalay he is exposed to Burmese street theater known as "pwe." He is especially impressed by "yokthe pwe," or puppet theater. Some of the "pwes" tell stories of the Buddha's lives, one of which has Nemi, one of the Buddha's incarnations, visit heaven and hell. The main story involves Drake's commission to tune Surgeon-Major Anthony Carroll's Erard grand piano. Carroll is integral in British negotiations with the Shan peoples. Carroll is a complex man who uses music in his efforts to placate the Shan. Drake falls in love with the place and finds himself reluctant to leave. There is also a romance of sorts with Carroll's female assistant. Once again Mason shows his impressive craftsmanship, working piano tuning into the narrative. Drake is very attuned to his senses. He hears music in everything, including swarms of mosquitoes. Mason also uses an actual historical incident when the British were trying to subjugate the Burmese people. The Limbin Confederacy of Burmese princes fought back, as did brigand Twet Nga Lu. As you will see in the denouement, it's not clear on whose side Surgeon-Major Carroll really was. I cannot recommend Daniel Mason highly enough. The man is one of our most skilled young writers. Here he describes the music in the laughter of children playing in the water: "I feel both a tremendous sadness and a joy, a wanting, a welling from within me, something ecstatic . . . .it rises in my chest like water from a well, and I swallow and my eyes brim with tears as if I will overflow." I don't think I've ever read a writer with so much profound respect for other cultures.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2007 by Dave Schwinghammer
Format: Kindle
“The Piano Tuner” by Daniel Mason hinges upon a request by a mysterious, seemingly indispensable British officer in colonial Burma to send a piano tuner to aid in securing peace. Edgar Drake, who specializes in fine Erard pianos answers the request. Drake, who loves music but doesn’t think of himself as a musician, possesses a quiet personal side disposed to the romantic and exotic and proves a perfect match for the job. The book’s style and subject matter heartens back to the days of Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene and, on the surface, seems odd for a modern-day book. But the slow pacing and detailed description fits and rewards the reader who sticks with it. All seems well in this Victorian, imperialist world, but although Drake finishes the job, he has difficulty leaving the seductive locale and its people. Then, as the reader trots along at a steady pace, everything turns on a dime when nothing is what it originally appears to be. Any more information would spoil the conclusion. “The Piano Tuner” is a worthwhile book for the reader who is willing to put forth the effort to learn new things and display literary patience.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2024 by Kindle Customer
Format: Hardcover
A quiet, bespectacled, home-bound English piano tuner is sent into the wide, wonderful, exotic world of 1886 in this outstanding first novel by Daniel Mason. Specifically, his job is to repair an out-of-tune piano which has somehow preceded him into the jungly wilderness of Burma, but in general he experiences the world as it was then, particularly that part of it at the furthest outpost of the British Empire. Thanks to the author's careful attention to detail, derived unquestionably from his own overawed sense of wonder, we get to experience it too. With the piano tuner, Edgar Drake, we see the coast of Africa one hot morning off the starboard side of his ship; we sail through the Red Sea; we disembark in Bombay, then make the overland journey across India; and finally there is Burma from Rangoon to Mandalay to the final destination in the wilds of the Shan states, Mae Lwin. Mae Lwin, with its children playing in the river, its tattooed men, its women with their strangely beautiful, lined "thanaka" make-up. Mae Lwin, built on the side of a mountain, with stairs slanting everywhere connecting its buildings. Mae Lwin, surrounded by a jungle filled with butterflies, flowers, snakes, mosquitoes, heat, sheeting rain, and various birds such as parrots, mynah birds and kingfishers. It is so exotic that we, like our besotted piano tuner, become enraptured by it. But beyond this the novel is a pretty good intrigue also. The British, you see, had to be concerned with the French incursion into Indo-China, and also the never-ending Russian menace. The fierce Han warriors in the region had to be subdued either through alliance or war. Our piano tuner, summoned to Burma for a reason, suddenly finds that piano tuning is only one of the missions in which he is to engage. There is also the beautiful and delicate Khin Myo, who initially is his guide, but who eventually becomes something much more to him. "Stay away from matters of love," his superior tells him. Finally, with the exotic locale as its backdrop, the plot functions as a metaphor for the journey we sometimes take outside ourselves. The search for beauty and truth is not always a straightforward and easy one; there are many distractions along the way. Indeed, the signs can be confusing, and one can become lost. This excellent novel exhibits a bit of clumsiness here and there, particularly with some early narrative exposition, but on the whole this is a fine, well-written, almost lyrical first effort. May there be more.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2002 by Paul McGrath
Format: Kindle
An interesting plot: In the late 1800s an English piano tuner, Edgar Drake, is called upon by his country to travel to Burma during a time of upheaval to tune the piano of an eccentric military surgeon. It is an interesting tale of how the surgeon ended up with the piano, why it was important to have Drake make the trip, and how the trip progresses. The first half of the book, seeing the world from the eyes of someone who hadn't traveled before, was interesting particularly if you like descriptions of scenery. After he got to Burma the point of it all became muddier and muddier. At the end, I was not sure what was real and what wasn't. The conclusion was so disconnected from anything I might have expected, it was less a surprise than a let down. Having read other glowing reviews of the book, I can only speak for myself. I guess I just didn't "get it."
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Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2018 by Odessa
Keep an open mind and let the narration carry you away. This is a fascinating audio book that begins as a simple narrative and completely turns into stream of consciousness dream sequences. I didn't realize what was happening but was able to let go of predictive story themes and let the author take me where he wished. Having been to Burma, read many books about it's people and history as well as seen a movie about a monk who played the flute during the Japanese invasion, I could understand the purpose of the author's style. Burma is a place of mystery, superstition, Buddhist principle as well as untamed primal and tribal lawlessness. People do disappear, and we can only wonder what happened. When I arrived in Burma, I was told that Burma would change me, and it did in a way I can hardly explain, as if I'd been there before. It's a place to get lost, where anything can happen, and it made sense that this simple piano tuner, whose life was about to change could even imagine what lies before and after him.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2012 by Felice Willat
Format: Kindle
A travel book. A history book. A story book. A book of dreams. 1886. British Empire. Senior officer in Burma (a military surgeon named Carroll) requires a piano and is granted an Erard. After a while, the Erard needs tuning. The war office hires the services of a piano tuner for 3 months, for a year's pay. The hired man is Edgar Drake. He accepts for the love of music and country, though it means leaving his loving wife alone for so long. The novel was published in 2002 and is Mr. Mason's first. Surprisingly, he is American. Not surprisingly, Werner Herzog is reported to film the story. His kind of story. My kind too, though I am not always with Herzog. The introduction to the task doesn't convince. The war office writes a letter to Edgar Drake and tells him all. So unlikely. Then Drake is interviewed by the colonel in charge, and the over-communication continues. Imagine: a colonial military old-timer takes a complete outsider, a mere civilian, whom he has never met before, into his confidence and talks freely about the problems of another colonel in a critical position ... Why would a piano tuner, even under the specific circumstances, be briefed on military matters? This would strictly have been a need to know case. When we are with Drake and his world, all is well for now. He is a normal man with a normal life. That will change. After a month and two chapters of travel preparations, Drake sets off. He writes lovely travel letters to his wife. All that he sees is new to him. He chats with the ship captain who likes to gossip. A fellow passenger, a deaf Arab, tells him a story straight out of Arabian Nights. Drake reads the colonel's paper on Shan history. He learns that the region is in rebellion against British rule. One wonders why a piano tuner is a good person to invite just now. On the other hand, Drake sympathizes with the colonel. He sees commonalities. He is puzzled because nobody has thought of giving him specific info about the piano that he is supposed to cure. He writes a short history of the Erard pianos, from which we learn how special the piano in question is likely to be. Drake arrives in Burma after 3 chapters of most diverse text and information. In Rangoon, Drake is beset by the contradiction of colonial luxuries and native poverty. He joins a tragic tiger hunt with Cheney style results. Drake is clearly not cut out for being part of a master race. The memory of that incident haunts him on his inland journey. From fellow passengers on the river boat to Mandalay, he learns many stories about the colonel, who turns out to be a hero among common soldiers. A man without darkness in his heart. That doesn't necessarily endear him to his peers in the officer class, of course. Half way through the book, Drake is nearly stuck in Mandalay. The Shan region is restless. Go on or not? He proceeds in an unofficial small group, and now the adventure starts.. Drake finds himself siding with an outsider, an outcast from his caste system. Enough. Go for it. Ignore the mediocre reviews. When a book hits a head and it sounds empty, it need not be the book's fault.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2012 by H. Schneider
Written in a romantic style this adventure story draws you in from the first moment. Mystery abounds as Edgar Drake sets out from Victorian London to the 'exotic Orient' on a mission of great importance to the Empire. The book is evocative and captures the feeling of time and place very well. The character of Drake and some of the others he encounters are very well developed. The story grabs you like a good page-turner should, but the beauty holds you like an Ondaatje novel. In the end though, like any great novel, it causes you to look inside yourself and reflect on how and why you feel the way you do about Drake and the decisions he makes. Is Mason's Drake an everyman thrust into the role of hero becase he alone can accomplish the mission... or is he seduced by the potential of 'greatness' to compromise his mundane commitments. Do we make our lives or are they thrust upon us? A great read that I've come back to a number of times.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2009 by Sam Macbride
Format: Kindle
As a professional writer for 60 years, I've learned that writing about something you've experienced is the most difficult things to write. This writer spent time in that part of the world studying. His descriptions and story are strong. But he didn't manage to make that world as exciting to me as it clearly was to him. I don't regret reading this book. But his next novel North Woods is the opposite: an imaginary story that's as good as anything Ive read in 25 years. Check out North Woods. You won't be disappointed.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2024 by CVP