Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating story that takes its time pulling you in
Review: THE PIANO TUNER is medical student Daniel Mason's first novel: 'first' is the operative word here because this young man has a gift that will doubtless produce further adventures. There are many aspects of THE PIANO TUNER that conjure such wide ranging predessors as Joseph Conrad[Heart of Darkness], Somerset Maugham, Richard Halliburton, Michael Ondaatje [The English Patient], C.S. Forster [The African Queen], and Rudyard Kipling. Not bad company. This novel takes a while to gain credibility; it seems the writer grows better as the novel progresses. Doubtless that the author's experiences in Burma left not only an indelible impression on him, but also stirred the exotic atmosphere that lends itself to mysterious stories of places for the most part unknown to Westerners. Edgar Drake is a piano tuner summoned to Burma to tune a French piano in a shangrila village at the behest of an English Surgeon Major. An odd assignment, yes, and one that stretches credibility until once the journey to the ailing piano begins. To add more to the outline of what happens within the pages of this quite beautifully written novel would be unfair to lovers of intrigue. Suffice it to say that Daniel Mason - for his beginner's traits of occassional loss of focus, meandering, full character development, and preoccupation with letting us know the depth of his research into Victorian Burma/British colonialism - manages to write a poetic homage to the need we all feel to find the essence of life in the ordinary beauty of nature. There is much lyrical Eastern spiritualism here, enough to last far beyond the covers of this book. This is a real find and a fascinating read.
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: I really enjoyed a great deal of this book. I found the ending a little weak but overall I enjoyed the strong descriptive flow which was sustained until quite late in the book.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Work Marred by the Ending
Review: For 99% of this novel, this promised to be the finest novel set in Burma since Orwell's Burmese Days. It had built magnificently to such a climax that, deep down, I knew the ending just had to be a let-down. And, alas, the ending is far-fetched, poorly constructed & bitterly disappointing. What a shame that the denouement should mar what otherwise promised to be a truly great book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating Tale
Review: Daniel Mason has woven a fascinating tale which combines history, music and medicine in a part of the world most of us know little about.He has thoroughly researched these topics and written a wonderful story that is difficult to put down. This book would make a wonderful movie. It's hard to believe this is his first novel and I hope a second will soon follow.
Rating:
Summary: entering a dream world
Review: What a book! Edward Drake, London piano tuner, answers an invitation to tune a piano in the jungles of Burma. From the first I was immersed in a different world, fascinated by the SE Asian history and the musings on sound and temperment. I loved the non-linearity of the story--I could feel the pull to mystery.
Fascinating that the whole idea originated when Mason heard the sound of a piano (recording ? radio? tape?) while floating a river on a medial mission in Myanmar. We see two minds at work creating a world, Edgar Drake's and Daniel Mason's.
Good show!
Rating:
Summary: Mad dogs and Englishmen
Review: 'The Piano Tuner' reads like a movie script- this is not negative by any means and is meant as a compliment to Mason's able writing abilities. The novel's characters have substance and the landscapes and people of Burma are drawn well and with great understanding. There is much to be had in this most interesting book. It's a great read. Only one is left with a desire for a better ending...
Rating:
Summary: An unusual story, rich in detail from another time and place
Review: It's difficult to believe that this is the author's first novel! In the 1880s, Edward Drake, a quiet piano tuner who often loses himself in a trance as he works, gets called by the English army to repair a piano deep in the jungles of Burma. Leaving his wife behind, he sets out on the long journey--so long that halfway into the book, I wondered if he would ever reach his destination.In Mandalay, he meets Khin Myo, a beautiful Burmese woman who is to be his servant and companion. Drake and Khin Myo do finally reach Mae Lwin, the remote village in the Shan Hills where a strange army doctor named Anthony Carroll has been living. It was the doctor who requested the piano be sent there--a costly and difficult effort--as part of his efforts to negotiate peacefully with the warring factions, using music and medicine. Drake quickly repairs the damaged piano, but finds reasons to stay in the village long after he is needed. He does not want to go back to the dreariness of London life, and so he stays, in awe of the doctor, and tempted by Mae Lwin. He is now caught in another trance. Finally, he must leave the village, and he is forced to wake from his dream. He is confronted with questions about who Dr Carroll and Khin Myo really are, and what his role really was. There are a few parts that could have been cut from the beginning, in my opinion. For example, the tiger hunt, and "the man with one story." But I thoroughly enjoyed the many details of life in Mandalay and Mae Lwin. The author displays a thorough knowledge of the time and the culture. But the book is more than a travelogue; it's a unique story with emotional depth and believable, distinguishable characters.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting and Fascinating
Review: This novel is a delightful journey through a world that has been largely lost to history. From the first chapter when we learn of Edgar's mission, to the last chapter when we learn of his fate, Mason never ceases to evoke anything but sheer wonder and awe.
Amazing book. I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: Time for your lesson
Review: Take Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" throw in the movie "The Piano" and add a few other exotic touches, and you've got THE PIANO TUNER. Oh, and also some "Frizcaraldo" (remember that movie?)I'm not knocking this book, but rather trying to get you to understand what it's about. The author treats us to an unlikely protagnist, Edgar Drake, piano tuner, commissioned by the British War Office to tune a very special piano in the heart of the Burmese jungle. Unlike Conrad's Kurtz, the goal of Drake's journey up the atmospheric Salween river, Doctor Anthony Carrol (a piano-lover and medical doctor in the British Army), wins his natives with kindness rather than horror. Mason gives us a surprising twist for an ending. At times I was reminded of either Boyle or perhaps McCrae in the writing style (think BARK OF THE DOGWOOD for the McCrae or perhaps WATER MUSIC for the Boyle). The themes are vastly different, but the words flow like the style of those two writers. I highly recommend this exotic tale, told by a master storyteller.
Rating:
Summary: Surrealistic
Review: One of the most fascinating books that I have read. Its starts off on fairly solid ground, but then soars into an un real world that few of us ever encounter. I enjoyed it.
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