The Piano Man's Daughter

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Tale of a Mother's Madness
Review: I've read very few books by Timothy Findley it's a bit hard to find his works here where I live. And have to rely much on Amazon or other online bookstores to find his works. However, the tale of Lily Kilworth is by far my favorite. His poignant narrative makes it very easy to imagine her life as it unfolds. Her brief moments of happiness are a joy just as the moments of torment are horrible to see. Very few books have brought me to tears yet with this one I found myself reaching for the tissue box as I turned the page. This book is truly a wonderful addition to those who appreciate good literature. My only complain is that like another reviewer here, I too think it has far too many Italics.

Rating:
Summary: the mystery and dread of fatherhood
Review: The winner of numerous awards, Canadian author Findley shapes this 1996 novel around a young man's quest for his father and his dread of becoming a father himself.

Narrator Charlie Kilworth is the son of mad, beautiful, evervescent and tormented Lily Kilworth, who cannot or will not remember who Charlie's father is. It is her story Charlie tells, after her death in an asylum fire, a fire she may herself have set.

Lily's story begins before her birth, when her mother, Ede, meets an itinerant piano man. "The sight of him was like a match being struck," Ede recalls, beginning the incendiary allusions that punctuate the novel and haunt Lily's private world.

The piano man dies before he can wed Ede but eight years later she marries his brother, Frederick, an ambitious piano manufacturer whose one unorthodoxy is falling in love with Ede. He accepts Lily but without knowing of her affliction - severe epileptic seizures.

He is as repelled by Lily's epilepsy as Ede is frightened by it and becomes, for Lily, the demon of her childhood, the focus of rebellion and despair. But even though Frederick locks her in the attic whenever company is expected and finally banishes her to a school for difficult girls, Lily blossoms.

A beautiful, vibrant young woman, "hampered" not "handicapped" (the word makes her indignant) by her illness, she goes to England with a friend and it's there that Charlie is conceived. He knows only that the event occurred in January 1910 and he examines Lily's photos intently, imagining fathers, and questions her friends, adding pieces to the life she has already related to him.

Lily and Charlie return to Toronto before World War I but Frederick, outraged by Charlie's birth, refuses to see them. They begin a round of living in expensive hotels, going to dances where Charlie is always her partner, and seeing movies. For Charlie the life is a series of enchantments and nightmares as his mother's demons pursue her and drag him along. A child, he learns to watch over his mother although his dependency often renders him helpless.

When tragedy pushes Lily over the edge into madness, Charlie is liberated into normalcy - school, friends his own age, relatives. "It made a decent life - secure in ways I had never known." Lily emerges from the asylum but never permanently.

Charlie's voice is wistful, awed, admiring, impatient, petulant and wise. But it is Lily who colors and shapes the story, taking flight from her son's narration. Findley's writing is deeply atmosheric, enveloping the reader in the Canada of 1890 to 1920. He invites an intimacy with his characters (many not even touched on here) that creates a bond without violating their essential human secrecy.

A rewarding novel, which will linger in the mind.

Rating:
Summary: By all views, a good book
Review: You may think this story is only about Lily and her strange way of life, but it is so much more. It is also about her mother, her mother's empty life, although it would appear to be so full, her mother's loss of love, and other family wounds. Then , also woven into the story is the life and beliefs of her son, Charlie, who narates the tale of the strange legacy this family carries.

At times there are sad situations, sometimes a moment of joy and happiness also seems sad, because you realize how fleeting that moment will be for the characters involved. The madness of a woman so desperate to also be a mother and the way her needs all intertwine are very well written, and I think the author deserves huge kudos on this fact. the plot is interesting, the details are well written, and the story is intriguing. I love feeling like I am somewhere, for instance at a silent film, taking in the details Findley offers and so you also learn about a whole different time and way of life.

While some of the other reviews have criticised his over use of italics I found them so important to the book- for they usually revealed the true thoughts behind ones words and they showed how often we are not honest in what we say to what we are really thinking. All in all there is a lot to be learned from this book, whether it is a sympathetic moment, a new understanding of a different time, or the need to take what good you can from life at all times (a lesson we always need to be reminded of) you will not put this book down without thinking and enjoying some new and interesting thoughts.

Those fans of old time movies and the likes of Charlie Chaplan...etc. would probably enjoy many of the stories in the book even more, for these old time favorites may have been the only escape for some of the tragedy in these characters lives, and parts of the book revolves around them. I think for people who enjoy reading an interesting tale, especially one that touches on the need to break free from generational issues, this book would be a good additon to your reading list.