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The Piano Tuner
A Novel
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Check link for latest rating. ( 1,005 ratings, 244 reviews)
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The Piano Tuner
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See moreA bestseller and winner of every major literary award in Taiwan, an elegiac and deceptively quiet novel about love and loss, broken dreams and desolate hearts—and music
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
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Description
This bestseller and winner of every major literary award in Taiwan is an elegiac novel about love and loss, broken dreams and desolate hearts—and music: "A delightful read." - Ha Jin.
A widower grieving for his young wife. A piano tuner concealing a lifetime of secrets. An out-of-tune Steinway piano. A journey of self-discovery across time and continents, from a dark apartment in Taipei's red-light district to snow-clad New York.
At the heart of the story is the nameless narrator, the piano tuner. In his forties, he is balding and ugly, a loser by any standard. But he was once a musical prodigy. What betrayal and what heartbreak made him walk away from greatness?
Long hailed in Taiwan as a "writer's writer," Chiang-Sheng Kuo delivers a stunningly powerful, compact novel in The Piano Tuner. It is a book of sounds: both of music and of the heart, from Rachmaninoff to Schubert, from Glenn Gould to Sviatoslav Richter, from untapped potential to unrequited love. With a cadence and precision that bring to mind Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, Kazuo Ishiguro's Nocturnes, and Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country, this short novel may be a portrait of the artist as a "failure," but it also describes a pursuit of the ultimate beauty in music and in love.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
The Piano Tuner by Chiang-Sheng Kuo has been praised for its elegant narrative and acute perceptions. Critics have highlighted its complex storytelling, exploring themes of genius, madness, and artistic struggles, alongside intricate examinations of loneliness and music. The novel has been described as a quiet masterpiece and a spellbinding tale about love, obsession, and loss, enhanced by its lyrical translation. The interplay between sound and emotion is a central motif, resonating deeply with readers.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781956763416
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 02 March 2023
Country: United States
Imprint: Arcade Publishing
Contributors:
- Translated by Howard Goldblatt
- Translated by Sylvia Li-chun Lin
- Translated by Howard Goldblatt
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 23.0mm
Width: 140.0mm
Height: 210.0mm
Weight: 272g
Pages: 168
About the Author
Chiang-Sheng Kuo () is one of the most exciting storytellers and prose stylists in Taiwanese literature today, He has written a number of novels, essay collections, and plays, of which The Piano Tuner is the first to be published in English.The Piano Tuner was a bestseller and swept every major literary award in Taiwan, including the 2021United Daily Literature Award, 2020 Taiwan Literature Golden Award, and 2020 Openbook Book of the Year Award as well as other honors.Chiang-Sheng Kuo earneda PhD in drama from New York University and teaches in the Department of Language and Creative Writing at National Taipei University of Education. He lives in Taipei.
Howard Goldblatttranslates Chinese fiction from China and Taiwan, including Nobel Prizewinner Mo Yan, five of whose works are published by Arcade (The Garlic Ballads;The Republic of Wine;Big Breasts and Wide Hips; Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out; Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh). He has also translated works by Chiang-Sheng Kuo (The Piano Tuner) and Liu Zhenyun (I Did Not Kill My Husband; The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon; Remembering 1942, all with Sylvia Li-chun Lin and published by Arcade). He taught Chinese literature and culture for more than a quarter of a century. He lives in Lafayette, Colorado.
Sylvia Li-chun Lin, a former teacher and scholar of modern and contemporaryChinese literature and culture, is a full-time translator and writer. She and Howard Goldblatt live in Lafayette, Colorado, with their demonic cat, Domino.
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