The Piano Tuner

Mason tells the story of Edgar Drake, a piano tuner from London who is asked to journey deep into the jungles of Burma to tune the piano of an eccentric officer. This is a story evocative of Conrads "Heart of Darkness" and the spin off movie "Apocalypse Now". However, in Conrad the journey up the Congo river represents a descent into depravity as the shackles of civilization are cast off, and barbarism takes over. Mason replays the story in a very different way. Instead of descending into darkness, Drake ascends into enlightenment. He blossoms in the heat of the tropics, becoming things he did not dare in polite London society. From tuner he becomes a pianist. From tradesman he becomes a diplomat. From a dry emotionless husk of a man he becomes a passionate lover. But circumstances conspire against our hero and in the end it is the civilized world that shatters the primeval dream of the jungle. Beautifully written and a well told story. We can never be sure of the final resolution until we reach the end of the book. Will love, music and passion triumph over politics, empire and the gun? Can the music of a piano in the jungle bring greater peace than an army? What a nice notion.

Some stories possess the ability to awaken one's soul and make it grin. This is one of those stories. This mustard-colored book jacket caught my eye and made me examine the contents. Late 19th century Burma? Hmmm, probably not my cup of tea. For some reason, however, I purchased the book anyway. And I was instantaneously transformed, embossed, impressed. It's magic. I turned the last page only to realize hours had passed in a flash--I had journeyed to another world and my own stopped momentarily. I recommend this book completely--it's my favorite book to date.

Incredibly moving, and lyrical, a journey deep into the heart and soul of man, set in British imperial days, in Burma, but the grace and poignancy, are unforgettable. I hope Mason has, or will, write more for me to be in turn, tuned, as was the piano.

In 1886, British piano tuner Edgar Drake received a request from the British War Office to tune an Erard piano for a Dr. Anthony Carol who was using unorthodox methods to bring about a peace treaty between the Shan people and the Limbin Confederacy during the British colonial occupation of Burma. Edgar leaves his beautiful wife Katherine in London to make this trip to the primitive land of the Shan people.What develops is a mystical story. It is one that is steeped in history but has characters so real that it is, at times, hard to distinguish between fact and fiction. That a magnificent piano should be in the heart of the Shan people is almost as incongruous as the presence of British soldiers in their land. The pace of the story is very slow. While that seems difficult to handle at first, one must realize that the distant land of Burma is a far different ambience from that of bustling city life in 19th century England. This is a story most unlike any other I have read and is quite a remarkable tale woven from much research by debut novelist Daniel Mason.

Daniel Mason has written an amazingly sensitive drama of a time when the British extended their Asian empire at the end of the 19th century. An eccentric army doctor has successfully established the farthest outpost in the Shan States, east of Burma. He has now sent a most unusual request to British headquarters.Mason shows us Asia as seen through the eyes of Edgar Drake, a mild-mannered piano tuner who never before ventured outside England. He lets us to absorb the exotic local scenes slowly, one by one, as Edgar accustoms himself first to the colonial British, then to Burma, and finally to the culture of the untamed Shan Plateau and its rulers, and the outpost of Mae Lwin.It is hard to realize that the young author has gathered his knowledge from only a year on the Thai-Burma border. Mason has an extraordinary eye for detail, and a hypnotic narrative style that can blend dream with delirium with enchantment.The pace is slow at times. But that is the nature of Burma, where one must wait for the rains, wait for an official's decision, and wait for the right moment to act.