Thank you to NetGalley, Chiang-Sheng Kuo, and translators Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-Chun Lin for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I'm glad Goldblatt and Lin could translate this work. I love celebrating literature in translation and embracing other bodies of literature. I've read some Taiwanese works before and like other Taiwanese novels, Chiang-Sheng includes details of Taiwan's past, such as Japanese colonial rule. Chiang-Sheng like other Taiwanese novelists embraces transnationalism and the intertextuality of Western references and texts. The novella is really short, and the prose is sparse, but Chiang-Sheng makes ample use of the novella format. I immensely enjoyed the reading experience and would recommend this work to someone else.

The story follows both the story of a widowed man as well as the narrator's life of becoming a piano tuner, instead of the more acclaimed profession of a concert pianist. Themes of love and grief are conveyed through the lives of both.

The language used was incredibly well chosen and gave valuable insights into the perspective of the piano tuner whose views can be applied to other areas of life, not only the piano.
The book was a bit different from what I had expected, but was still fun and intriguing to read.
The narration is unique in the fact that it seems as though the narrator addresses the reader directly.
I loved some passages, because they answered questions I'd wondered about before and the quotes were such great answers while still being incorporated into the text and topic of the piano.

This is a beautifully written story that alternates between third person (Lin San) and first person (the piano tuner). It's about loss, loneliness, and feelings of betrayal. Much of the piano turner's story is told as remembrances of his past so it isn't linear. There is a lot of explanation about how pianos work and what a tuner has to do. It is a testament to the quality of the writing that it isn't boring but adds to the ethereal feel of the book.

I’m officially piano smart. I love a nice short book to fill a little bit of your heart and that’s what this book did for me. I do admit, I think some of the writing was confusing because of translation, not the story itself! I hope everyone gives this enchanting short story a chance… And remember it is translated to English.

This is a beautiful and somewhat dreamlike novel about the grief of a widower holding onto his late wife's memory by trying to establish a relationship of sorts with the nameless piano tuner, who had tuned her piano.

My daughter is studying to be a professional classical musician and so while i have an appreciation for the dedication and hours of practice a musician has to undertake, my musical knowledge is limited. I feel that the musical allegory throughout this novel is lost on the likes of me, but somebody who plays the piano or is musical will better appreciate the nuances that this story conveys through musical references and the lyrical prose. It's definitely a literary work, one to read thoughtfully.

For such a short novel - 168 pages - there are several storylines in the book and initially i was left wanting more. But on reflection, the ending was just how it should be. Grief creates moments,relationships, behaviour that are inexplicable and ultimately cannot be sustained. The following description best sums it up:

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

3.5-4 star read

I was intrigued by The Piano Tuner because of how well it was received in Taiwan. Sometimes translated works can feel a bit flat in English, and I'm wondering if that's what has happened here (for me). While I did enjoy this short novel, some of the emotional depth didn't quite come through for me.

The Piano Tuner follows the experiences and reflections of an (almost) nameless child piano prodigy who became a piano tuner in his adult life. His story of regret, lost dreams, grief, and love is threaded and revealed through his relationship/interactions with Lin san, a widower who asks the piano tuner to keep timing his late wife’s piano, and through music.

It is beautifully written and quite philosophical at times. The Piano Tuner is also full of technical information about pianos and historical information about real pianists, and that was all new and intriguing to me. In some ways, I felt like I got to know the pianos and the real pianists our narrator talks about more than the novel’s characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Beautifully written with wonderful characters. So much in such a short book.. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this translation of a wonderful novella (which was a “Read Now” when I picked it, astonishingly).

The Piano Tuner is a fascinating metafictional study of the different ways one can interact with art. Our narrator is a formerly promising pianist, now in his 40s, who chose to become a piano tuner over the continued pursuit of a performance career. The novella chronicles his interactions with various other figures in the music world, most significantly, a music school owner named Emily and her widower, Lin. Like much literary fiction, the plot cannot be easily summarized; the story must be experienced..

I obviously can’t comment on the quality of translation vis-a-vis the original language (Chinese), but the prose in this translation is lovely, effective, and spare.

I thought the use of non-standard point of view worked very well here. The nameless (for most of the work) piano tuner is the point of view throughout, but at times also borders on omniscient.

Great, quick read, and a worthy addition to my collection of literary novels about classical music.

At first, this seems like it will be a book about the grieving widower of a pianist until the piano tuner, our narrator, introduces themselves. As the story progresses, we learn why the pianist became a piano tuner and we watch him potentially (or not) coming to terms with a number of 'what ifs' in his life. The story is slow paced and gently revolves around the business of piano tuning, how pianos operate and are made, previous famous pianists as well as the interactions between the tuner and the widower. The ending didn't work for me - it feels like the story just stops without giving closure.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Piano Tuner is a wonderful dreamy tale of a young piano prodigy who drifts into becoming a tuner. He is a shadowy character. Coming from a family where he could not even be recognized for playing and having surreptitious lessons with a teacher who encouraged his abilities. His past choices are ever present, as the story follows his path to a women named Emily, or Instructor Chen who owned a music school. Emily suddenly dies, and Lin her husband is forced to figure out what to do with the school and the pianos. He meets the tuner, and over the course of the novel the two create an unusual alliance.

The book is also very philosophical, with lots of wonderful references to famous musical artists, their abilities, and their choices as to how and where they played. Pianos are almost character like as they are broken down into components. The pianos are dissected and cared for as they are living objects of desire. Beloved Steinway’s, Bosendorf’s and even factories of pianos are cherished and brought to life with great emotion to the tuner. Unlike Lin, who sees the pianos as a way to preserve his school and give him purpose after the loss of his wife. As a reader we are educated about sound, what different pianos can produce and how music can be enhanced or changed by the tuner.
Overall this is a delightful book, very nuanced, with a good translation.

A thoughtful, melancholic story of a piano tuner reflecting on his life and those of his clients. There is a lot of emotion and rumination packed into a relatively short story. I enjoyed learning a bit more about pianos and piano tuning as the narrator describes his life and passion for music.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Ii experienced a kind of catharsis reading this book. Due to the pandemic, my husband and I no longer have our piano studio. Lin’s loss of his wife, Emily, and her piano studio helped me reflect on my own loss. In the same way Lin accepts his loss, with the aid of the piano tuner, I was able to learn to accept my own loss.
I’d like to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this ARC..

The Piano Tuner is a nice mixture of fiction and biographical stories of real pianists. I found myself less drawn to the fiction and more interested in going off to find out further details about the famous real life pianists. Better yet if videos showing them performing are available.

The narrative is rather slow and lost me about half way through. But fans of music, pianos, piano-playing and piano tuning may find it quite captivating as there's quite a lot of factual information about this wonderful musical instrument.

The Piano Tuner was a short but impactful read. It caught my interest right from the first page and held it throughout. The themes were beautifully woven through the story, all connected by music and the piano. The prose was lyrical too, floating you through the scenes, and the narration style was different but somehow perfectly suited to the story. All in all this was a captivating read recommended to fans of literary fiction (and fans of music). It gets 4 stars from me.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Piano Tuner (English translation) releases January 3, 2023

To me, music is undoubtedly a language without words, so this short story definitely spoke to me as a musician.

This story was unique in the sense that the narrator (the piano tuner), talks to the reader in such a meaningful way, yet openly acknowledges that he is not the protagonist. Without his presence, the story would not be what it is. Such like many other jobs, there are many key parts and people that make up or contribute to one whole element — for example, writers and books: there may be one name on the cover, but the multitude of people along the way helping behind the scenes all leave their mark. This same analogy can be applied to pianos, piano tuners, pianists, and composers.

While this was good, I was expecting more depth or emotion tied to the loss and grief between Lin and his late wife, and I wish that part of the narration was explored more.


“Anyone with enough experience can make up stories, but only those who truly understand the world have something meaningful to say.”

“The thing you can’t describe is time. Music lets us hear time pass and it lets us hear our shadows.”

“Pay attention to how he mastered the brief tranquil moments between notes. Never forget that the silent portions are part of the music.”

“What matters most is to have something that brings you peace, free of regrets, when you reach the end of your life’s journey.”

“Would the concept of a soul still be valid when a piano was reconstructed?”

“A man spends his whole life learning how to please women, only to be told that he doesn’t understand them.”

"A real dream is a force to prop you up when you're helpless and lost."

This is a quietly beautiful story of love and dreams. We journey through the lives of a nameless piano tuner and grieving widower, learning how passion, dreams, love, and music have shaped them. However, the best way to understand the book is hidden away in the title. The Chinese title is "尋琴者," roughly translating to "Seeker of Pianos." The second character 琴(piano) is also a homophone for 情(love). The duality and wordplay, "Seeker of Pianos" and "Seeker of Love", binds together the stories of the characters' search for music and love throughout their lives. Do the characters ever find what they're searching for? Read and find out.

The writing is tender, lyrical, and memorable. The narrator both poignantly makes observations on life, "While creating a melodious timbre, the instrument itself must withstand immensely painful tension"; and humorously pokes fun at this role "I have enough self-awareness to know that I'm not the protagonist."

I'd recommend this book to Kazuo Ishiguro fans. It's a short and beautiful read that is sure to stay with readers afterwards.

Thank you Skyhorse Publishing for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.