I picked this up from Netgalley since I had read his earlier book, The Other Mrs. Sampson. The author says that this book is not as sequel to that book, and that is true. It is the story of Josef’s life told from his perspective. So, while interesting, it does not provide many new details. If anything, I’d say that this was a prequel to The Other Mrs. Sampson as it is told in a far more linear fashion and reading this book first will enlighten and enhance the reader’s experience with The Other Mrs. Sampson. My review of that book recounts all the details of their lives and their escape from Europe during the war so I will not recount that here but suffice to say that since little new information was revealed in this novel, I didn’t find it a compelling as the first.

I just didn't like the main character so I lost interest in the story. This one went into my did-not-finish pile. Life is too short to read books I don't enjoy.

This was a captivating read! It's told as Josef Samson's journal entries which I was not expecting but it was a pleasant surprise. Being told this way made the story more captivating and interesting as you saw his day to day life. You went through all of his highs and lows with him. You as the reader felt what he and the other characters felt throughout the book.
It takes place during both World Wars and it does not shy away from what Josef experienced. He writes about his experiences as a doctor, a lover, and a normal citizen during the wars. You see him grow up through different decades and see how he changed overtime.
This is a great read for anyone who likes to read about historical fiction, complicated relationships, and ultimately a man who is finding his way through life.

The Piano Bench by Ralph Webster was about the life and journey of Josef Samson. He was an only child born and raised in Berlin, Germany. Josef’s father had always hoped to have four children when he married Josef’s mutti. He always envisioned that one of his children would become an artist, one would become a rabbi, one would become a musician and the fourth one would become a man of science. Since Josef was the only child of four to survive childbirth, born in 1879, his parents spoiled him, recognized how special he was to them and offered Josef many opportunities. Josef learned how to play the piano when he was about five years old. When Josef turned thirteen, his parents gifted him a magnificent baby grand piano. Although Josef resented the mandatory piano lessons of his childhood, later in life he was glad he was forced to take them. Josef was also provided with opportunities to study and develop his passion for art. Life in Berlin, Germany was good during Josef’s childhood and university days. Josef’s family was Jewish but they thought of themselves as German first. Quite different from Josef’s father, his mutti’s wish for Josef was that he would marry well and give her lots of grandchildren. Josef went on to study medicine and become a physician. However, his passion for playing his baby grand piano never diminished nor did his love for painting or his appreciation for good art. Through Josef, his father’s wish came true…minus the rabbi.

The Piano Bench followed Josef’s life in Berlin and examined the changing political climate that had begun to emerge after Germany was defeated in World War I. Josef eventually got married to Hilda, a distant cousin from America. Hilda was quite wealthy. It took Josef and Hilda time to adjust to married life and living together. They did come to love one another but the encountered lots of stumbling blocks. Hilda never got used to the fact that Josef’s profession as a physician always took priority over her. Hilda threatened more than once to leave Josef and return to America. Soon Josef and Hilda were expecting their first child. During this time, Josef continued to be extremely selfish, demanding and quite arrogant. His work at the hospital took priority over all else. When Hilda needed Josef the most, he was operating and left instructions not to be interrupted under any circumstances. Josef later discovered that Hilda had fallen and not only had she died but she also lost their unborn child. Josef never forgave himself. His grief and guilt was enormous.

Josef went on to have two other marriages. Life in Germany was changing, though. Josef was astute enough to recognize the dangers that were becoming more apparent throughout Germany. Josef was Jewish and even though he was not religious it was dangerous to be a Jew in Germany under the Nazis. He also had affiliations with certain groups of friends that the Nazis were targeting. Josef was smart enough to know that he had to leave Berlin and for good. Josef said goodbye to his second wife, Inge, as she was on her way to see her sick mother. Without exposing his plan to Inge, Josef boarded a train to Paris. He ended his second marriage that day without even a clue or a regret. Inge never suspected that Josef would not be waiting for her when she returned from seeing her mother. She had not expected that that day at the train station would be the last time she would see her husband. Josef had lived in Berlin for over fifty years. He loved Berlin but he knew that he was no longer safe there. Paris was to become his new home. Josef had had an affair with Kaethe, his late mother’s companion, while he was unhappily married to Inge. Kaethe later joined Josef in Paris and years later became his third and final wife. Kaethe and Josef stayed in Paris until the Nazis invaded. It was in Paris, that Kaethe found the two person wooden piano bench in a little shop and insisted that they purchase it. Every morning, Kaethe and Josef sat side by side on that piano bench. He played the baby grand piano and she learned to read the music to turn the pages for him. It became a ritual they shared for their entire lives together. The baby grand piano ended up traveling with Josef from Berlin to Paris to Pau to Lisbon and finally to America. Although there was a very obvious age difference between Kaethe and Josef, they were good together. They were very fortunate to have escaped Europe and the Nazis. They arrived in America in 1942. Kaethe and Josef settled in New York City on 158th Street and Broadway. Although both Josef and Kaethe were placed in internment camps when France declared war on Germany for being foreign enemies, they were extremely lucky to have escaped Nazi occupied Europe when they did. Their fates could have turned out so much worse.

I loved the cover for The Piano Bench. It was designed by an Israeli artist. When I first saw the cover for The Piano Bench by Ralph Webster, however, I expected a much different storyline. The piano bench played a rather small part in the overall significance in this book. It was sweet, though, how Kaethe and Josef utilized that two seat piano bench to create a ritual that would prove so special to both of them throughout their lives together. Germany’s history through both World Wars was explored in detail as it applied to and influenced Josef Samson’s life and the people he came in contact with. It was hard for me to like Josef Samson’s character initially. He did grow on me and I ended up liking him more by the end of the book. I enjoyed Kaethe’s character the best. She was genuine, very caring and selfless. The Piano Bench was about survival most of all. It was about family, origins, adaptability, ingenuity, secrets, love, deceit and betrayal. I enjoyed reading The Piano Bench by Ralph Webster. This was the first book I have read of his but I will definitely read more of his books. I recommend this book.

I received an advanced copy of this book. My review is voluntary and all opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Man, I thought this must have been the longest book I'd ever read. But I checked, and Amazon said only 368 pages. After a slow start, during which I almost gave up, it finally piqued my interest. The title motivated me to request it from NetGalley, as I am a professional pianist, but while it did mention the main character playing the piano, the bench was, more or less, symbolic and really didn't figure into the plot.

Josef was a Jew, born and reared in Germany. An accomplished and respected doctor, he swore he would never leave Berlin. He even made his first wife leave San Francisco and come to him, as he refused to live in America. The story is rich with history which covers both World War I and World War II.

One thing that kept me reading is that early on in the story, it tell of Josef meeting someone named Inge in New York and her shock at running into him. I thought, "What?? Who in the heck is Inge, and why is Josef in America?"

I wanted to keep reading to learn the answers to these questions, and I guess you could say that I sort of did, but it was at the very end and not a satisfactory conclusion.

Review is now on Goodreads and will be posted on Amazon and BookBub around the 28th of February when it releasesl

Thank you for giving me an e-ARC of this book, I have a special interest for historical fiction and exploring different cultures, and this book piqued my interest. In addition, this book could also be classified as a memoir.

Josef Samson lived through a life of hardships, world wars and trying to escape his prejudiced death sentence. Luck was always uncertain with him, but all he wanted to do was live. But despite these circumstances, he pushed through, didn’t lose hope until he reached his goal.

The introduction hooked me, but then I had a really hard time getting into for most of the story. I had limited knowledge on german history, and i found the explanations a bit jargon heavy. There were also some of the character’s views that irked me, but had to understand that this was how they commonly saw things.

As the events discuss more about the reign of the worst dictator in history, I had more of an empathetic feeling towards the main character. The way things were described seemed too real, how awful that time really was. I got more in tune with the character’s sentiments, like I was also secretly traveling with them as they make their way across the ocean, literally.

Some romance was discussed in this book, and it lacked a bit in expounding the relationship between the characters. But even the women in this book were really unaware of the events until the end.

Overall, the book was okay, maybe just not the book for me since it was a bit slow paced and I wasn’t mentally ready to read about events during the world wars. I can’t help but think about the PTSD that all the victims have developed from these tragedies. Lots of trigger warnings that surround around wartime.

I was surprised how my initial reaction to Josef changed from his first introduction. When introduced I decided that I disliked him. . I found his emotional growth enchanting. Whilst the book does explore war in much detail, I found myself ploughing through this as I had found myself invested in him and his journey. His complex relationships with the many women in his life were a joy to explore. Some of these relationships were very detailed and others were unexplored much to my dissatisfaction as I wanted to know more about them too.

“The Piano Bench” by Ralph Webster
ARC Review – 4 Stars

The story of Josef Samson, a German Jew and his three wives through WW1 And WW2.

I was drawn to this book with the impression that I would get the real story behind “The Other Mrs. Samson,” which I have not yet read. Wanting to give Josef Samson a fair shake, I decided to try his memoir first when I was fortunate to score an ARC from Book Sirens.

The story was somewhat long and drawn out but I enjoyed the journey and got caught up in the personalities and life stories of most of the characters. Being based on real people there is no room for critique of how Josef’s life played out – he did what he did and he was who he was and we are left to either care for or be frustrated by the man.

We are introduced to the need to learn about Josef’s life when we learn that he is confronted with the reality that his former wife, Inge, had located him. I would have liked to have seen that part of the story embellished a bit. We were sort of abruptly brought back to the beginning of Josef’s life story without learning what happened to Inge.

I enjoyed Ralph Webster’s writing style and his well researched approach to WW1 And WW2 history.

A copy of this book was sent to me by Netgalley. Sorry but this book is a no for me. The main character is so self-absorbed that I rolled my eyes every time he spoke, which was the whole book. This book had everything to become a favorite, but in my opinion, the resources were wasted in the main character's pretexts to justify his bad decisions. Sorry 😶

This was a wild ride, to say the least. I honestly didn't expect to get a complete history lesson about Germany from the 1890s to 1940. It was a lot of detail in such a short time. However, I think it is presented in such a way that it isn't too dense or academic. It felt like someone who experienced it. Which makes sense as a memoir. It was great to see the perspective of someone who was Jewish and German during this time was very intriguing.

I have never gone from hating a man so much to feeling such compassion and rooting for him. Did Josef do some terrible and was kinda a menace to the first 2 women in his life? Absolutely! But by the end, I didn't realize how attached I had become to him. I think at points he went into way too much detail about random things that didn't matter or people who really had no impact on the story. This led to some parts being really slow but overall it was very well-paced. The writing was beautiful and really immersive.

I wish I got to see more of what went on with Inge and Josef in New York. I feel like that bit was lacking in the plot. The rest of the storylines were well flushed out. I was a little sad not to see them live in America but I get why this story ended here.

One man, three wives, two wars, and a handwritten journal left inside a Piano Bench to help tell his tale.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary: The Piano Bench is the story of Josef Samson, and his journey through finding love, surviving WW1 and rebuilding a life as a Jewish man living in Berlin post WW2. The story starts with his life as a young boy and the parenting that shapes the choices he makes and impacts his future. Josef’s story is full of love, loss, betrayal, obstacles and victories.

Pace: Slow

As a historical fiction lover, I wanted to LOVE this book! It pains me to say that I didn’t. There is much to be admired by Josef’s story, but there is much that I didn’t admire as well. One, he married and left a wife and fell in love and married another. There is more context to this story, but none that helps me get past this information.. Two, the relationship with his much younger wife seems troubling to me. They end up having quite the life together, but it’s built on a lie as well as starting when she is so young. The second half of the book and the second half of Josef’s life was heartbreaking and inspiring as we hear of his journey through WW2 and having to leave his homeland of Berlin.

The author has a stunning style of writing and he did a beautiful job telling this story. I did find this story too long and some parts seemed extremely dragged out and even redundant at times.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Publisher for the opportunity to read this book.