The Piano Tuner

A Novel

By: Daniel Mason

Narrated by: Richard Matthews

Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

An extraordinary first novel that tells the story of a British piano tuner sent deep into Burma in the 19th century.

In October 1886, Edgar Drake receives a strange request from the British War Office: he must leave his wife and his quiet life in London to travel to the jungles of Burma, where a rare Erard grand piano is in need of repair. The piano belongs to an army surgeon-major whose unorthodox peacemaking methods - poetry, medicine, and now music - have brought a tentative quiet to the southern Shan States but have elicited questions from his superiors. 

On his journey through Europe, the Red Sea, India, and into Burma, Edgar meets soldiers, mystics, bandits, and tale-spinners, as well as an enchanting woman as elusive as the surgeon-major. And at the doctor’s fort on a remote Burmese river, Edgar encounters a world more mysterious and dangerous than he ever could have imagined. 

Sensuous, lyrical, rich with passion and adventure, this is a hypnotic tale of myth, romance, and self-discovery: an unforgettable novel. 

©2002 Daniel Mason (P)2002 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Richly imagined, The Piano Tuner winds like a lazy river, carrying the reader into the mythic land of Kipling and Conrad." (People)

"A novel for readers of literary and popular fiction alike; highly recommended." (Library Journal) 

"Richard Matthews delivers an astonishing performance. His characters are as meticulously crafted as Burmese-carved ivory miniatures.... The dialogue soars. Mason’s plot fascinates and surprises, while Matthews’s performance is a tour de force." (AudioFile)

The absolute best in reading, a true classic!

I firmly believe that this young author's very first novel is, amazingly, one of the finest books that I have read in my fifty odd years of reading. It is already a best seller, and I am sure that,.. two hundred years hense, it will have become one of the first true classic works of our twenty-first century!
Be sure to read this unabridged rendering, as there is just too much to miss of this enchanting story!
If you are a musican, historian, beggerman, ...anything..leap into the wonderous debths of this majestic work!

Superlative novel ruined by a terrible narrator

I don't need to write much about the novel itself, the other reviewers have all done it justice. It is brilliantly written and wonderfully interwoven, full of fascinating characters and information, given authenticity by the fact that the author knows the places he is writing about and has taken the trouble to really do his homework on the history and technical information involved.

The problem is that the narrator is simply an amateur who is not even remotely up to the task of presenting this brilliant work. It sounds as though someone had been picked off the street in London at random and then recorded the book without any direction or correction. The reader only really has one voice -- uptight and strained -- and each attempt at a character's voice is worse than the last. A male character introduced as having a "stentorian baritone" speaks in a tortured and hoarse falsetto, all women sound like demented spinsters of at least seventy who are also suffering from croup, and the less said about the narrator's pitifully painful attempts at foreign accents the better. After the second chapter I found myself beginning to flinch whenever a new character was introduced, because I knew that in a moment I would be subjected to new depths of abominable dialect and miserable characterisation, and I was never disappointed.

If it were possible I would give the book eight stars and the narration zero or less than zero. Since this isn't possible I've decided to award the maximum possible rating because the book itself deserves it. Even so, I feel cheated because the abysmally bad narration almost completely ruined the experience of this wonderful book -- it is a tribute to the book's brilliance and power that I actually managed to listen through to the end. I am certainly going to make a note of this narrator's name and will never ever buy a book narrated by him again.

Beyond words

The artistry in writing style is so rich that you will find yourself listening to parts over and over again. It is a combination of history artfully presented with a perfectly executed fiction line colored with poetic writing. Absolutely wonderful; you won't be disappointed.

Fantasy and History

The background information about the British presence in the far east was very interesting and informative. The plot is very unbelievable, but the action of the story carries the listener along.

Good Story, Bad Ending

This story was absolutely fascinating to me. The information on Britain's presence in India, the art of piano tuning, and all the other details the author painstakingly included made it a learning experience as well as entertainment. The narrator did an excellent job telling the story.

But as it was coming to a conclusion, I became nervous about how it was going to end. Few clues were given. When I did finish it, I understood why. A sad reality of writers is the difficulty of tying it all up in the end. Mr. Mason did not do this at all. It was an awful ending and left me frustrated. Why would this moral, innocent, and straight forward man do this? It did not fit.

Ending fell apart

I enjoyed the story and the descriptions of Burma for about two thirds of the book, when I began to think the plot was getting pretty contrived. Still, it was a decent story until I got to the end. Not only did it fail to tie up loose ends already in existence, but created a host of new ones and left them dangling. Very unsatisfactory ending. I am sorry I invested the time in this book.

Can't forget this one - sticks with you

I joined Audible in 2007. Piano Tuner was among the first books I heard. Today, 2012, I still think about this book. I consider it one of the best, most unique stories I've heard. The characters are well developed. The history and the fate of the piano turner are fascinating. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. The story does start slow. The detail seems a little thick because you don't know the story is going, but then it comes together. And in the end, in some ineffable way, it doesn't leave you. I honestly don't know why I enjoyed this book so much. But five years later, I am still thinking about this book.

The Piano Tuner

I thought the concept was great but the writer is immature in his craft. The story was painfully slow. I would consider reading his next book as I think he has some talent but I would skip this one.

This is a good one

After first finishing this book I thought it pretty good. That was early in my Audible / audio book experience. Now that I've listened to a number of others I find myself reflecting on The Piano Tuner and realize how good it is. Descriptive writing and very good narration combined with a unique period story add up to a very good audio book. I recommend this one.

Thrilling

This is a real tale that takes you through Jungles, full of interesting characters and twisting plots with interesting cultural information. I would have to say I savored this one like a good piece of cake. When it was over I was looking for more titles by this author. Enjoy!