For fans of Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, Annie Proulx’s Accordion Crimes, Amanda Coplin’s The OrchardistA tour-de-force about two women and the piano that inexorably ties their lives together through time and across continents, for better and for worse.In 1962, in the Soviet Union, eight-year-old Katya is bequeathed what will become the love of her life: a Blüthner piano, built at the turn of the … bequeathed what will become the love of her life: a Blüthner piano, built at the turn of the century in Germany, on which she discovers everything that she herself can do with music and what music, in turn, does for her. Yet after marrying, she emigrates with her young family from Russia to America, at her husband’s frantic insistence, and her piano is lost in the shuffle.
In 2012, in Bakersfield, California, twenty-six-year-old Clara Lundy loses another boyfriend and again has to find a new apartment, which is complicated by the gift her father had given her for her twelfth birthday, shortly before he and her mother died in a fire that burned their house down: a Blüthner upright she has never learned to play. Orphaned, she was raised by her aunt and uncle, who in his car-repair shop trained her to become a first-rate mechanic, much to the surprise of her subsequent customers. But this work, her true mainstay in a scattered life, is put on hold when her hand gets broken while the piano’s being moved–and in sudden frustration she chooses to sell it. And what becomes crucial is who the most interested party turns out to be. . .
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At the heart of this novel is an old German upright piano whose music reverberates through the stories of two seemingly unconnected people: a man on an inexplicable quest to photograph it, and a woman who, despite being unable to play it, can’t let it go. Elegantly twisting the strands together, Cander explores how art and music change and enrich our lives, often in wondrous and remarkable ways, and also touches on love and loss, memory and forgetting, perseverance and self-discovery. Like a powerful melody, The Weight of a Piano is haunting, evocative, and impossible to forget.
I may be prejudiced in favor of this incredibly moving book, because I, too, have felt the weight of a piano in my life, a particular piano given to me on my fifth birthday and taken with me all over the country, before it was lost. Even if that weren’t true, however, I would have luxuriated in Chris Cander’s descriptions of her characters and the spirituality of the music that drives their passions in one way or another. The piano, itself, is a complex, elegant character, a grand dame, programmed from birth to make her contributions to society, to love and be loved.
The book is a story of the journeys of two women and the men who love them. Their lives entwine around the piano and its music, but just as the piano elevates their struggles to something epic, so does it affect the reader. This is a book I will not soon forget. I highly recommend it.
Cander’s portrait of two powerful women and the heartbreaking intersection of their families is arresting and affecting, but as all its characters would agree, the real heart of this novel is the Blüthner upright piano we track from its soundboard’s origin in a Romanian forest: an instrument so charismatic that for both women it’s a way of floating above their world and connecting to a lost home, as well as eventually to a version of themselves they’ve never before considered. The Weight of a Piano soars when it obsesses and lets us see what it is it hears.
This was a beautiful novel! I enjoyed the way the characters’ real emotions were depicted, not just glossed over. This is another novel that exceeded my expectations of it! The story is about the piano that Katya received when she was a young girl in the Soviet Union. Katya is forced to leave behind her beloved piano when she comes to America with her husband. Many years later, Clara becomes the owner of this same piano. Katya and Clara and their emotions of joy, humor, pain, and loss are depicted in a wonderful way through their mesmerizing stories. The storyline is about the different layers of the different stories of the people who were influenced by the piano in their lives. Along the way, the story is both beautiful and heartbreaking at times.
An assortment of characters that come together in unusual ways. These people seem to be growing, developing page by page. Unusual story, very readable.
First in the delightful Masie Dobbs series. Engaging story and characters with lead up, during and period following WWI in England.
I think it is particularly good for musicians who understand the emotional quality of a particular instrument and how we might associate it with a memorable person or event.
Disgusting
The story was unusual but believable. It was easy to read and interesting with some self-discovery in the characters.
The piano uniquely brings together the characters in a strange story of healing. It’s an entertaining read.
This book was easy to read, thought provoking, and kept calling me to come back and ready more. Very tragic, yet redemptive.
Intriguing – different – worth a read
Good descriptive characters that draw you into their story. The piano becomes a character within the stories.
I have to say this book surprised me. I don’t quite know what I expected when I bought it. The idea that music is can affect people’s lives resonated with me. I really liked this story. There are imperfect characters trying to understand themselves, their lives, their past and move into the future. Well done.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was informative, romantic, an unusual subject, mysterious, and entertaining.
I enjoyed listening to the classical music mentioned while reading the book.
The piano weaves the stories of two women on two continents. It is a story of how the fates intertwine: one tragic one hopeful.
I found it to be a page turner and thought the two women protagonists were fully complex.
A few over the top coincidences near the end but by then I was fully engaged in the story
A bit slow at the beginning, leading to a rather interesting story about a piano and what it meant to the many people involved with it. This drama spanning several decades, presents the reader with multi-stories, a variety of characters, and highly detailed locations. The author effectively connects all these storylines and finishes with a satisfying ending.
Hard to put down, fast read.
The Weight of a Piano tenderly illuminates the solace — and the suffering — that art can bring to those who have endured grievous loss. Cander’s ingenious plot braids together vividly disparate geographies and times, swerving deliciously whenever we think we know where she’s heading. She understands love and terror and the uncanny power of inheritance.