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A review by eescszerbawitz
The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Note: Spoilers are only in the second to last paragraph.
The Piano Teacher, for me, is a novel I wanted to like but ultimately can only give at most 3.5 stars while trying to be objective. Simply put it is an interesting read that explores many topics from the musical arts and Jelinek's Vienna to age dynamics in a relationship and sadomasochism. I enjoyed so much of the novel but then all of a sudden I stopped enjoying the novel and actually felt it did away with a lot of the explored themes, only keeping a few intact by the end.
When reading this novel the further I read on the more I felt it was harder to like the characters within the novel, although that may be the point. For a character-led novel that does away with the concept of plot (mostly) to focus on said characters, it sorely missed the mark for me personally. I felt character development was lacked across the board and furthermore the characters were hard to like and so in that regard I would argue Jelinek creates a somewhat realistic cast of characters.
Erika Kohut is the only character with significant character development, however this is quickly robbed from her in the final page of the novel. Erika shows she is self destructive through her self harming and her attraction to her student Walter Klemmer in which she is prepared the do away with her life up til now to create something anew with him. By the end of the novel she I'd making great strides to become a new person taking control over her life just to plunge the knife and twist it into the reader hoping she'd get revenge for Klemmer's actions and how he has treated her.
Walter Klemmer is only likeable for about two sentences, however he is a deplorable human who first only makes Erika fall for him so he can gain experience from dating an older woman and then later when she doesn't live up to his pure, idealisation of women he commits a most horrid act. Klemmer may simply be defined as one of those men who lies to get what he wants from women.
Erika's mother is probably the third character with any significant words used to describe her and her motivations. Erika's mother shows some character development only as a result of Klemmer's actions in which she seems to treat Erika a little better and pushes Erika to be free instead of fighting for her control as she has all novel towards the end.
Moving towards the style of this novel, I commend Jelinek's interesting style from not using chapters in the conventional sense to no use of dialogue - at least in the manner most people are used to. In both copies of the book I own, one being in German and the other in English, there was a lack of numbered chapters and rather two parts in which the novel is split 40/60 (roughly), I think this was an interesting choice but one I do not agree with, I felt that each of the 'chapters' were more like scenes from a play and the designated part 1 and part 2 was the acts from a play. However the most enjoyable difference was the lack of dialogue, I enjoyed the fact that we were moreso understanding the thoughts of our characters over the dialogue between the characters and therefore getting their pure intentions over what they wanted another character to believe.
To some extent I would say that this character driven novel does focus on the flaws of these characters but we also see Jelinek focusses on Viennese society for what seems to be several 'chapters' without a break. This can become dry as a result, I found the processes of which Jelinek describes the society very interesting but I feel it is not broken up in a way that is readable without feeling somewhat bored, I think some of these descriptions should have been saved for the end of the novel. Credit to her she does sprinkle one final depiction at the end of the novel but it's short and is placed between the barbaric acts of Klemmer and the final page.
If there's anything I can say to sum up this novel before moving onto spoilers. It's is that at first it is a delightful and interesting novel that soon spirals into what might as well be "Klemmer tricks Erika" the novel for pages upon pages. It is with heavy heart that I feel I can say toward the end of the novel I was *almost* just reading the novel because of the time had committed.
I cannot tell you how many attempts I rewrote this paragraph in an attempt to make it more objective and not just me saying Klemmer is evil and I hate his guts. So let's get started with the ending, Erika for me is robbed of character development at the end and this may be the point of the ending that she hasn't developed but I feel like that's the only thing she can do here to give a satisfying ending to the reader. Erika reverts back to the ways of old, she stabs herself, self harming as she always has. Pain makes her feel in control. But she is already free by the point, free of Klemmer (good riddance) and free of mother as she has realised her control is unhealthy. Instead I feel I believe she should have either reported it to the police (although I'm aware it's common for victims of rape often feel the cannot report the crime or feel they will be ignored by authorities) or alternatively she stabbed the hell out of Klemmer giving Erika and us as readers catharsis for Klemmer's barbaric beating and rape of Erika. I understand the Klemmer's actions are within his nature and fit his character after all he was only with Erika so he could gain experience from an older woman so it fits his character, I only wish that Klemmer got an ending that he deserved rather than him escaping criminal charges.
Final word: Jelinek's Piano Teacher is a novel that shows the reality of what happens to victims of abuse, paints a vivid picture of Viennese society and also shows Jelinek can craft an interesting read. However it falls short on so many levels and so I cannot recommend it to everyone especially with some of the content of this novel.
(Apologies if there are any mistakes grammatical or otherwise.)
The Piano Teacher, for me, is a novel I wanted to like but ultimately can only give at most 3.5 stars while trying to be objective. Simply put it is an interesting read that explores many topics from the musical arts and Jelinek's Vienna to age dynamics in a relationship and sadomasochism. I enjoyed so much of the novel but then all of a sudden I stopped enjoying the novel and actually felt it did away with a lot of the explored themes, only keeping a few intact by the end.
When reading this novel the further I read on the more I felt it was harder to like the characters within the novel, although that may be the point. For a character-led novel that does away with the concept of plot (mostly) to focus on said characters, it sorely missed the mark for me personally. I felt character development was lacked across the board and furthermore the characters were hard to like and so in that regard I would argue Jelinek creates a somewhat realistic cast of characters.
Erika Kohut is the only character with significant character development, however this is quickly robbed from her in the final page of the novel. Erika shows she is self destructive through her self harming and her attraction to her student Walter Klemmer in which she is prepared the do away with her life up til now to create something anew with him. By the end of the novel she I'd making great strides to become a new person taking control over her life just to plunge the knife and twist it into the reader hoping she'd get revenge for Klemmer's actions and how he has treated her.
Walter Klemmer is only likeable for about two sentences, however he is a deplorable human who first only makes Erika fall for him so he can gain experience from dating an older woman and then later when she doesn't live up to his pure, idealisation of women he commits a most horrid act. Klemmer may simply be defined as one of those men who lies to get what he wants from women.
Erika's mother is probably the third character with any significant words used to describe her and her motivations. Erika's mother shows some character development only as a result of Klemmer's actions in which she seems to treat Erika a little better and pushes Erika to be free instead of fighting for her control as she has all novel towards the end.
Moving towards the style of this novel, I commend Jelinek's interesting style from not using chapters in the conventional sense to no use of dialogue - at least in the manner most people are used to. In both copies of the book I own, one being in German and the other in English, there was a lack of numbered chapters and rather two parts in which the novel is split 40/60 (roughly), I think this was an interesting choice but one I do not agree with, I felt that each of the 'chapters' were more like scenes from a play and the designated part 1 and part 2 was the acts from a play. However the most enjoyable difference was the lack of dialogue, I enjoyed the fact that we were moreso understanding the thoughts of our characters over the dialogue between the characters and therefore getting their pure intentions over what they wanted another character to believe.
To some extent I would say that this character driven novel does focus on the flaws of these characters but we also see Jelinek focusses on Viennese society for what seems to be several 'chapters' without a break. This can become dry as a result, I found the processes of which Jelinek describes the society very interesting but I feel it is not broken up in a way that is readable without feeling somewhat bored, I think some of these descriptions should have been saved for the end of the novel. Credit to her she does sprinkle one final depiction at the end of the novel but it's short and is placed between the barbaric acts of Klemmer and the final page.
If there's anything I can say to sum up this novel before moving onto spoilers. It's is that at first it is a delightful and interesting novel that soon spirals into what might as well be "Klemmer tricks Erika" the novel for pages upon pages. It is with heavy heart that I feel I can say toward the end of the novel I was *almost* just reading the novel because of the time had committed.
Final word: Jelinek's Piano Teacher is a novel that shows the reality of what happens to victims of abuse, paints a vivid picture of Viennese society and also shows Jelinek can craft an interesting read. However it falls short on so many levels and so I cannot recommend it to everyone especially with some of the content of this novel.
(Apologies if there are any mistakes grammatical or otherwise.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual violence
Moderate: Self harm
Minor: Stalking
Probably forgot a few things, apologies for that.