Title: Disappointing historical realism
Product review: Daniel Mason's The Piano Tuner turned out to be a disappointment. Impressive as the it was as a first novel, the lack of editorial skill applied to its pages was overwhelming. A few pages into the novel, two facts are obvious: one, that the writer was American while his subject was the British, and two, that the author inappropriately projected his twentieth century values on a different time and place. Most dialogs were difficult if not impossible to imagine taking place between the English because of language use, sentence structure, diction, etc. Certain scenarios were so American in their construct that transferring it to British Burma (or to British anywhere - even today) was ludicrous. The outcome is unfortunate: stilted and contrived.For those readers who are interested only in plot, you will probably enjoy this book. However, if you are concerned with historical realism or style, you will be disappointed before you hit the second chapter.
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