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lucrezi 's review for:

The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
3.0

"[Walter Klemmer] stares at this woman, who wants to be swept away by bliss, and he asks himself: Who can understand the female sex anyway?" Ah yes. Freud, a fellow Austrian, would agree.

Erika Kohut is the biggest snowflake with the biggest superiority complex I've seen in a while. She is an awful person, but a very interesting character. I liked that each scene peeled back one of her many layers to show just how messed up she is.

Walter Klemmer is the epitome of "men are trash."
SpoilerFunny how he's scandalized by Erika's sadomasochistic desires when their first sexual encounter in the bathroom was very dubious in its consent. It's all about the hunt, never the "prize."


The long and rambly paragraphs weren't my style when the focus was on Vienna and not Erika's inner world. I wish it were tighter. I read this in bed and throughout the first half I kept falling asleep every few pages. I was interested, but not interested enough to enjoy wading through pages and pages of what felt like filler.