A review by gia0203
The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek

challenging dark slow-paced
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I am so conflicted. The Piano Teacher (2001) has been my favourite movie for so long and so I’ve been anticipating reading the source material. Delving deeper into the perspectives of Erika, Walter and the Mother was really rewarding. My favourite part of the film was seeing the world through Erika’s uniquely awful perspective and the book really explored her motivations and desires very closely, which made the horrific events of the story more impactful.  Those last few scenes in the book are just harrowing as Erika loses control over her body and sexuality… Certain images and moments from this book are so disturbing that they’ll stick in your mind long after you finish reading. I do think this is a very visually arresting book, there are so many striking images like
Erika’s body pierced with dozens of coloured pins, the knife in her shoulder, her empty bedroom with just a closet full of unworn clothes, and more


Jelinek’s writing style is very unique. While the stream of consciousness style worked some of the time, it was often too convoluted. Analogies and metaphors were overdone, and paragraphs either jumped too quickly between ideas or too slowly. I struggled through chunks of the book particularly near the middle. The ending scenes drew me back into the novel, though I still leave feeling exhausted, not by the subject matter but at how much (in my opinion) unrelated fluff I had to read to get to the end. The film is an overall more satisfying and beautiful experience, and I will rewatch it rather than reread this. However, I will admit that parts of the book hit just right and left my mind reeling. 

The book is also xenophobic at times. 
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