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A review by rain_tea_and_books
The Piano Room by Clio Velentza
4.0
Overall this was a beautiful book to read, but it was definitely one that took me a while to really get into. It took a couple of tries, but once I was caught up in the characters and the story I wasn’t going anywhere. This haunting retelling of the myth of Faust is gripping, and tense to the very end.
As a retelling of the Faust myth I think this novel held up really well. I studied Marlowe’s Dr Faustus in university as well as some other versions of the myth which made me familiar with the premise for this novel before I’d even started reading. It helped for me to really immerse myself in the setting and atmosphere of the story. This has become a favourite retelling of mine of this particular myth. Velentza kept what was important to make the myth visible within the story but twisted the rest beautifully to enrich the story and make it her own.
This story was told from two different perspectives in two separate times, making the narrative a little difficult for me to follow early on even though I was already familiar with the basis for the story. Once I had settled into the voice of each character and the two very different settings they were in came to love the two perspectives I was reading. Though as always, for me, with multiple point of view novels I tend to favour one point of view over the other. In this case it was Ferdi and his focus on trying to understand his past, as well as the truth of his existence – there is something about his very inhuman creation that made his character’s voice much more interesting for me to read. I did wonder how this novel would read if it was in complete chronological order, but I feel that the two perspectives over two different times adds to the mystery as well as the overall spooky atmosphere of the book.
Ferdi’s development throughout the novel was something I found most interesting as he grappled with the truth of his existence and tried to make his life his own. Though music was something he has to do, he makes it his own, and brings him connections with people he didn’t think he ever would. This is especially true of the slow building romance that builds between Ferdi and another character (that I won’t name, because of spoilers), as Ferdi doesn’t trust himself, nor does he believe a creature of his nature should be able to have a relationship that close. I loved this almost unexpected part of the novel, it, along with Ferdi’s music, brought a little bit of hope to an otherwise rather grim tale.
The Piano Room is the perfect book to curl up and read on a cold winter night from the comfort of your preferred reading nook with a good blanket and a cup of tea. The language draws you into the haunted and spooky atmosphere of this novel in such a way that you start to feel the cold yourself. That is something I loved about this novel; that while I couldn’t always connect with the characters – something which I usually rely on for my enjoyment of a book – this lack of connection was made up for in the haunting gothic atmosphere. I recommend this novel to lovers of gothic fiction, and to those who are looking for a fresh retelling of a familiar myth.
As a retelling of the Faust myth I think this novel held up really well. I studied Marlowe’s Dr Faustus in university as well as some other versions of the myth which made me familiar with the premise for this novel before I’d even started reading. It helped for me to really immerse myself in the setting and atmosphere of the story. This has become a favourite retelling of mine of this particular myth. Velentza kept what was important to make the myth visible within the story but twisted the rest beautifully to enrich the story and make it her own.
This story was told from two different perspectives in two separate times, making the narrative a little difficult for me to follow early on even though I was already familiar with the basis for the story. Once I had settled into the voice of each character and the two very different settings they were in came to love the two perspectives I was reading. Though as always, for me, with multiple point of view novels I tend to favour one point of view over the other. In this case it was Ferdi and his focus on trying to understand his past, as well as the truth of his existence – there is something about his very inhuman creation that made his character’s voice much more interesting for me to read. I did wonder how this novel would read if it was in complete chronological order, but I feel that the two perspectives over two different times adds to the mystery as well as the overall spooky atmosphere of the book.
Ferdi’s development throughout the novel was something I found most interesting as he grappled with the truth of his existence and tried to make his life his own. Though music was something he has to do, he makes it his own, and brings him connections with people he didn’t think he ever would. This is especially true of the slow building romance that builds between Ferdi and another character (that I won’t name, because of spoilers), as Ferdi doesn’t trust himself, nor does he believe a creature of his nature should be able to have a relationship that close. I loved this almost unexpected part of the novel, it, along with Ferdi’s music, brought a little bit of hope to an otherwise rather grim tale.
The Piano Room is the perfect book to curl up and read on a cold winter night from the comfort of your preferred reading nook with a good blanket and a cup of tea. The language draws you into the haunted and spooky atmosphere of this novel in such a way that you start to feel the cold yourself. That is something I loved about this novel; that while I couldn’t always connect with the characters – something which I usually rely on for my enjoyment of a book – this lack of connection was made up for in the haunting gothic atmosphere. I recommend this novel to lovers of gothic fiction, and to those who are looking for a fresh retelling of a familiar myth.