Do Read:
The Piano Teacher by Janice Lee

This is one of those first novels that make me despair of ever getting anything serious accomplished before 40 (used to be 30, but i'm learning not to be so hard on myself). Like White Teeth and Interpreter of Maladies, The Piano Teacher immerses the reader in another culture, both familiar and exquisitely foreign. I've had a long fascination for Hong Kong, which Janice Lee has validated with her descriptions of a sultry, sophisticated city, beset by war. This is a book that makes you think of Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, lifting you into the life of the privileged British gentry and their imprisonment in internment camps. But the story is feminine, sensuous and melancholy. The heroines are lovely and lovingly painted, with complexity and empathy.

The story moves briskly and the main characters are beguiling. This is the most interesting novel i've read in months. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.