THE WEIGHT OF A PIANO by Chris Cander

 THE WEIGHT OF A PIANO

by

Chris Cander

       The Weight of A Piano is the story of a Bluthner piano, beginning in the Soviet Union and ending in California, and some of the people whose lives it touched. The book is well written. The characters are well developed, although I am not sure that any are particularly likable or that I felt connected to any of them. Except perhaps the piano. It does raise the interesting question whether the piano has its own separate existence, whether it is more than the sum of its parts. Nonetheless, it feels like the story has been done before; it reminds me a bit of Annie Proulx, Disappearing Earth, and The Red Violin. Although it is novel in its application to a piano, I am not sure that it adds anything to what has been done before.