I like to read books about colonialism, especially the British in India and in Ireland. I can't really explain why these books appeal to me, except as a part of my larger interest in books that deal with class issues. Colonial settings provide a double whammy when it comes to thinking about class, as they often feature class conflict within a group (higher and lower caste Indians, for example) and across groups (Indians vs. British).
Janice Y.K. Lee's The Piano Teacher is different territory for me, literally, as it's set in colonial Hong Kong. It actually covers too different eras: the 1940s, when the Japanese invaded Hong Kong, and the 1950s, when the British were in control.
The protagonist, an English expatriate named Will, is a mysterious man who navigates both eras with different coping strategies. The book also features Will's two lovers: a Portuguese-Chinese woman called Trudy in the 1940s and Claire (the piano teacher) in the 1950s. All are outsiders in Hong Kong society, but really, who isn't? In a society this complex, everyone is an outsider to some group or other. That's what makes it so interesting.
This book will not make you a fan of Japanese soldiers. I am also just finishing up Shanghai Girls, by Lisa See, which makes the Japanese sound even more brutal than they are in The Piano Teacher. But I am enjoying this expedition into colonial Asia. What's next? The French in Vietnam?
