21. The Weight of a Piano by Chris Candor
As a small child in Russia Katya is gifted with a Blüthner piano, which becomes the love of her life. Forced to emigrate to the United States she is separated from her beloved piano for a time before finally losing it forever. Decades later 26 year old Clara whose father bought her a Blüthner piano for her birthday as a young girl right before her parents died in a fire is trying to figure out what to do with it as she is forced to move after the ending of yet another relationship. Her decision to sell the piano sets in motion the events that reveal the secrets the piano has long held.
I liked the way the pieces of this story came together and connected. The art project that sort of spurs the story along I thought was very clever and completely something I could see hanging in a modern art gallery. I felt like the pieces with Clara’s romance felt like a weird side part of the story that didn’t quite fit with everything else, but for the most part I liked this book and thought it was a good contemplation on the things we hold onto and why.
Around the Year in 100 Books 