Hi

I've just finished The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek - she won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2004. I would seriously recommend this book to anyone. It is beautifully written, darkly poetic and the woman has an almost unrivalled gift for metaphor. Has anyone else read this book, or any of her other novels?

Guy

I still haven't fully recovered from reading The Piano Teacher.

F

A cryptic statement F. Is that a recommendation? I have to confess that it's been a long time since I read a book which left me feeling quite so inadequate as a writer.

G

It's not a recommendation, although I do think she's an astonishingly fine writer. But what a harsh spin on life and sexual relationships. Not to speak of the protagonist's ghastly (and semi-sexual) relationship with her mother, which is of course central to the narrative.

A friend of mine went to a reading by Elfriede Jelinek, organised by Serpent's Tail, her brave UK publisher, and attended (courtesy of the Austrian embassy) by a number of ancient expatriate Austrian ladies in moth-eaten fur hats, who tut-tutted all the way through the reading.

F

I ordered this book from Amazon Marketplace maybe last spring, but the book never arrived. I still want to get it. Now I want to get it even more!