Grand Obsession: A Piano Odyssey
by Perri Knize
Published by Scribner
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Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart
As a child, I took piano lessons. When I saw Grand Obsession: A Piano Odyssey as an Editor’s Pick on _The New York Times Bestseller List), I had to learn more about this book. I had my musician friends read it and they loved, so I had to read it, too.
Grand Obsession: A Piano Odyssey is environmentalist journalist Perri Knize’s homage to the piano, her father, and the deep need to answer life’s calling. Knize was the child of professional musician. Although he gave it up for a more lucrative career, he trained his daughter to have a musician’s ear—something I never understood until I read this book. At the age of 43, Knize’s longing to play the piano re-surfaced and sent her on a life-changing quest.
As an adult beginner, Knize didn’t rush right out and buy a piano. She knew her budget (pianos are EXPENSIVE), and traveled across the country in search of the perfect one. She found it in New York; it had a smoky, dusky tone that she fell in love with there on the showroom floor. It reminded her of Marlene Dietrich, so she named her new love Marlene. The purchase was made, and Marlene was shipped to Knize’s home in Montana. Once set up, the sound was gone. The Marlene she fell in love with was now a horrid cacophony. So the journey to re-find Marlene begins.
Knize researches why the tone and voice were gone. She becomes obsessed with finding the person who can restore Marlene’s sound. Needless to say, there aren’t a whole lot of piano tuners in Montana. Knize learns that a tuning lasts about one day; it’s the voice of the piano that really matters. As she researches, she wants to meet the people and see the places her piano was created.
Kinze chronicle her journey in narrative form that is part mystery, part love story, and part literature. There were a couple of chapter that I found a little boring—like “Physics and Metaphysics”—but I know more than I ever knew about pianos before. Grand Obsession: A Piano Odyssey was an educational, emotional read that I highly recommend.
Armchair Interviews says: If you love good writing, this book is for you. If you love the piano, even better.
Author’s Web site: http://www.GrandObsession.com