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mj122955
Posted 2015-03-03 8:45 AM (#9810 - in reply to #9162)
Subject: Re: The Definitive 1950s Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Piano Player was disappointing. It's hard to feel much empathy for the protagonist, Paul Proteus. He's a hopeless milksop who reminds me of the Og Oggilby character in the movie The Bank Dick. I kept thinking of W. C. Fields comment to Og: "Don't be a luddy-duddy! Don't be a mooncalf! Don't be a jabbernowl! You're not those, are you?" Paul seems to stumble through life, professing to love his wife Anita even though she is a hectoring busybody. It's tough to build a compelling story on the shoulders of such a weak character.

Piano Player is filled with disconnected people, places, and events that don't seem to serve any purpose in furthering the plot. Paul buys Gottwald House, an old fashion farm, but loses interest after one day of farm work. The Shah of Bratpuhr character is so broad that his outsider's viewpoint is diminished. Doctor Lawson Shepherd, Paul's second-in-command, is a matinee villain, flat and one-dimensional. The plot detours into an encounter with the Cornell football coach, a checker playing machine named Checker Charley, and a black cellmate who is straight out of a minstrel show.

Player Piano is a jumbled mess.

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