Singsong vapidity: The Piano Teacher of Montparnasse, by Heather Morris, reviewed
The Piano Teacher of Montparnasse is from Heather Morris, whose 2012 novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz began the vogue for the trivial and insidious ‘Holocaust’ novels so beloved by reading groups. There are questions at the end of this one, including: ‘What was your overwhelming feeling when finishing the novel? Was it one of hope?’ Really? These are not Holocaust novels, of course: if they were, book clubs would not want them. Holocaust novels are about death, and Morris, who writes with singsong vapidity, takes rescue and survival as her subject. Survival tales are soothing, though not representative if you understand that 90 per cent of Polish Jews were murdered. They expiate non-Jews from the truth that they colluded in the slaughter.
