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Piano Man
Fantasizing about the piano player who has moved into her apartment building, fourteen-year-old Deidre is determined to show him that she is not a little girl, until her cousin's rocky relationship makes her wonder if love can be uncomplicated. Reprint.
- GenresYoung Adult
240 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1992
2 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Sweeney
36 books29 followersJoyce Sweeney captured the attention of the YA book world when her novel Center Line was chosen as the winner of the first Delacorte Press Prize for an Outstanding First Young Adult Novel in 1984. Since that auspicious beginning she has continued to publish appealing novels for teens on a variety of topics, among them friendships, family relationships, and self-discovery. Four of those novels have been named Best Books for Young Adults, four have been Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, and Booklist included Players among its Top Ten Sports Books in 2002.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 15, 2017
I read this book ages ago. Going to have to give it a re read and update my review.
ETA: Really quick read, honestly, which is probably why I had read it so many times as a kid.
So on to the review. This is the story of Deidre Holland's 14th summer, in hot and sticky Florida with her cousin Susie and her widowed and flighty mom Janet. Deidre is most a good girl-dutiful, kind, shy, and also an excellent cook. She wants to be a chef when she grows up and puts together incredible meals even at her young age. Things start to change a bit for her when three events happen almost back to back: Her mother gets a boyfriend for the first time since her father died 12 years before. Susie, her cousin, announces she's found a hot guy at the mall who wants to take her out. Curt's his name and he's two years older, horny, and super attractive. But there's some darker stuff stirring underneath his joking demeanor and Susie, for all her "grown up" bravado, can't really handle his problems. On top of this, Deidre gets a new upstairs neighbor, Jeff, a twenty something piano player who works in a dive bar but is far too talented to be doing so. And Jeff's also having a bit of a crisis, which makes Deidre want to nurture and care for him, leading her to feel things for this much older guy she never has for anyone else before.
The story telling is somewhat juvenile, though it is written for young teens/adults. I feel like I remember loving the book because at the time I was quite young and could feel what Deidre felt so realistically. I also thought she was so cool because she was such an old soul in a young body. But the truth is, after rereading this at the ripe old age of 29, I don't feel like I relate that much to her anymore. A lot of what happens to Deidre that summer is problematic and uncomfortable, which can be great storytelling, but with the somewhat simplistic language and the almost teenage dialogue (even from the adults in this story) it comes off as incredibly naïve and cheesy, almost to the point where the entire minor/older man story is sleezier than it should be. Because while Deidre fantasized and went a little overboard with her scenarios, Jeff really should have never entertained her at all. Janet should have been a far more attentive mom. And Susie really shouldn't have been able to get away with half of what she did at that age.
Overall, for nostalgia factor as well what was an interesting coming of age story, it get's 3 stars. But I feel like this story could be rewritten today, updated and more mature, in a way that would really make the entire summer scorching.
ETA: Really quick read, honestly, which is probably why I had read it so many times as a kid.
So on to the review. This is the story of Deidre Holland's 14th summer, in hot and sticky Florida with her cousin Susie and her widowed and flighty mom Janet. Deidre is most a good girl-dutiful, kind, shy, and also an excellent cook. She wants to be a chef when she grows up and puts together incredible meals even at her young age. Things start to change a bit for her when three events happen almost back to back: Her mother gets a boyfriend for the first time since her father died 12 years before. Susie, her cousin, announces she's found a hot guy at the mall who wants to take her out. Curt's his name and he's two years older, horny, and super attractive. But there's some darker stuff stirring underneath his joking demeanor and Susie, for all her "grown up" bravado, can't really handle his problems. On top of this, Deidre gets a new upstairs neighbor, Jeff, a twenty something piano player who works in a dive bar but is far too talented to be doing so. And Jeff's also having a bit of a crisis, which makes Deidre want to nurture and care for him, leading her to feel things for this much older guy she never has for anyone else before.
The story telling is somewhat juvenile, though it is written for young teens/adults. I feel like I remember loving the book because at the time I was quite young and could feel what Deidre felt so realistically. I also thought she was so cool because she was such an old soul in a young body. But the truth is, after rereading this at the ripe old age of 29, I don't feel like I relate that much to her anymore. A lot of what happens to Deidre that summer is problematic and uncomfortable, which can be great storytelling, but with the somewhat simplistic language and the almost teenage dialogue (even from the adults in this story) it comes off as incredibly naïve and cheesy, almost to the point where the entire minor/older man story is sleezier than it should be. Because while Deidre fantasized and went a little overboard with her scenarios, Jeff really should have never entertained her at all. Janet should have been a far more attentive mom. And Susie really shouldn't have been able to get away with half of what she did at that age.
Overall, for nostalgia factor as well what was an interesting coming of age story, it get's 3 stars. But I feel like this story could be rewritten today, updated and more mature, in a way that would really make the entire summer scorching.
August 31, 2018
“Piano Man”, by Joyce Sweeney, is about 14 year old Deidre, spending her summer in Florida with her naïve, spontaneous, best friend, Susie, and widowed, timid mother, Janet. Deidre is an intelligent, mature young girl, and also has a great skill in cooking, which she is able to impress many with, including her mother’s possible new love interest later in the story.
Speaking of love interests, quite soon, Susie finds an older, flirty boyfriend in the mall that her and Deidre love to hang out in. Curt, Susie’s boyfriend, always seems to be a pesky tease, although Deidre eventually warms up to him. During this time, she feels like quite a third wheel, because of the fact that she’d never had a boyfriend before, and could not relate to the connection Susie and Curt had, or at least thought they did. However, this drastically changes when Deidre’s new apartment neighbor, Jeff, moves in right above her.
One boring day out of the summer, she was home alone when she heard the sound of a piano playing from throughout the apartment. She soon finds out that it was actually Jeff from upstairs, and was immediately attracted to him from the moment they had met. Jeff was a 26 year old pianist working at a nightclub, so obviously this crush was very inappropriate for a girl Deidre’s age; he simply could not develop an intimate relationship with her, no matter how hard she tried. Aware of this, she still attempts to grab his attention as much as possible and act more mature than she really was in order for him to “realize” that her age doesn’t matter… This was not a very smart plan, because unlike Deidre, Jeff understood that she was going through puberty and still a child, regardless. The more Deidre falls in love with Jeff, the more she develops a need to grow up.
Deidre finally realizes that her big plan to form a relationship with Jeff was unrealistic when she tries to kiss him in his apartment. He is immediately disgusted and freaked out, and starts to shout in Deidre’s face about how the entire time he had thought she was just a nice girl, but really, she was trying to get him to date her. He now feels shocked and betrayed. Deidre runs home to her own apartment, clearly upset, and crying. She never wanted things to end up this way- he was supposed to fall in love back! Now that her plan is ruined, she starts to question why he would reject her so harshly. This is when it hits her- she was still underage. The next couple days, her and Jeff work things through, and remain friends, despite their awkward encounter. Susie and Curt, however, start to fight over small things due to Curt’s anger issues, and Deidre’s mother starts to think about marrying the man she had been seeing.
One big idea throughout the book was obviously romance. The entire story is full of different types of relationships, from casual and rocky, to stable and serious. The main point is, love is blind. Sometimes we fall in love with the right people at the wrong time. “She’d never really admitted to herself that she was in love with Jeff, let alone to someone else. Anyway, it wasn’t love, exactly. That would be stupid. After all, the odds of anything really happening with him were pretty slim.” (Sweeney, 65) What I mean by this is, maybe Deidre could have really found the one, if she was of age. Maybe later on in their lives, Deidre and Jeff could be in the best relationship. If Deidre had just waited to see, instead of rushing things and expecting everything she wanted to come to her in an instant, then things could work out in her favor. Clearly Deidre was a bit stubborn and close minded.
Overall, “Piano Man” was a bit cheesy, crude and inappropriate. It was also sometimes cliché, and the ending felt too rushed, almost as if the writer had no time to wrap things up. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in a quick read, or likes teenage romance books. ⅗
Speaking of love interests, quite soon, Susie finds an older, flirty boyfriend in the mall that her and Deidre love to hang out in. Curt, Susie’s boyfriend, always seems to be a pesky tease, although Deidre eventually warms up to him. During this time, she feels like quite a third wheel, because of the fact that she’d never had a boyfriend before, and could not relate to the connection Susie and Curt had, or at least thought they did. However, this drastically changes when Deidre’s new apartment neighbor, Jeff, moves in right above her.
One boring day out of the summer, she was home alone when she heard the sound of a piano playing from throughout the apartment. She soon finds out that it was actually Jeff from upstairs, and was immediately attracted to him from the moment they had met. Jeff was a 26 year old pianist working at a nightclub, so obviously this crush was very inappropriate for a girl Deidre’s age; he simply could not develop an intimate relationship with her, no matter how hard she tried. Aware of this, she still attempts to grab his attention as much as possible and act more mature than she really was in order for him to “realize” that her age doesn’t matter… This was not a very smart plan, because unlike Deidre, Jeff understood that she was going through puberty and still a child, regardless. The more Deidre falls in love with Jeff, the more she develops a need to grow up.
Deidre finally realizes that her big plan to form a relationship with Jeff was unrealistic when she tries to kiss him in his apartment. He is immediately disgusted and freaked out, and starts to shout in Deidre’s face about how the entire time he had thought she was just a nice girl, but really, she was trying to get him to date her. He now feels shocked and betrayed. Deidre runs home to her own apartment, clearly upset, and crying. She never wanted things to end up this way- he was supposed to fall in love back! Now that her plan is ruined, she starts to question why he would reject her so harshly. This is when it hits her- she was still underage. The next couple days, her and Jeff work things through, and remain friends, despite their awkward encounter. Susie and Curt, however, start to fight over small things due to Curt’s anger issues, and Deidre’s mother starts to think about marrying the man she had been seeing.
One big idea throughout the book was obviously romance. The entire story is full of different types of relationships, from casual and rocky, to stable and serious. The main point is, love is blind. Sometimes we fall in love with the right people at the wrong time. “She’d never really admitted to herself that she was in love with Jeff, let alone to someone else. Anyway, it wasn’t love, exactly. That would be stupid. After all, the odds of anything really happening with him were pretty slim.” (Sweeney, 65) What I mean by this is, maybe Deidre could have really found the one, if she was of age. Maybe later on in their lives, Deidre and Jeff could be in the best relationship. If Deidre had just waited to see, instead of rushing things and expecting everything she wanted to come to her in an instant, then things could work out in her favor. Clearly Deidre was a bit stubborn and close minded.
Overall, “Piano Man” was a bit cheesy, crude and inappropriate. It was also sometimes cliché, and the ending felt too rushed, almost as if the writer had no time to wrap things up. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in a quick read, or likes teenage romance books. ⅗
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2015
Even if you've never read this book, you should read this.
~A story written on a dreary afternoon when a twelve-year-old first discovered eighties music~
~A story written on a dreary afternoon when a twelve-year-old first discovered eighties music~
July 25, 2012
Pretty cheese book but it kept me wanting to read. It was a quick one which are sometimes good especially when there are so many books to get through in the summer. A little young romance story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews