Customer Rating:  
Summary: Downright difficult!
Comment: I was looking forward to this having loved both 'The Shipping News' and 'That Old Ace in the Hole', but I have to say, I really struggled with it from beginning to end. There's no denying that Annie is a wizard with language, but for me she overdid the style on this one and neglected the plot. On the plus side, it covers a broad variety of immigrants to the US in the 20th century and has plenty to say about the struggles they faced, but I was unable to build a rapport with any of the characters over the course of each short story. Furthermore, Annie's dark humour seemed more sneering and cold than I found it in her other novels. I have to agree that it's an accomplished work and must be the result of a great deal of research, but ultimately, I didn't find it compelling or satisfying and was quite glad when I finally finished it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: History of America through the eyes of a green accordian
Comment: This is a great book. Annie Proulx absorbs and describes detail like no one else, sometimes to a level that makes the reader cringe with the realism, often tinged with black humour. If you are interested in the complex morass that is the USA, with its rich diversity of people, its religious extremes, its poverty and wealth, this provides a living history beginning with the Italian immigrant who first built the small green accordian we follow on its travels.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Polyglot of Characters Looking for a Plot
Comment: As a great fan of Proulx's 'The Shipping News', I looked forward to reading 'Accordion Crimes',. Somehow this convoluted tale of the accordion's progress seems contrived. I tried to warm to the characters but almost found them to be stereotypes. These people are supposed to be the backbone of the USA. I believe that Proulx tied herself into a stylistic corset and that, consequently, she was unable to hold the reader's interest - this one at least. Sorry Annie - I won't give up on you though, I just know I'm going to love the next one I read!
Customer Rating:
Summary: ...or around the USA in 100 years
Comment: I loved this book - in fact I can't remember having read a better one for years.
On the surface, it's the story of an accordian, from it's manufacture by the first owner and then through the lives of consequent owners. As a musician I related to the perceptive descriptions of the players of the instrument and all the other characters - of which there are many!
But the theme is of immigration to the United States, and the often tough lives of those who moved there from diverse countries and cultures. The accordian is seen as an old-fashioned instrument, much like the traditions and cultures the immigrants have left behind, and the pressure (for most characters in the book) is to conform, give up tradition, their old languages and their old music and become 'true' Americans.Darkly humourous, funny yet tragic, this deep novel takes us through the 20th century (never too specific on date) with great historical detail and reads like a linked collection of short stories. I recommend it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Weird Wonderful & Hugely entertaining.
Comment: Could be retitled a million ways to kick the bucket!
Has any book ever described more (strange & crazy) ways to leave this earth than this superb novel?
It reads like a Tarantino film but with greater humour & a real insight into the life and times of some of the greatest accordian players who've ever graced this planet!
... Read it you will not be disappointed.
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