| Accordion
Crimes by Annie Proulx By the author of The Shipping News. The compelling if harrowing cycle of stories about immigrant life in America. Proulx uses the fate of an accordion, built by an ambitious Sicilian immigrant in 1890, to connect colorful and hair-raising tales that ultimately span a century of American madness. In what becomes a wildly ironic sequence of freak accidents, bizarre illnesses, weird suicides, odd coincidences, bad karma, dumb scams, and poor judgment, the accordion surfaces in North Dakota, Texas, Maine, and Chicago. It is coveted, held, and squeezed by people of Italian, African, German, Mexican, French, Polish, and Irish descent, giving voice to their laments and dreams. In each of the ethnic microcosms she so masterfully creates, Proulx presents us with bitter insights into the malleability and insidiousness of prejudice and the sorrow of lost pasts. As we keep our eye on that precious accordion, we're held rapt by Proulx's imagination, cultural and social perception, and fluency in absurdity. (excerpted from Donna Seaman ) |
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