Accordion Crimes

ACCORDION CRIMES

by E. Annie Proulx

 

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 1998, Women's Prize Finalist 1997

 

Date Read: December 22, 2020

 

Being a big fan of The Shipping News, I was very much looking forward to another dose of Proulx. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark completely. While I appreciate the concept and the writing, I feel like I should receive an award for making it through this.

 

The main character throughout Accordion Crimes is a green accordion. This is the vehicle by which Proulx presents countless vignettes of the immigrant experience as the accordion passes from one person to another through generations. Or. as one other critic said it could also have been named “Eight Million Ways To Die.”

 

I tend to be drawn to character-driven novels and I didn’t find much character development here. Instead, these individuals flashed by so quickly that I wasn’t able to embrace any of them and experience life from their perspective. Instead, this was an object-driven novel, which I have to give props for uniqueness.

 

As Proulx is a white woman, I found myself wondering at her authority to use such racist language. Racist terms did not happen incidentally but were littered throughout the entire novel. Not only did this make me uncomfortable, but it caused me to wonder if I didn’t prefer not to read these words because I preferred my racism more hidden and spoon-fed to me with plausible deniability. 

 

The other thought-provoking idea that stemmed from this encounter is that I wasn’t aware that so many cultures embraced the accordion. I have never been drawn to accordion music, of any type, but after having read this, my eyes were opened to how much accordion music is a part of Latin American, European and even Asian countries.

 

I am so sorry, Ms. Proulx. Annie. I wanted to love this but I just didn’t. 

 

Looking Forward: Postcards

 

Looking Back: The Shipping News

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