Of Things Past and Imagined
  • Home
    • About me
  • History
  • Book reviews
  • Authors & Illustrators
  • Blog

Book reviews

Annie Proulx - Accordion Crimes

12/12/2019

 
Picture
I think Annie Proulx deserves to be called the Mistress of Bizarre Deaths. The cruel ways in which characters meet their ends was already what I remember her Wyoming stories for, but this book tops all of those!

The only stable factor within Accordion Crimes (except for the deaths) is a little green accordion, which throughout the book gets into the hands of countless people from various descent. Roughly a century goes by, while Proulx takes us on a wild and windy road through her limitlrss fantasy. The book is divided into 8 parts, and each of those has families with other roots in focus: Italian, African, German, Irish, French, Mexican, Polish, Norwegian, and travelling through the States of Louisiana, Iowa, Texas, Maine, Illinois, Montana, and Mississippi. While telling stories of ordinary people, all with some interest in accordion/traditional/folk music, Proulx gives us insight into the history of migrants, acceptance, assimilation or staying true your own traditions, and racism in the US. Even within the seperate parts of the books there are short stories, which makes me marvel about the immense variety of stories and character Annie Proulx has in store. Her harsh humor made me smile quite some times, the US is a bitter country when you base your impressions on Proulx' narrations. Nevertheless, I always love to get lost in them.

Annie Proulx - The Shipping News

3/15/2019

 
Picture
This book is exactly how I know Annie Proulx: a bit harsh, a tad mysterious, and taking place in a small forgotten town somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the United States. The story centers around Quoyle, a middle-aged man who lost his parents after they jointly committed suicide. He’s married to an abusive woman, Petal, who openly sleeps with other men and does drugs. When she and her drug-addict boyfriend try to sell Quoyle’s daughters, Petal dies in a car accident. The police returns the two girls to Quoyle, whose life is really falling apart at this time. Without having to much of a plan, he drives to Newfoundland, where his father grew up and his aunt Agnes is still living. Agnes convinces him to stay and build up a life of his own here. He finds a job at the local newspaper, where he’s to write about accidents as well as incoming and outgoing ships; the shipping news.

He meets several locals and step by step learns more about his ancestors. The life on the wild island transforms him. It’s like he’s finally finding to himself, discovering his inner worth, and emerges from his shell. This allows him to develop a close friendship and eventually a relationship to a woman, Wavey. He learns that human relationships can be enriching and not just threatening. Beautiful!


    Categories

    All
    19th Century
    20th Century
    21st Century
    Amos Oz
    Anne Frank
    Annie Proulx
    Arthur Japin
    Art Spiegelman
    Bernhard Schlink
    Charles Dickens
    Charlotte Brontë
    Cormac McCarthy
    Donna Tartt
    Harper Lee
    Jane Austen
    Jewels
    John Steinbeck
    Jostein Gaarder
    Larry McMurtry
    Margaret Mitchell
    Pascal Mercier
    Ray Bradbury
    Suzanne Collins
    Tad Williams
    Victor Hugo

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
    • About me
  • History
  • Book reviews
  • Authors & Illustrators
  • Blog