Rating: 
Summary: How Much Tragedy Can I Cram In
Review: Every kind of tragedy is crammed into this novel. Written for movie rights maybe? The concept of following an accordian could have been interesting. The one star I gave it was for the descriptions of accordians - a subject with which I was unfamiliar. If you want to know about accordians, go to an encyclopedia; don't bother with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Depressing, dreary read with very little payoff
Review: I am always skeptical when a writer creates characters of other ethnic groups than her own: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Annie Proulx clearly did her research on this one, but while the stories seem factually plausible, none of her cast of immigrant characters ever really rises above the level of stereotype. It is as though the writer understands the facts behind them, but not the feelings. The result is like a lite, sixth-grade-social-studies trip through the history of immigration in America, with the accordion (and the unrelenting bad luck that goes with it) as a flimsy plot device. I loved Proulx's first novel, The Shipping News. But I wish I hadn't bought this book or spent the time it took to read it. My advice: save your money.
Rating: 
Summary: This book needs a soundtrack, and luckily you can get one
Review: Someone gave me "Accordion Crimes" for a gift because I play the accordion. After reading the nasty and brutal first chapter I put the book down, but the person who gave it to me asked me how I liked it, so I had to pick it up again. On second reading I reversed my judgement-- It's a wonderful book. The trick is that the people aren't the characters, the accordions are. The flawed and prejudiced human characters are merely vehicles for transmitting accordion music. The people never quite understand the nature of the treasure they are holding (like the thousand dollar bills hidden inside the little green buttonbox), because they let their own prejudices get tangled up in their music even though the music itself transcends human constructed boundaries. "Accordion Crimes" together with the recording "Planet Squeezebox" would make a nice set since it would give the reader a chance to actually hear the amazing music this book is about
Rating: 
Summary: Sad, but what isn't?
Review: One of the greatest books IN and ABOUT American history
Rating:
Summary: Not as accessible as Shipping News, but then America wasn't
Review: Despite the sheer awfulness of much that befalls the characters in this book, it is ultimately about the optimism and resilience that are the necessary attributes of the brave souls who take on the burden of settling in a heartbreakingly foreign land. It is 'Newfoundland' writ large.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After reading all the raves about Shipping News (which I have not read), I found Accordian Crimes in the bargain bin of the local bookstore, so I thought I would give it a try. The book is readable, but it is essentially a collection of depressing (and troubling) short stories. I was expecting an actual NOVEL. The characters seem to be either horrendously unlucky or incredibly stupid. The plot would come to a conclusion just when I feel I am getting into the storyline. In short, I do not much care for it.
Rating:
Summary: 100% as good as The Shipping News...
Review: I started Accordian Crimes as a book-on-tape. After listening to Side 1 of the first cassette, I pulled it from the tape player. THIS was a book to be read--and savored. I got a hold of the hardcover and found it hard to put down. Proulx is a fabulous writer whose research and talent allows her writing to go all over the place emotionally, geographically, historically, and ethnically. I think my favorite part was the chapter on the Germans in Iowa. Out of nothing they built a town; their grandson years later is beat up during WWI due to anti-German sentiment. The oversexed German and his obliging wife are great characters. I think this book could be required reading for any American history or sociology college-level class. The prejudice the characters face would make for an interesting discussion. This book though is LITERATURE, and it is just as good, just as American as anything the overrated Hemingway ever published.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing for Annie Proulz
Review: After reading The Shipping News for our book club, and reading a synopsis of Accordian Crimes, our book club was enthusiastic about another of Ms. Proulz's books. While Shipping News carried off its story line with beautifully written prose, interesting and well developed characters, and a plot, I felt that Accordion Crimes had little fluid writing, you never got to know or feel anything for her characters, and her story line was very disjointed and choppy. I started this book enthused about the idea that it was written like a series of connected short stories, with an interconnecting theme of following the accordian through it's life. This was a VERY DISAPPOINTING NOVEL that I never would have finished had I not been reading it for a book club. There is too much good literature to waste time on something this mediocre. However, I'd highly recommend Shipping News to anyone who did not like this book. They are very different, and what this book lacks, Shipping News has in abundance.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good.
Review: I thought that this was much better than The Shipping News. Much more complex.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, how I wish I wrote this book!
Review: Take heart, undecided readers. There are paragraphs and scenarios in this book that you will go back to again and again because they are so marvelous, so rich. I literally laughed for 20 minutes at the fool who gave his wife a surprise party when she was pre-menstrual and looking like hell. Her subtle chiding of him and the fire brigade leaving in the middle of the night were some of the funniest truths to be written in a long time. The travails of the accordian's disparate owners were sad. And all the while, I thought of a most appropro notion: if only the instrument could talk! A wonderful read, one that makes me glad of my own life.
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