Rating: 
Summary: one warped detail on a sea of adventure
Review: I once crossed the Atlantic on a freighter which stopped in New Foundland. A friend begged me to read The Shipping News which opened my mind to fiction after years of reading theory. Perhaps every author has one great novel and readers will continue to be disappointed by their inability to grasp another tale, not a sequel to the one they last finished. It is no surprise to me that Americans are a bit disappointed by the tragic lives depicted in Accordian Crimes. I have to admit that I found it refreshing. I did find one detail alarming given the careful attention paid to historic details. On p. 204 of the first edition(hard cover), Proulx refers to whalers as "whale killers" which continues to distract me. Men who hunted whales and the men who continue to hunt them are not "whale killers" but simply "whalers." Perhaps this will change in future editions....
Rating: 
Summary: Difficult- But Worth It
Review: I must admit it did take me a few weeks to actually get around to finnishing ACCORDIAN CRIMES but once I did complete it- I was definitly left with a feeling of satisfaction. It is indeed a difficult novel to get through. The lives of some of the characters are left incomplete and some of their stories become tedious and drawn out at points. However- Ms. Proulx is a master of description and her flowing sentences and unbelievable use of the English language kept me from giving up. Some may say that there wasn't a real plot and that the accordian didn't really hold the interest for too many- but I know that for me- I was wondering all along "Who the heck is ever going to find the $14,000.00?????". I loved the ending because it wasn't meant to really resolve anything. The world keeps revolving but nothing lasts forever...people die, money is lost, happiness isn't inevitable, tragedy is a reality, objects are destroyed, and accordians change hands. Ms. Proulx s! ucceeded in showing the reader that no person or object is truly timeless and that everything good/bad, alive/inanimate must come to an end.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing, pointless, no redeeming qualities
Review: With great expectations, our reading group, all fans of Annie Proulx, took up Accordion Crimes. Alas, we were unanimous in our profound disappointmen. Nowhere in the book did there appear a shred of hopefulness, a bit of redemption, any glimmer of relief from the relentless pessimism and heavyhanded grimness. The characters themselves were unlikable, for the most part, and the view of humanity in this book is worthy of the most confirmed misanthrope. None of us in the reading group could understand what the point of this whole exercise was. A waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing, Contrived
Review: The reviews were so good that I couldn't wait to read this book...and my expectations were high after the wonderful "Shipping News". The idea behind "Accordian Crimes" was brilliant; the result, a momumental disappointment. Proulx presented flat undeveloped characters, a choppy story line, and an unbelievable denouement. I keep reading only in hope that I would find a point to the whole thing.
Rating:
Summary: breathtaking, masterful
Review: I am stunned that so many people don't see what a jewel this book is. I found it breathtaking, masterful, moving, and far superior to most contemporary American fiction. It's tremendously demanding, not simple entertainment (though it is entertaining in parts), and an important commentary on American ethnic life during a very turbulent century. Most writers to this page have objected to the weirdness, the sadness, the misfortunes that seem to pile up . . . But I think the author meant all of this more metaphorically than literally (though it must be true in part that Proulx enjoys a twisted tale for its own sake). Notice how their actions and characters and situations sometimes invite their fates, how their pride and avarice destroy them, how their believe in the "American dream" undoes them. There's so much to think about here--the story is smaller than the ideas behind it. And even if you don't care to do that, there's enough brilliant historical detail, perfect rendering of place and time, exquisite portrayal of emotion (the pain of losing one's homeland and the complete entropy that surrounds the immigrant to this nutty country rings so true--remember the Polish woman who cried into the soup pot, it had been so many years since she'd had the ingredients to make her beloved traditional soup? In one short phrase, Proulx created this entire scene in all its significance.) It reminds me a little of the surrealism in books like "One Hundred Years of Solitude," whose unlucky characters suffer all sorts of strange twists of fate, but the sense of place and history and personality transcends the facts. These are the things I loved about this book, and I hope that those who expect just a story will go back and read it for much more than that--the rewards are there.
Rating:
Summary: Patronising, disappointing, too much information, no emotion
Review: I totally agreed with most of the negative reviews of this book I read on this site before adding mine. After "The Shipping News" one would expect much more. Just a few notes. Why do all the characters have to end in a gruesome, unlikely way? Why are they all losers, mostly paranoid? Why does the reader have to go through the pain of reading all the details of widely researched material on accordions, horses, whatever becomes the fixation of the writer in a certain page? In this book there are paragraphs and paragraphs listing singers, players, records, horse breeds... It seems like the writer was more concerned in making sure to include every single bit of information she researched like an undescerning teen-ager closed in a library than to interest the reader in the subject. No doubt she has no knowledge of (or passion for) the instruments she describes other than an academic one. In the same way she has poor knowledge of most of the ethnic communities she describes. Just lots of stereotypes, which the green accordion does not manage to unify: starting a new chapter is always a struggle. I am not sure I will pick up her next book.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been brilliant
Review: The whole basis of this book, allowing us glimpses into the lives of the various immigrants that successively own an accordion, was a great idea and could have been absolutely brilliant. Parts of the story shone, but then it just seemed to deteriorate and get so weird that I was barely able to finish it. It could have been wonderful. For anyone who hasn't read The Shipping News, don't let this stop you - you would never know they were written by the same writer.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: I got tired of all the violence when Delor killed himself because he was so happy. Having the accordian smashed by a truck left me laughing and disappointed that no ends were tied up. Like the thousand dollar bills, everything was just left to blow away. What a farce!
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't finish it.
Review: I just couldn't finish this one. Life is too short and there are too many other deserving books out there. This was a book club choice and the members of the club that finished it thought it was a real downer By reading the other reviews on this book I feel good I'm not the only one who couldn't finish it. After giving up on Accordian Crimes I was going to give up on Annie Proulx but it sounds like from the reviews I should read Shipping News.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing book
Review: I enjoyed The Shipping News and was delighted to find Accordion Crimes by the same author, E. Annie Proulx. However, I gave up reading Accordion Crimes at page 140. This book is essentially a collection of short, ethnic vignettes about successive owners of a green accordion. However, a unifying plot is lacking and the vignettes lack plots to hold my interest. The book is full of historic facts and well written, but that is not enough to keep me reading. I am sorry I purchased this book, a real disappointment.
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