Books
by E Annie Proulx
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Accordion Crimes |
A tour de force. Proulx uses the device of tracing the vicissitudes of a humble accordion for a panoramic view of the ethnic/cultural groups that went into the great American melting pot. She has a Dickensian capacity to invent idiosyncratic characters and amazing twists of story and each episode is rich in convincing detail as her characters struggle for survival. Both enormous fun and thought-provoking. Great American Nightmare?
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 12 January 2002) |
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That Old Ace in the Hole |
This time it's the Texas pan-handle that Proulx has chosen to bring to vivid life for us. Anyone who has enjoyed The Shipping News and Accordion Crimes (bwl 12) won't need me to recommend this, but for newcomers, this writer has an extraordinary capacity to get inside the skin of places and their inhabitants, with wit, affection and intelligence. Another must, if a decidedly quirky one.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 24 June 2004) |
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That Old Ace in the Hole |
A wonderful rediscovery. The basic plot entails young Bob scouring the Texas Panhandle for sites for hog farms. What we get is a glorious welter of characters, all with their idiosyncratic stories and all dead set against hog farms. As in The Shipping News, landscape - here vast parched distances - and violent weather become characters in their own right. Proulx is a splendid story teller and I chortled from beginning to end.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 92 Spring 2019) |
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