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Title: A monumental disappointment
Review: After The Shipping News, I couldn't wait to read Annie Proulx's latest. She had been able to grasp a unique Canadian culture of Newfoundland so well, I expected more of the same or better in Accordian Crimes. This is not a book, just a weak collection of depressing and unsatisfying short stories that do nothing to create empathy with the characters. Not a character here you would want to meet. The theme: the American dream unmasked is a good one. No plot, no unifying idea other than the little green accordian which moves along as each owner dies or loses it. I had to force myself to finish it. If this had been Annie Proulx's first book, no one would buy the next.
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