The Clarinet Polka: A Novel [Hardcover]

Keith Maillard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 2003

Author Keith Maillard received critical acclaim with his novel Gloria, which told the story of a young woman on the cusp of womanhood in a town called Raysburg, West Virginia. In his newest book, The Clarinet Polka, Maillard turns that same eagle-eyed attention to the other side of the tracks of that very same town and creates a stunning portrait of Polish America and of one man’s struggle to find meaning in his life and roots.

The year is 1969, and young Jimmy Koprowski returns from his stint in the airforce to Raysburg, his blue-collar Polish American hometown where nothing much happens beyond working at the steel mill, going to Mass, and getting drunk at the local PAC. Jimmy’s efforts at rebuilding his life result in sleeping off hangovers in his parents’ attic and drifting into a destructive affair with a married woman.

But things change when his younger sister Linda decides to start an all-girl polka band, and Jimmy falls for the band’s star clarinetist, Janice, whose young life is haunted by tragic events that happened before she was born. The threads of Jimmy’s family life, the legacy of WWII Poland, and the healing power of music, language, and tradition all begin to converge.

At once gritty and compassionate, moving and witty, The Clarinet Polka showcases the emotional and perfectly pitched voice of a lost soul finding his way.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Maillard (Gloria) turns the spotlight on the Polish-American community in fictional Raysburg, W.Va., a steel town modeled after his native Wheeling and the setting for six of his previous novels. Discharged in 1969 after serving in Guam, noncombatant Vietnam-era vet Jimmy Koprowski returns to his parents' house and his old childhood bedroom ("the sloped ceiling is covered with all the Playboy centerfolds I taped up in high school, and if you can imagine anything more depressing than Miss November from 1960, then tell me about it"). He takes a job doing TV repairs for "a couple cents above minimum wage" and tries to readjust to the smallness of life in Raysburg, mainly through excessive boozing and sordid back-alley trysts. After an erotic encounter outside the local mall, Jimmy gets caught up in a messy affair with a neurotic society matron named Connie. The last straw for his jangled nerves comes when his 21-year-old sister, Linda, also living at home, decides to take up the trumpet and start an all-girl polka band. Jimmy finds himself playing chauffeur to 15-year-old clarinet virtuoso Janice Dluwiekis, the goody-two-shoes daughter of a prominent accountant and the star of Linda's band. The engrossing tale traces Jimmy's losing struggle to tame his drinking as his carnal obsession with Connie and his disturbing feelings for the innocent Janice spiral out of control. Jimmy is a wry, down-to-earth, irresistible narrator, and Maillard draws all the characters in the working-class community with compassion and obvious affection. This moving, well-drawn story of sin and redemption in a fading industry town may remind readers of Richard Russo.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Jimmy Koprowski seems like just another loser. Back home in Raysburg, WV, in 1969 after four years in the air force, he's mourning a buddy killed in Vietnam, drinking too much, working in a TV repair shop when he isn't too hung over, and sleeping with a sexy married woman he doesn't even much like. Then his younger sister, Linda, pulls him into her plans to form an all-girl polka band in their Polish American community. Jimmy is soon chauffeuring one of Linda's recruits, 15-year-old Janice Dluwiecki, a talented clarinetist whose blonde perfection is too much for his tastes. But as the two spend time together, Janice becomes infatuated, and Jimmy ends up falling in love with a teenager ten years his junior. To keep from touching her, he takes off, hitting bottom with booze before finally figuring out where he belongs. Maillard, who explored the country club set in Gloria, has once again written an absolutely captivating novel, this time a warm and wonderful story of reconciliation and redemption, chock-full of memorable characters and true to its time and place. In its portrayal of Polish Americans, it is also a celebration of heritage in general-but if you aren't at least part Polish, after reading this you may wish you were. Enthusiastically recommended for all fiction collections.
Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (March 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312308892
• ISBN-13: 978-0312308896
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,393,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as it gets, April 30, 2003

By 

Candace "thepageturner" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Clarinet Polka: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is a marvelous, tough, joyful book about a man finding his way in the world. Jimmy Koprowski comes home to Raysburg, West Virginia, after four years in the service. He spent the Viet Nam war in Guam, but he still can't get this life together. He's living at home, working at a TV repair job when he can manage to make it in. Jimmy often spends too much of the evening drinking at the Polish American Club. The drink inflames his self-destructive tendencies, as does a nasty affair with Connie Bradshawe, a wealthy, beautiful woman who seems intent on bringing them both to grief.

Distraction comes in the unlikely form of Jimmy's younger sister Linda, a musician who wants to start an all-girl polka band. Since it is 1969, you might think that Linda is going to have a hard time finding musicians to play something as un-cool as the polka. Ah, that's not the case in Raysburg's Polish community, where even hippies have a good time at polka parties. My Sister's Polka Band includes Linda on trumpet, a 60-ish accordionist, one of those tattooed hippies, a non-Polish farm girl from Ohio, and a 15-year-old named Janice on the clarinet. Janice is a real talent, the daughter of Polish refugees who may be the only people in town to look down on polka music. Jimmy is drafted to ferry Janice to and from rehearsals. He is surprised to find out how much they have to talk about, and not only must he grapple with his drinking and his relationship with Connie, but with his developing feelings for a girl too young for him.

Jimmy is a terrific voice-unsentimental, wry, funny, and down to earth. He wants to pooh-pooh the Polish dances and church festivities, but is always willing to admit that he can't because he likes them too much. You like him, too, and Janice, the polka band and all the neighbors who love to dance and drink beer at the Polish American Club.

I'm surprised that author Keith Maillard is not better known, and I was surprised to read that "Clarinet Polka" is his seventh book about Raysburg. He came to most readers' attention with "Gloria"-a book as elegantly designed as it was written. Maillard is an excellent writer who is worth discovering.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I LOVE this author, April 9, 2003

By 

N. Gargano "nokegchris" (Waynesville NC and Bradenton, Fl) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Clarinet Polka: A Novel (Hardcover)

I was so happy when I saw this book in the bookstore because I am such a big fan of his book Gloria. So...I bought this book and I loved it! Mr. Maillard writes in a way that wraps his words and characters totally around me, I get so involved, and he makes me feel the feelings that the characters are feeling, or at least understand them. After reading Gloria I have wondered why Mr. Maillard is not more known, not on reading group lists......anyway, he is a great rider, pick this book up and enjoy the ride.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "OJ DA NA, OJ DANA!", May 18, 2003

By 

slovakgirl5 (Cleveland, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Clarinet Polka: A Novel (Hardcover)

Any fans of the Polish polka must read this book, for what other contemporary novel would dare mixe unabashed praise for old Polish musicians like Lil Wally ("father of Chicago-style polka"), Walt Solek and Marion Lush? And then manage to weave an engrossing story in a believable 1970s time-capsule, replete with different characters' viewpoints on polka music?? Is it "zdegenerowana" (degenerate peasant culture) or is it part & parcel of Polish-Americanism? Author Keith Maillard brings us again a story set in fictional Rayburg, WV (think: Wheeling, WV) in a blue-collar Polish Catholic community. The story is told from the viewpoint of a 3rd-generation, Holden Caulfield-esque narrator named Jimmy Dombrowski, back in town after an overseas stint in the Army. He's bored and bummed about the Vietnam War and as anomie and alcoholism set it, a form of unexpected rescue comes his way as he gets involved with his kid sister's new all-girl polka band.

Even though our 26 y/o Jimmy doesn't see it coming, we readers do as he falls hard for the leader singer in a band, a mere teenager named Janice. Even a messy physical relationship with a married woman can't erase his feelings for Janice and our Jimmy takes a dive. Anyone familiar with the vagaries of chronic, severe alcoholism will realize that author Maillard does a first-rate job detailing how one can hit rock bottom and stay there for a long time.

Of course, I won't reveal the ending to this rather length story, but suffice it to say that Jimmy's Polish background is a constant in his frequently changing world: he can recite the Rosary in Polish, appreciates good golubka and uszka and can sing along to Polish polkas with the best of 'em.

(As a Cleveland-style polka fan, I appreciated the mention of Ray Budzilek in the story and the commentary about Cleve-style polka (altho' not totally accurate, in my opinion). The venerable Eddie B gets regular mention; curiously, Grammy-winner Jimmy Sturr gets no print!

The title song, "The Clarinet Polka" pops up often enough in Jimmy's story, but I believe that the old standard, "Zosia," gets more print and and printed lyrics than the former. A tip of the hat to the author as he also captures the poignant sadness of the start of the decline of eastern European communities at this point in American history: as a 3rd-generation Polish-American, Jimmy sadly observes the slow dying out of the culture as American popular culture steadily wipes out any vestiges left.

Some of this story puts me in mind of Greg Cielec's "My Cleveland Story" that takes place in a similar setting (1970s blue-collar ethnic city) when somebody's uncle was always squeezing an accordion in a kitchen somewhere. Maillard's afterward actually makes equally interesting and informative reading as he reveals his historical and political sources for devising this novel. He does great characterizations with the comical chicks in the polka band; the tragic figure of Janice's father; a realistic portrait of Jimmy's father (typical 1960s dad!) and the complexities in both Janice's and Linda's personalities.

So much more could be said about this important novel: questions of good versus evil come up; the importance/relevance of religious faith post-Holocaust...little-known facts on Poland's role in WWII.

Beware: after reading this book, you may suffer cravings for kielbasa and pierogi!