Customer Reviews

Funny Accent: A Novel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had hoped to be drawn into the novel and "see" the events from the primary character's point of view. What I found was a very linear presentation of events. Though the premise of this book is touted as the story of woman who falls for men old enough to be her father, I found that this story was rather about a woman who continually falls for egocentric men who would be less than good for her, no matter what their age. And while it is often said that women who date older men have "father issues", the trail the author takes to make this point was a little abrupt to suit me. While this is a very well-written book, I was somewhat disappointed in the content presented, thus the two-star rating.

I enjoyed FUNNY ACCENT a great deal, although I have an earlier edition than the one pictured here, one whose cover sports Saul Steinberg's photo of an "Intellectual Couple" wearing paper masks that make them look like Mr. and Mrs. Peanut.

Anna is a wonderful creation, she is a free lance writer in Chicago who publishes a story in the prestigious Atlantic Monthly, called FUNNY ACCENT. First we get the story (which she has called, "Funny Accent"), then we get to hear the repercussions of what happens to her once the story, with its revelations of her own personal life and that of her Lithuanian-American family, gets around.

Anna is drawn to older men, some of them much much older than herself, and she attributes this to having been molested as a teen by a family friend called Misha. While he worked slowly and thoroughly, seducing her gently, he drew the line at having physical sex with her, and finally she threw herself at him and was rejected. By then she was twenty and too old for the creep, whom she now saw at family gatherings dancing with a young girl of thirteen, the same age she had been when she had become his prey. "He leaned toward the girl and his profile disappeared into her hair. He was whispering and she, her hand cupped over her mouth, was giggling."

The story gets complicated by Anna's other entanglements. She is living with a playwright called Gregory who's not only a Dentile, but a drunk. She is carrying on sort of a Madame de Stael flirtation with an internationally celebrated novelist from Chicago who will make readers think instantly of a thinly disguised Saul Bellow, pretentious, four times married, a perfectionist in his writing and a wild man in his personal life.

In addition, once Anna's parents get a copy of the ATLANTIC, they are shocked and dismayed to find out that it is through this vehicle that their daughter is making what amounts to a cry for help. Were they so self absorbed that they failed to see their dear Misha was making advances to Anna when she was a mere 13? Anna's mom, Sonia, in fact, has had a flirtation going on with Misha herself. He once asked her to marry him, yet she was already together with Max so it didn't happen.

Finally, Misha himself is heard from. Anna gets a call from him saying, "I've read your story."

What happens next is beyond your wildest dreams! Shulgasser Parker is a master novelist and will keep your imagination twitching as she brings us closer and closer to the insidious, glorious heartbeat of real life. She divulges the puzzling inner workings of an immigrant family, who, having escaped the Kosovo ghetto find themselves still at odds with mainstream US society. Misha is a memorable creation. Like the character Marcello Mastroianni played in PRET A PORTER (the Altman movie written by Shulgasser Parker) he is a charming man in late middle age who commits some reprehensible acts, but for whom he cherish a special fondness nevertheless--a mischievous rogue we can't help but like a little bit.

This is a fine book, one of the best novels of 2001. I only wish it had done better at the bookstores, for too few of my friends have read it. Barbara Shulgasser Parker should be getting the awards and book club bids that Diane Johnson or Jane Smiley does. Hope she writes another book soon!

Barbara Shulgasser-Parker writes a novel seemingly devoid of extras. No extraneous jabber to divert you from her prose. No inessential thoughts that clutter her focus...Whether her point is important probably lies somewhere with her subject. Since I don't care a whit about a woman drawn to her father's agemate, the substance of the novel came from a masterful ability to shake all the extra words off a page. What remains is a delight for the weekend socialogist...complex, delicious, insightful and succinctly robust.