Accordion Eulogies - by Noé Álvarez

About the Book

"Growing up in Yakima, Washington, Néo Álvarez never knew his grandfather. Stories swirled around this mythologized, larger-than-life figure: That he had abandoned his family, and had possibly done something awful that put a curse on his descendants. About his grandfather, young Néo was sure of only one thing: That he had played the accordion. Now an adult, reckoning with the legacy of silence surrounding his family's migration from Mexico, Álvarez resolves both to take up the instrument and to journey into Mexico to discover the grandfather he never knew"--

Book Synopsis

Searching, propulsive, and deeply spiritual, Accordion Eulogies is an odyssey to repair a severed family lineage, told through the surprising history of a musical instrument

Growing up in Yakima, Washington, Noé Álvarez never knew his grandfather. Stories swirled around this mythologized, larger-than-life figure: That he had abandoned his family, and had possibly done something awful that put a curse on his descendants. About his grandfather, young Noé was sure of only one thing: That he had played the accordion. Now an adult, reckoning with the legacy of silence surrounding his family's migration from Mexico, Álvarez resolves both to take up the instrument and to journey into Mexico to discover the grandfather he never knew.

Álvarez travels across the US with his accordion, meeting makers and players in cities that range from San Antonio to Boston. He uncovers the story of an instrument that's been central to classic American genres, but also played a critical role in indigenous Mexican history. Like the accordion itself, Álvarez feels trapped between his roots in Mexico and the U.S. As he tries to make sense of his place in the world--as a father, a son, a musician--he gets closer to uncovering the mystery of his origins.

Review Quotes

Time, A Must-Read Book of the Year
The Orange County Register, A New Spring Book You Won't Want to Miss
Literary Hub, A Most Anticipated Title

"Part musicology treatise, part confessional, Accordion Eulogies is a powerful look at the process of healing and how he chooses accordion music to be the soundtrack of that healing." --Felix Contreras, A NPR Best Book of the Year

"A working-class desert odyssey . . . With Accordion Eulogies Álvarez has written his own corrido . . . In finding connection through the accordion--originally brought from far away but now the instrumental repository of a million immigrant stories--he has composed a classic melody." --Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times

"As Noé Álvarez's new book, Accordion Eulogies, draws to a stirring conclusion, readers encounter a writer figuring himself out on the page, wrestling with ideas about family history, the complexity of national borders and his purpose as an artist." --Eric Olson, The Seattle Times

"Wisps of memoir, musical theory, travelog, political treatise, and dirge combine to spawn a searing commentary on neglect and healing and belonging." --Adam Willems, The Stranger

"[Álvarez's] paragraphs are spring-loaded with evocative metaphors." --Danny Freedman, American magazine

"In a follow-up to his award-winning debut memoir, Spirit Run (2020), Álvarez embarks on another journey of self-discovery . . . A lasting theme of the book is that amid life's disappointments, music offers a healing balm, as do the people who show unflinching generosity. Once again, this gifted writer proves to be an essential contemporary voice." --Booklist (starred review)

"[A] poetic follow-up to Spirit Run . . . The author makes his quest genuinely moving and shows how, for many marginalized communities, 'accordion playing is an act of resistance.' A heartfelt memoir that serves as 'a reminder of what it takes to build love and community for oneself and one's family.'" --Kirkus Reviews

"[A] poignant blend of personal and cultural history . . . With its rigorous curiosity and emotional vulnerability, Álvarez's account makes a strong case that the journey is more important than the destination." --Publishers Weekly

"Accordion Eulogies is an unforgettable journey through a hardscrabble family history of migration, loss, and longing. Álvarez teaches himself to play the accordion and visits the time-worn workshops of the last accordion-makers of the world, chasing the ghost of his grandfather along the way. In beautiful, reflective prose and a careful eye for what the world passes over, Álvarez preserves stories--including his own family's--that might otherwise fade to dust." --Emily Scott Robinson

"Accordion Eulogies unfolds like the truest corridos: with an invitation into a story of restless hearts and searching spirits, of strength forged by suffering, of ancestral specters that refuse to reveal their true shape. Noé Álvarez has married sacred music history with a personal quest of adventure and loss, and the result is a memoir of deep connection: with the past, a homeland, the self, and ultimately the reader. I'm grateful to have spent time with the melody Álvarez conjured." --Katie Gutierrez, bestselling author of More Than You'll Ever Know

About the Author

NOÉ ÁLVAREZ is the author of Spirit Run (Catapult, 2020). He was born in the desert and raised in the weeds.