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Title: Granny Dan by Danielle Steele ISBN: 0-7089-9238-2 Publisher: F A Thorpe (Publishers) Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 Format: Hardcover |
Average Customer Rating: 3.25 (97 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Real-life Russian Love Story
Comment: Dancing on the coattails of history, Danielle Steele's Granny Dan is a sweeping saga based on the true life story of her grandmother.
As a young woman, Granny Dan was the leading young ballerina in pre-communist Russia, which in that society, would have been similar to being Julia Roberts in our own country today. She charms the Russian royal family, especially the czar's young son, and is admitted into their inner circle.
Torn between the disciplined life of a dancer in a strict ballet school and the fairy tale-like existance at the czar's summer home, the young woman must make painful choices.
An illness causes her to become very close to her physician, a man in a loveless marriage and they fall deeply in love. So much so that Steel's grandmother keeps all his letters with her until she dies. Steel bases her book on the letters, which she had translated.
Marrying her grandmother's real-life story with her masterful fiction-writing techniques, Steel presents a powerful tale of star-crossed lovers, strong characters who are real and believable. Their passion for each other is played out against the backdrop of history.
We are given a taste of what life in czarist Russia was like, and it is as if we travel back in time with the characters. With the coming of the communist revolution, their world is forever lost.
This ultimately tragic story is a haunting one, which will stay with you long after you've read the last page.
Rating: 2
Summary: Wanted: An Editor, Please!
Comment: If you like Danielle Steel's books, you'll probably enjoy Granny Dan. It's a cute story, extremely easy reading, and it has the predictable happy ending. It seems to me, though, that Ms. Steel's writing is getting more and more shallow as she keeps popping the books out. I agree with the one reader who felt that rather than trying to beat some sort of publishing record, Ms. Steel should take the time to write higher quality books. (Why in the world did she sign on to write THREE books a year? It's not like she needs the money!) Although I have been a loyal Danielle Steel reader for about fifteen years now, and will probably continue to be one for many more, I do feel a little cheated each time a new book comes out. I seem to remember her early books (The Ring, Crossings, Family Album) interlaced with more more character development, detailed descriptions, historical references.....and above all a little more editing! It seems that Ms. Steel's editor has with increasing frequency and blatancy been taking time off to do something other than read Ms. Steel's manuscripts! I honestly can't believe that a professional would allow something like Danielle's more recent books to slip by without some fine tuning! Ms. Steel repeats herself over and over in a continuous train of thought. She almost writes to her readers as though they were 12-year-olds, explaining obvious emotions and thought patterns that her characters experience....and then repeating them over and over again as if she thought we might forget she just said the same thing two paragraphs before! Perhaps her earlier work wasn't necessarily better, it was just that I began to read them about the time I was twelve, which is perhaps the maturity level of her intended reading audience! I mean honestly, in Granny Dan the heroine Danina's ballet instructor is at one point telling Danina's lover Nickolai Danina's sad background, including how many years Danina had been at the ballet school. Then, in the same conversation a few paragraphs later, Nickolai actually asks the instructor how many years Daninia had been at the ballet school, as if the instructor had never been talking at all! It is major oversights like this one throughout the book that distracts from the story. Perhaps, Ms. Steel (and her editor for that matter) have become a bit too big for their britches, thinking that Ms. Steel's writing need not go further than a first draft, for honestly, her published book seems like that's all it is: a first draft. The entire thing is a narrative with very little dialog, description, or research to make the story more believable. If Ms. Steel could at least take the time to perfect her novels, I'd feel a little less cheated.....because she does write a good story, albeit predictable. But that's what I've always liked about her books--they are very easy reading that requires no thinking, I can usually read them in a day or two, and they always have a happy ending. Certainly, with her juvenile writing style, Danielle Steel is no Diana Gabaldon or Judith McNaught, but she does tell good stories. I just wish she'd put a little more effort into her latest work--because if she were a first-time author there's no way in the world she'd come close to getting a publishing deal with the drafts she's putting out now!
Rating: 1
Summary: awful
Comment: I decided to try reading a D.S. book simply because she's a big name and has bestsellers. What an awful book for me to start out with. Danina wasn't an interesting character in the least. The male character, the doctor whose name I can't remember because I couldn't find it in my heart to even finish the book, completely took advantage of Danina. I believe the doctor was about 38 years old and Danina was about 18 (?). It's been some time since I've read this book, about a year and a half, so I might be a few years off with the age difference, but I remember it being close to 20 years. I found the age difference repulsive, but also the book was very slow. I don't recommend this book at all. I have heard that some of her older books are good reads so I'm going to try them instead.
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Title: Mirror Image by Danielle Steel ISBN: 0440224772 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 02 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Wedding by Danielle Steel ISBN: 0440236851 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 27 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Long Road Home by Danielle Steel ISBN: 0440224837 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 02 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Silent Honor by Danielle Steel ISBN: 0440224055 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 03 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Leap of Faith by Danielle Steel ISBN: 0440236991 Publisher: Dell Pub. Date: 28 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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