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Title: Dancer : A Novel by Colum McCann, Moira Driscoll, William Dufris, Mark Honan, J. P. Guimont ISBN: 1-57270-374-1 Publisher: The Audio Partners Pub. Date: 11 March, 2004 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 11 List Price(USD): $44.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.41 (22 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: "A sort of hunger turned human."
Comment: Dancer is an extraordinary novel, affecting me more profoundly than any other novel I have read in a long time. Vivid and hard-edged, rather than lyrical and beautiful, it fuses fact and fiction seamlessly, bringing to life ballet star Rudolf Nureyev and the many secret worlds he inhabited. From his first public performance, when, at the age of five he performed an exuberant dance in a hospital ward for Russian soldiers wounded in World War II, he was considered more athletic than subtle, and as he grew older, his legs were regarded as the source of "more violence than grace."
Nureyev's "wild and feral" style of dance meshes perfectly with McCann's prose. Paralleling the athleticism and drive of Nureyev, McCann's writing is bold and straightforward, characterized by short, powerful, descriptive sentences, often in a simple subject-verb-object pattern. Avoiding all frills and sentimentality, McCann favors strength over lyricism, and power over prettiness.
Through the first person observations of almost two dozen characters who touched Nureyev's life in some way, McCann shines light on Nureyev's personality and his development as a dancer. His family, teachers, lovers, and even a schoolboy bully, a stilt-walker, and the captain of an airplane, who filed an "incident report" about his atrocious behavior aboard a plane, all comment on his actions and the choices he makes, personally and professionally, as his career soars.
The deprivation and sadness experienced by most of these sensitive observers in their own lives contrasts vividly with the excesses and hedonism of Nureyev's adult life and illuminate, without need for authorial comment, his arrogance and boorishness. At the same time, however, these multiple viewpoints also humanize Nureyev in many ways by showing the extent to which these other characters are connected by love to others and to their history, while Nureyev becomes a "living myth...cared for and coddled and protected by the mythmakers."
Filled with intriguing characters, ranging from simple Russian peasants to Andy Warhol, Tennessee Williams, John Lennon, Truman Capote, Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix, and the stars of ballet, the novel is a monument to the power of the creative spirit and a testament to the dangers inherent in a life from which all other controls have been removed. Rudi always "tore [a] role open...by the manner in which he presented himself, a sort of hunger turned human." McCann brings this voracious human to life. Nureyev leaps off these pages in a huge and stunning grand jete. Mary Whipple
Rating: 5
Summary: A Fascinating Look at a Fascinating Artist
Comment: I recently read the "fictionalized" autobiography of Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel and found it fascinating, so I was really eager to read this "fictionalized" account of the life of Russian ballet star Rudolf Nureyev. Unlike THE ARTIST'S WIFE (the story of Alma Schindler), DANCER isn't a fictionalized autobiography, but more of a fictionalized biography, though DANCER doesn't come close to documenting everything that went on in "Rudik's" life, nor should it. DANCER is a novel, a novel whose main character just happens to be Rudolf Nureyev and, as such, it is fascinating and intriguing.
If you want to know the factual events that made up the life of Rudolf Nureyev, then there are many good biographies of him out there. If you want to know what it might have felt like to be Nureyev, himself, or someone close to him, if you want to get caught up in the emotional rollercoaster world of the ballet, then DANCER is the book for you.
McCann has chosen to paint a portrait of Nureyev from the point of view of the people who were close to him: a fellow ballet student; a nurse in a hospital; the husband of his dancing instructor; Nureyev's own sister. I loved this choice and little by little, piece by piece, we get a view of Nureyev that is fascinating and determined, dark and moody and very, very complex.
McCann takes us from Nureyev's birthplace in the Urals to the Kirov Ballet to Paris to the bathhouses of New York City. We get a totally different view of Nureyev each time and each view enriches our understanding of this complicated and brilliant man.
McCann fills DANCER with wonderful details that really make the book come alive, although sometimes these details can be harsh. This isn't a glittering, shimmering look at the world of ballet; it's a look at an artist, in his glory and in his despair. Some of the details in Russia, in the Siberian town of Ufa, where Nureyev's family tries to exist as the family of an enemy of the Soviet government, are chilling and quite revealing.
It is difficult to describe music in prose and it is difficult to describe dance in prose, but McCann has done a wonderful job of describing the latter in DANCER. Even though I have much interest in ballet and knew many of the details of Nureyev's life before reading this book, after reading DANCER I felt I knew what it might be like to "be" Nureyev, an emotional experience I didn't get when I read the biographies.
I think DANCER is a highly imaginative book that is wonderfully well-written. I actually preferred it over any biography of Nureyev I have read thus far. If you're look for the facts of Nureyev's life and only the facts, perhaps a biography would suit your purposes better. If, however, you want an emotional experience and you want to be entertained as well, then DANCER will fill the bill on both counts and fill it beautifully. I would certainly recommend DANCER very highly.
Rating: 5
Summary: Splendid!
Comment: You can tell from the very first line this book is wonderful. Rare and unputdownable, vivacious and sad -- all the superlatives you care to use. The prose is fantastic and flowing, the story a rare and strangely successful blend of fact and fiction. The sentences dance like Rudolf Nureyev himself, and I was very sad to see it end so soon. I'll keep my eyes on Colum McCann, no doubt!
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Title: This Side of Brightness: A Novel by Colum McCann ISBN: 0312421974 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy ISBN: 0743244354 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Everything in This Country Must : A Novella and Two Stories by Colum McCann ISBN: 0312273185 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 07 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Coffee Trader : A Novel by David Liss ISBN: 0375508546 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Songdogs : A Novel by Colum McCann ISBN: 0312147414 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 15 October, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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