Dancer : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant writing elicits life at the passionate edge
Review: First, the writing in this book is as breathtaking as actually seeing Rudi dance--and I have. This book is NOT for the linear/literal minded. James Joyceian, fluid, associate language alternates with standard sentence format, and the combination brings alive the passions and personalities of Nureyev's life. In this book he appears as the larger-than-life character he really was. I have recommended this book to SO many people, and haven't had a disappointment yet. Please ignore the reviews of those who are judging this book by their own fixed expectations of what a book about a dancer should be. This novelized bio is more true than any group of literal facts.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant writing elicits life at the passionate edge
Review: First, the writing in this book is as breathtaking as actually seeing Rudi dance--and I have. This book is NOT for the linear/literal minded. James Joyceian, fluid, associate language alternates with standard sentence format, and the combination brings alive the passions and personalities of Nureyev's life. In this book he appears as the larger-than-life character he really was. I have recommended this book to SO many people, and haven't had a disappointment yet. Please ignore the reviews of those who are judging this book by their own fixed expectations of what a book about a dancer should be. This novelized bio is more true than any group of literal facts.

Rating:
Summary: Sure To Win An Award For Fiction!
Review: I bought this book after hearing an interview with the author on National Public Radio and think it is the best novel I've read in the last three years. I have been recommending it to all my friends, and can't wait to see if it wins a literary award. To me, the novel is not about Rudolph Nureyev, the times he lived or dance, but about the impressions we leave with one another while "dancing" near, around or through each others' lives. The author's ability to create so many interesting narrators with unique personalities via content and writing styles was a delight to read. You will not be disappointed by this book!

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Look at a Fascinating Artist
Review: 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:
Summary: Yes!
Review: I was vaguely disappointed when I heard that the subject of this novel by Colum McCann, one of my favorite authors, was ballet. It would be tough for me to find a topic I care less about, and I thought that this book would therefore bore me. Boy was I wrong...I should've trusted McCann from the start. This is his best work to date, and that is saying something! This book is vividly imagined and loaded with so much telling detail about the various settings (WWII Russia, 70's New York, Caracas, London, Paris) and of course the subject (ballet, Nureyev and the people who surround him) that you wonder how McCann found the time to do so much research. Nureyev's story is told from his own point of view and through the eyes of those around him. McCann digs deep, giving life to Nureyev's dance coaches and partners, his jealous sister, his suffering mother, his friends, his maid, his shoemaker, even a ballet school rival who gets only a few paragraphs! It all adds up to a rich story. A number of celebrities make cameos, too (Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Andy Warhol, etc.), lending further flavor to the story's time and place. McCann possesses a genius that borders on scary. He draws you in and makes you care about the characters in a way few other authors have made me experience. On a back-of-the-hardcover quote, Frank McCourt lauds McCann for taking big chances in this book...and he does! And they all work. My only disappointment was to learn that Nureyev was a real person. The real Nureyev couldn't possibly have lived a life this perfectly imagined. Bravo, Colum McCann!

Rating:
Summary: McCann trips the light fantastic with 'Dancer'
Review: In "Dancer," a "fictionalized biography" of Rudolf Nureyev, Colum McCann, indeed, takes liberty with his subject matter, although one certainly wonders just how far! Serious Rudohiles and scholars will notice this. However, one must give the author his dues--this is stated as a work of fiction.

That said, it certainly is a mesmerizing work, a roman a clef of the first order. McCann, while certainly intrigued by the subject, makes an effort to capture the whole picture. Beginning with graphic scenes of the Russian Front in the dead of winter in l943, McCann then introduces us to young Rudi, a boy totally captivated and dedicated to dance.

The novel then takes off, ala a good foreign film, in several directions, shifting bluntly from one character to another, a carefully choreographed and orchestrated plot outline. We watch with fascination as Rudi grows up, is given special attention by the state authorities, especially at the Kirov, and then successfully defects to the West. The book is a miasma of successes and failures, a pot pourri of Nureyev's lifestyle and profession. McCann portrays at once a young man given to his great ego and self confidence, his insensitivities to friends and associates alike, and his dedication to the few close friends (and family) he maintains.

This is a picture that perhaps not everyone is happy with; however, it's fiction and much of the speculation can be accepted. Even if "Dancer" was not so obviously about Nureyev, substituting a completely fictional name for the character would not diminish McCann power in this riviting book. A good read.
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Rating:
Summary: McCann trips the light fantastic with 'Dancer'
Review: In "Dancer," a "fictionalized biography" of Rudolf Nureyev, Colum McCann, indeed, takes liberty with his subject matter, although one certainly wonders just how far! Serious Rudohiles and scholars will notice this. However, one must give the author his dues--this is stated as a work of fiction.

That said, it certainly is a mesmerizing work, a roman a clef of the first order. McCann, while certainly intrigued by the subject, makes an effort to capture the whole picture. Beginning with graphic scenes of the Russian Front in the dead of winter in l943, McCann then introduces us to young Rudi, a boy totally captivated and dedicated to dance.

The novel then takes off, ala a good foreign film, in several directions, shifting bluntly from one character to another, a carefully choreographed and orchestrated plot outline. We watch with fascination as Rudi grows up, is given special attention by the state authorities, especially at the Kirov, and then successfully defects to the West. The book is a miasma of successes and failures, a pot pourri of Nureyev's lifestyle and profession. McCann portrays at once a young man given to his great ego and self confidence, his insensitivities to friends and associates alike, and his dedication to the few close friends (and family) he maintains.

This is a picture that perhaps not everyone is happy with; however, it's fiction and much of the speculation can be accepted. Even if "Dancer" was not so obviously about Nureyev, substituting a completely fictional name for the character would not diminish McCann power in this riviting book. A good read.
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Rating:
Summary: A riveting and moving novel
Review: Mr McCann offers readers an astonishingly gripping biography of the Russian dancer Rudolph Nureyev written as a piece of fiction. It is not a biography in the classic sense of the term since real characters with true identities mingle with fictitious characters in episodes from the author's imagination. Nureyev's moody personality combined with his professionalism as a dancer are wonderfully captured by the author. By employing the technique of multiple narrators and skilfully interchanging between them - they are set in various locations in Russia, New York, France and England - Mr McCann has managed to produce the portrait of a vivid and many faceted artist with a tremendous charisma. Where most biographies tend to isolate and estrange its subject by pointing out its uniqueness, the author has achieved quite the opposite effect. Indeed, it often feels as if the reader were himself part of the dancer's exhilarating and thwarting lifestyle. It is the author's genius to transform carefully researched material into sparkling fiction on an artist whose fame, artistic accomplishment and shrewish, hedonistic, homosexual night life of 1970s New York are legendary.

Rating:
Summary: this book rocks
Review: One of the best books I have read in the past few years. The writer is a genius.

Rating:
Summary: Why call this Dancer?
Review: Reading Colum McCann's novel "Dancer" is a little like listening to a room full of people, none of whom are familiar to you. Whilst you might hear some interesting gossip & some tantalizing tidbits, in general their chatter means little.

McCann's decision to portray Rudolph Nureyev through the eyes of those who knew him at various stages of his life could have been interesting if any continuity had been maintained. We spend differing amounts of time with different "voices" but the pages allocated to them seem to have little to do with their importance to the story. Some who initially have many pages never reappear. One who hasn't even been mentioned for most of the book suddenly becomes the primary focus towards the end without much to add to the story. A few have no noticable connection to Nureyev at all. The voices themselves have so little differentiation that it is often hard to tell who is currently speaking. When a unique voice is attempted, it is an annoying affectation as in the case of "Victor", a highly social gay friend of Rudi's.

The primary problem with "Dancer" tho, is that it's protagonist DOESN'T. Altho we are often told how much Rudi loves to dance, how talented he is, how hard he works, we never learn about the daily mechanics, the minutiae of the dancer's life. In the same manner the voices describe Nureyev's animal magnetism yet the reader never FEELS it or understands what is so compelling about this person.

"Dancer" is a relatively interesting novel, but I never felt I was reading about RUDOLPH NUREYEV despite the inclusion of trivia from his life. This could have been any bisexual Russian defector of the period, or none, or an amalgam. Don't purchase "Dancer" hoping to read the definitive novel on ballet; get Edward Stewart's excellent "Ballerina" for that.