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Summary: true to life tale of single parenting
Review: A warm thoughtful story of a father's daily trials of raising his four year old son alone. I wasn't sure it would hold my attention at first but the language and scenes rang true and reminded me much of my own sons early years. The author's attempts at giving the story deeper meanings seemed contrived and I wasn't always sure where he was going with the remembrances of his own father. The story tackles many interesting single parent concerns highlighted by attempts to get on with life after a spouse has left, moving to a new town, taking a new job, finding a new lover. I like best how this father's love for his son permeates this story even in those parenting moments when he is frustrated or impatient. A book whose total was greater than the sum of its parts.
Rating:
Summary: true to life tale of single parenting
Review: A warm thoughtful story of a father's daily trials of raising his four year old son alone. I wasn't sure it would hold my attention at first but the language and scenes rang true and reminded me much of my own sons early years. The author's attempts at giving the story deeper meanings seemed contrived and I wasn't always sure where he was going with the remembrances of his own father. The story tackles many interesting single parent concerns highlighted by attempts to get on with life after a spouse has left, moving to a new town, taking a new job, finding a new lover. I like best how this father's love for his son permeates this story even in those parenting moments when he is frustrated or impatient. A book whose total was greater than the sum of its parts.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy real soon
Review: A wonderfully evocative story of a young father, his man-o-war toting young son, and the shadow of his recently run-off wife. Jaffe beautifully and unflinchingly portrays both the simple pleasures of raising a small child and the frustration and resentment at his needs and demands. You'll love Calvin, you'll admire Calvin's dad
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Summary: Dance Real Slow review
Review: Dance Real Slow is quite simply the best book I have read this decade. It is a simply story, brilliantly crafted with insightful attentiveness to details which makes it both refeshing and revealing. The narrative is gripping; the characters are so vivid; the command of the language is first rate. Finally, a story about a father's intense love for his son, plain and simple. You will fall in love with Calvin. I am so tired of "bad dads" being portrayed in movies and elsewhere. Refreshing... Vivid... Illustrious... Profound... Read this book!
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Summary: Vince Vorn must be a Perfect Cast
Review: Finding a great book like this is just like finding a beautiful seashell in the vast seashore. I feel the same way when I saw "Late For Dinner", the movie. Lucky I ran into you, just like the Woddy Allen Movie.
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Summary: A book to read in one sitting
Review: Great characters. Such a sensitive portrayal of a respectable man and his unique son. I felt like like I knew the goodness of Jaffe just by reading this book.
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Summary: This book was good but sort of disappointing
Review: I was really anxious to read this book and I really thought it was well written. He had really great character descriptions but I wish he would have developed some of them a little more (there were a few characters I really wanted to get to know better). I was also kind of disappointed with the ending. Otherwise it was a really good book - one of the best I have read in a while.
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Summary: Life With Father Minus Mother
Review: In the tradition of Kramer vs. Kramer by Avery Corman, Dance Real Slow explores the relationship between a father and his 4 year old son after the boy's mother walks out on them. In, at times, heartbreaking clarity, this book describes the life of Gordon and Calvin, set adrift and learning to cope as a twosome instead of a threesome. Managing hard to put his life in order, Gordon a part time lawyer, reflects not only on his marraige to Katie as he goes through the day to day living of rasing a son, but also his own realtionship with his father. Then when Gordon is finally comfortable in his role as a single parent and when Calvin seems to be well adjusted to his situation, Katie returns. Complicating matters further is Gordon's developing realtionship with a new woman.Although the subject of fathers and sons has been explored by other writers, particularly Russian authors, Jaffe's book prsents this realationship in a somewhat predicatable and contrived manner. But in the end the predicatement had me rooting for the futther sucesses of Calvin and Gordon. While I enjoyed most of the novel perhaps its my memory of Kramer vs. Kramer, both the book and movie which I read first and enjoed more, that somewhat spoiled this book for me.
Rating:
Summary: Life With Father Minus Mother
Review: In the tradition of Kramer vs. Kramer by Avery Corman, Dance Real Slow explores the relationship between a father and his 4 year old son after the boy's mother walks out on them. In, at times, heartbreaking clarity, this book describes the life of Gordon and Calvin, set adrift and learning to cope as a twosome instead of a threesome. Managing hard to put his life in order, Gordon a part time lawyer, reflects not only on his marraige to Katie as he goes through the day to day living of rasing a son, but also his own realtionship with his father. Then when Gordon is finally comfortable in his role as a single parent and when Calvin seems to be well adjusted to his situation, Katie returns. Complicating matters further is Gordon's developing realtionship with a new woman. Although the subject of fathers and sons has been explored by other writers, particularly Russian authors, Jaffe's book prsents this realationship in a somewhat predicatable and contrived manner. But in the end the predicatement had me rooting for the futther sucesses of Calvin and Gordon. While I enjoyed most of the novel perhaps its my memory of Kramer vs. Kramer, both the book and movie which I read first and enjoed more, that somewhat spoiled this book for me.
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Summary: Mr. Nicholas Webber
Review: Jaffe's story provides a wonderful example of how a thirty-something single father deals with parenthood, while at the same time living through the trials and tribulations of his new found life. Love, loss of love, security, and insecurity are all very important themes within this book. Jaffe provides a wonderful set of characters who play out the problems of life in a small town in Kansas (a slow paced backdrop which allows the reader to put into perspective the interaction which occurs between its complex protagonist and the rest of the characters within the novel). All and all, this story is well thought out, and it is very well portrayed. In terms of writing style, Jaffe has room to improve. Though he shows flashes of briliance, his narrative, many times, appears to be organic and repetitive. Written in the first person, there are a lot of "I's," and there is not a whole lot depth in the description of setting. In conclusion, this book excells in bringing to life the problems of a man trying to become a father, and lacks in literary maturity. Something this good writer will only get better at.
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