<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: History in narrartive
Review: I have been aware of the name mata hari for many years. However, I suddenlt became fascinated with this extraordinary woman's life story when it was dramatised on radio 4 in the autmn of 2003. Red Dancer, follows in that vein. Rather than an hostorical biography in the traditonal sense, the author presents a series of what are effectively vignettes whereby different characters in the story tell their own tale of this ambitious, talented, notorious but ultimately tragic woman. I found it very absorbing particularly as there is a clever balance of imagined accounts of her life as told by others and historical and media information (press cuttings etc) from the time. Well worth a read
Rating:
Summary: entertaining read, good historical novel
Review: so maybe this book is a little postmodern--hence the other reviewers irritation at its fragmentation. however, i really appreciated the multiplicity of points of view in the novel--skinner allows you to reach your own interpretation about mata hari rather than spoonfeeding you his own conclusion about her. the writing is pretty good, but not outstanding, but the book is very effective in it's evocation of orientalism and of an era.
Rating: 
Summary: not a waste of time
Review: The story is a fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, a renowned dancer, spy, and courtesan. Appropriately in this novel, every significant moment in Mata Hari's life is told through the eyes of men who wandered into her sphere. Because of the POV remove, the resonance is a little diluted, but so is -- thank god -- the angst. Told from her point of view, this story would have been a bawler from beginning to end. Even the good stuff that happened to her wasn't really that good, apparently. However, the several scenes that are set in her point of view are fairly clinical: she places her belongings on a bedside table, adjusts her costume, has dinner, etc. Nothing really of note, but those scenes, I think, are the best ones, because in them we see the truest glimpse of the woman: matter-of-fact, persistent, and a little insecure. The main thing to keep in mind about this book is that it's an art piece: it never pretends to be chronoligical, consistently fictional, or consistently historical. It's all over the map; sometimes the narrative story is interrupted for long stretches with essays about such things as absinthe and cubism. I think in some spots the writer was reaching too far to make an obscure point, but some of those digressions were really worth it and helped build the ultimate atmosphere of confusion and irreality. In general, this book was not a waste of my time. I enjoyed it and even managed to learn a little more about turn-of-the-century stuff. And that firing squad scene at the end will stick with me for a little while, I think.
<< 1 >>
|
