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Summary: Granny Dan Book Review
Review: Granny Dan, by Danielle Steel is an incredible story of a young girl's life. The story follows Danina Petroskova, a ballerina, through life's hard times while she is growing up. Danina's entire world revolves around ballet and succeeding in it. However, the story is told from the granddaughter of Danina's point of view. She never understood that her grandmother had led such a fascinating life until after her death when she found a hidden box of her belongings. Now she learned about Danina's romantic affair with her doctor at age nineteen, she learned of the hard times she faced when she was moved away during the war so her brothers and father could fight in the war. The granddaughter is also informed about how hard her grandmother was pushed to do well in ballet. Madame Markova, her mother-like figure, pressured her all day long. At nineteen, she was stricken with influenza, which nearly killed her. Recovering from her illness and heartbreak, Danina perseveres and is determined throughout the book.
Danielle Steele did an excellent job writing this novel. She told the reader a lot of background and information that was needed to make the story fit. Although at times the story may seemed to go by too slow, there were underlying meanings in the text and it was an easy book to understand. The setting in the book first started in Russia while the Revolution was going on, and then to the Maryinski Ballet where she lived during her childhood, and lastly in Vermont with her lover. The story was a true romance novel with an interesting twist; it is not often the main character falls madly in love with her doctor who is already married with children.
Granny Dan is a book that can make you cry, laugh, and feel like you are in the story yourself. Steele did a very good job at changing the emotions and tone throughout the story. The story of Danina told by her granddaughter also reveals that often times younger generations have no idea what their parents and grandparents had to deal with. There are opportunities missed because they may feel "embarrassed" by their elders when really they are missing out on fascinating lifetimes. Although at times it may have seemed to go by slow, the story unfolded nicely into a great book.
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Summary: A nice smooth read filled with a perfect richness of love.
Review: I read all of the reviews on Amazon before buying and they weren't to good, but I bought the book anyway because the story sounded good. I am glad I wen't ahead and bought. If I didn't I would have missed one of the most perfectly satisfying novels I have ever read. After reading Zoya I wanted a book that has more about the Russian Revolution. I thought that Danielle Steel would never write one again on the subject. Yet she did. People said this book was just like Zoya, but it wasn't. It had it's own unique qualities. There never was a dull moment in the book. It had action, love, sadness, and remembrance all rapped together amongst the pages. I think so many people who gave this book a bad review didn't sit and pay attention to the beautiful words. Words that made a sweet lullabuy in my head. This novel is utter perfection in my opinion. SO many people seemed to offend people who liked this novel. How could someone not. I am now not going to listen to the reviews shared on Amazon but decide myself if I would like the book. This book is a perfect book to read again and again. It is one to save and cherish. While reading the book remember to savor each and every satisfying word and let the story create the symphony in your mind, just like it created in mine. From an avid reader buy Granny Dan.
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Summary: Granny Dan
Review: I just finished reading the book Granny Dan by Danielle Steel. Her stories are an easy read but you will find it difficult to put it down.
If you enjoy reading love stories and the life of the ballet then I highly recommend that you read this book. This book deals with the lives of a young woman and a man and their love for each other. It's also about the life in the ballet during the war in 1902.
All in all, Granny Dan was a memorizing love story that I highly recommend.
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Summary: A Slice of History
Review: I am not a romance fan. However, I've read a few of Danielle Steel's books and enjoyed them. Granny Dan was no exception. The story took place in the midst of World War I and the Russian Revolution. Danina Petroskova was brought to the Maryinksi Ballet when she was seven years old, while her family fought in the war. Frightened at first, she learned to love her new home and became obsessed with being a prima ballerina. At nineteen, she was stricken with the influenza virus which almost killed her. She survived it and was sent to live with the Czar and his family to recuperate. There, she falls in love with her doctor, Nikolai Obrajensky, who is married with children. That, their stations in life, and the war-ravaged world threaten to destroy their relationship.The reason I give this book a four star review? Because two thirds of the way into it, the story becomes repetitive. Should I leave and go with this man or should I stay with the ballet? I tore through the pages thinking, "Let's get on with it, already!"But then the story takes a climatic turn, forcing her into action. Granny Dan is a story within a story. The prologue involves Danina's granddaughter, who discovers her love letters in a box, among other things. The epilogue deals with what happened to Nikolai, her father and remaining brother, her mentor. Some of you might want to keep a box of kleenex handy.
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Summary: Wanted: An Editor, Please!
Review: 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!
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Summary: Granny Dan
Review: I just finished reading the book Granny Dan by Danielle Steel. Her stories are an easy read but you will find it difficult to put it down.
If you enjoy reading love stories and the life of the ballet then I highly recommend that you read this book. This book deals with the lives of a young woman and a man and their love for each other. It's also about the life in the ballet during the war in 1902.
All in all, Granny Dan was a memorizing love story that I highly recommend.
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Summary: awful
Review: 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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Summary: Granny Dan
Review: Granny Dan was a very touching book, and I found to be much better than Danielle Steel's other books. This is a necessity for every young person to read; it shows you that even though "Granny Dan" was elderly, she wasn't always that way. This is a common misconception w/ the young people of today. I really enjoyed the book, especially since I'm a dancer as well. It was a wonderful story, that I truly enjoyed! Pick up the book today!
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Summary: Granny Dan
Review: Danina, the main character, is a remarkable ballerina. She makes everybody around her joyful because of her glowing personality.
This is an excellent book because it is about a girl named Danina whose mother died when she was young and her father and brothers and to go away and leave for the war, therefore, her father sent her to a ballet school. She was petrified of going and didn't want to leave her father.
She grows up at the ballet loving her teacher, Madame Markova, like her own mother. Happy she went there in the first place, she grew to love everybody. She worked hard and was the best ballerina there, when unexpectedly, she fell ill one day and could not dance. The Czarina sent one of her doctors to help her because they were close friends with Danina, and Danina soon left with them to a small cottage that they had. Everybody thought she wasn't going to live, but they were all wrong. She soon fell in love with her doctor, who in return, felt the same way for her as he says in the book, "'Danina...I Love you...' and without waiting for an answer from her, he bent gently toward her and kissed her." Danina was scared because he was married, had children, and told him that they shouldn't. Later on as she gets better, she ends up having an affair with her doctor, and she soon returns to the school rejoining Madame Markova. Madame Markova soon suspects that she is in love and it is going to ruin her. Madame Markova had always told her that she should never let a man get in the way of her dancing because it would ruin her life, and she wouldn't give it her all. When she had found about Danina in love, she says, "You are a whore now, like the others, the little cheap ones who dance and play, and to whom it means nothing. You should be dancing on the streets in Paris, not here at the Maryinsky. You don't belong here. I always told you, you cannot be like them if you truly want this. You must choose, Danina." Danina loves dancing, because that was all she knew ever since she was a young girl to the age of 19, but she is also terribly in love with her doctor. She can't decide which she wants more.
To find out her decision, then you should read Granny Dan by Danielle Steel because I think it is a great book.
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Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: This book was the first book that I've ever read by Danielle Steel, and that was over six months ago. Since then, I have gotten hooked on her historical fiction books, but yet continue to come back to this one, Granny Dan.
It's a wonderful story that takes place in Russia. But most of all, this story revolves around the idea that you never really know someone in your family, like your grandparents, etc.. You never know who they were when they were younger, what they were like, what experiences they had, and you are left wondering these things when they are gone. And if only you knew their story, about their life, you could learn so much. That's what happens in this book.
Granny Dan was the grandmother who loved to rollerskate, who loved to sing, but yet she never talked about her past. When she passes away, a box is delivered to her granddaughter, and inside are the things that reveal Granny Dan's past: toe shoes, a locket, and a stack of letters... all these things unlock the mystery to Granny Dan's past. Things that her granddaughter never knew.
This book takes place in Russia in 1902. It talks about the Czar and Czarina, and life in the imperial court. Danielle Steel's charecters are so life like and real, that you're sure to get swept up in this magical story that takes you to another place (Russia, 1902), another life (the Imperial court and the ballet). It's a story that makes you wonder that if only you knew about the past behind your own relatives, you could learn so much.
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