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benedettal's review against another edition
3.0
Eve Babitz is one exquisite non-fiction writer, but man you really have to be into ballroom dancing to really appreciate this book. She is great at convening her profound admiration of the art and its teachers, the LA scene and all, it’s very infectious. But this is to a certain extent to the detriment of a more didascalic narrative, whereby if you have no visual reference for these dances in mind, you won’t learn anything about them, other than how the teachers interviewed feel about them. So anyway, not for me but I can see its charm.
dreamerhabits's review against another edition
3.0
Unfortunately my least favourite Babitz. She still has her charm and love for writing in this, but you can really tell, that after her accident she was not gonna be like before. In her later life she slowly turned more and more conservative in a way, which already begins to shine through here. You can tell that she’s, like every boomer, unhappy with the fast changing of her environment and probably just sad that her glory days are over.
There’s this side of the book, which is still not bad (in a way I could recognise), and then there’s the other side, the bigger side. The way she talks about the dances and the people who dance really shows how much she loves this topic and made me also interested in dancing. Her duality between fun and genuine always makes her works worth reading.
There’s this side of the book, which is still not bad (in a way I could recognise), and then there’s the other side, the bigger side. The way she talks about the dances and the people who dance really shows how much she loves this topic and made me also interested in dancing. Her duality between fun and genuine always makes her works worth reading.
lilly71490's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
alloyd18's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this and I usually love anything from Babitz but this just did not have the flirtatious charm and knowingness like her other books! I think it was the interview style of the book that sort of let me down. That being said I loved the epilogue which was just classic Eve Babitz essay and chatting.
I’m also just not that interested in dance, so what did I expect?
3.5
I’m also just not that interested in dance, so what did I expect?
3.5
arentweallghosts's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
4.0
bluefortheroses's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I loved this book, it might even be in my top three favourite Babitz books. What I can’t stand though, is the rampant fatphobia, it really takes me out.
leucocrystal's review against another edition
4.0
"Since I began dancing, what I really wanted to be was good enough that if Patrick Swayze asked me to do a waltz or a cha-cha, I would be able to." (Oh Eve, Dirty Dancing is still my favorite, too.) I'm sure I have a bit of bias toward liking this one, as a (mostly former) dancer, but discovering that this book even existed, let alone reading it, was a real delight for me. There's already so little writing of substance on dance at all, let alone the world of learning it as a social activity. I also had no idea that Eve continued to go out dancing even after her accident - she's so reclusive these days, I couldn't have imagined it - but just knowing that makes me happy. She describes many of the different styles - and the social worlds and classes that accompany them, within LA - with her usual breezy and wonderfully approachable style.
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