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julietta_l's review
5.0
A genius man and a genius dancer, who flew through the life like a comet. An unbelievable rise, public loneliness, restless behavior and all absorbing sadness - these are what the book is about. "Dancer" - is a reflection on the life of an amazing person: his triumph, demons, ghosts of the past. Honest and sincere to tears.
piedwarbler's review against another edition
4.0
A beautiful and poignant book about Nureyev and the life he led for so long.
The sequences about the dances are truly heroic. You’re on the stern along with the narrator.
The sequences about the dances are truly heroic. You’re on the stern along with the narrator.
littletaiko's review
4.0
McCann has the ability to make me want to keep reading a book even when the person he's writing about is a complete ass. This is a fictionalized account of the famous dancer Rudolph Nureyev who may have been a fabulous dancer but boy did he struggle as a pleasant person to be around. Loved the multiple points of view and ways that McCann let the story unfold.
susanbrooks's review
3.0
Lovely writing, vivid impressions of Nureyev’s life. The multiple narrators made me feel a little disconnected though.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
Gorgeous. Like a bio-pic but in book form. Loved how the style changed with different POV
bianca89279's review
5.0
Dancer was a masterclass in writing.
I am generally not a fan of novels based on real people, but this one was impressive.
I was familiar with Rudolf Nureyev, who was regarded as one of the greatest male ballet dancers of his generation and had a lasting influence on many male ballet dancers who followed. His name is often mentioned and referenced when it comes to ballet excellence. This novel introduced me to some biographical details. Told via different POVs from people who were close, peripheral to Nureyev, or just imagined, McCann accomplishes to create an ephemeral portrait of someone who was well-known yet a mystery, a complex, extravagant character, with a temper and penchant for drama.
I can only imagine how much research and work McCann must have put into this novel. The parts about Russia felt authentic and they reminded me about stories I'd heard or experiences I had as a child growing up in another communist-ruled country, ie food, fuel shortages, electricity blackouts, the propaganda etc.
Anyway, I loved this novel and encourage everyone to read it.
Many thanks to Candi for bringing Dancer to my attention.
NB: excellent audiobook, with many different narrators. I did grumble at the fact that some of the characters were given accents, mostly the Russians when the narrations were in the first person. It wasn't that I thought the accents were bad, they weren't, but it wasn't always consistent across the board and I did find it ridiculous that the French, Venezuelan and other characters didn't get accents.
I am generally not a fan of novels based on real people, but this one was impressive.
I was familiar with Rudolf Nureyev, who was regarded as one of the greatest male ballet dancers of his generation and had a lasting influence on many male ballet dancers who followed. His name is often mentioned and referenced when it comes to ballet excellence. This novel introduced me to some biographical details. Told via different POVs from people who were close, peripheral to Nureyev, or just imagined, McCann accomplishes to create an ephemeral portrait of someone who was well-known yet a mystery, a complex, extravagant character, with a temper and penchant for drama.
I can only imagine how much research and work McCann must have put into this novel. The parts about Russia felt authentic and they reminded me about stories I'd heard or experiences I had as a child growing up in another communist-ruled country, ie food, fuel shortages, electricity blackouts, the propaganda etc.
Anyway, I loved this novel and encourage everyone to read it.
Many thanks to Candi for bringing Dancer to my attention.
NB: excellent audiobook, with many different narrators. I did grumble at the fact that some of the characters were given accents, mostly the Russians when the narrations were in the first person. It wasn't that I thought the accents were bad, they weren't, but it wasn't always consistent across the board and I did find it ridiculous that the French, Venezuelan and other characters didn't get accents.
elvenavari's review
2.0
I wanted to love this book so badly...but that just did not happen. I love stories about Russia and dance so putting those two together would seem like an automatic win right? Wrong. The lack of dialogue marks and the changing of POVs with no warning threw me and kept me confused throughout the book. I wanted to like the main character but urgh, he was such a butthole.
carrieliza's review
4.0
I don't know much about Nureyev, so I didn't even realize this was a fictionalized biography of a real person. Maybe it's better I read it that way. Anna and Sergei were the best. The only part I couldn't stand was Victor's section. I skipped over parts of that.
There's something sort of Jewish about this book. It could fit easily with other works of Jewish literature, and maybe that's why I liked it so much.
There's something sort of Jewish about this book. It could fit easily with other works of Jewish literature, and maybe that's why I liked it so much.