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A review by arisbookcorner
The Flamenco Academy by Sarah Bird
3.0
IQ "'Like I said, it's complicated. More complicated than calculus'" He smiled to show he remembered me saying that. 'This is an entire history class. Maybe a major. You have time for the history of a few cultures, a thousand-year exile and some really fucked-up skeletons rattling around a really crowded closet?'" Tomas, pg. 82
I'm torn between how I feel about the characters, I found them to be so extreme that I found it hard to believe that people like them really exist. But you couldn't make this stuff up. This is a story of passion, from the characters to the New Mexico setting to flamenco dancing itself with intervals in the Andalusian region of Spain, it is overflowing with deep, raw emotions. All that emotion and passion can be overwhelming and that's how I felt. There was so much going on in this bok in terms of character development and the epic tale spun by Dona Carlota, it was hard to remember everything and unravel the mystery. There was too much emotion for me to handle at times, haha. Plus I could not understand Rae's obsession with Tomas. Nor did I understand Didi. But I did undrestand why Rae felt so attached to her. Not so important but I couldn't figure out how Didi grew up speaking Spanish and how Rae learned Spanish from Didi's mom if Didi's mom was Filipina...unless Filipinos grow up speaking a variety of languages?
The only other thing that bothered/baffled me was Dona Carlota's mentioning of Federico Garcia Lorca, especially since she fictionalized his death. or got mixed up or...something.
I suspect this book is autobiographical, the details about Rae-Rae are so specific, so unique, her Czech heritage, small-town upbringing. What is remarkable about Rae and the author's writing is that they both seem fully immersed in the flamenco culture. Flamenco purists may sneer at them but they know far more than the average outsider, the tourist. I learned so much about flamenco and Gypsy culture, I had no idea Gypsies came from India. I thought they were Spanish when I was very young (blame a Nancy Drew mystery) and then I thought they were Romanian (no idea where that came from...somewhere I read that they wre called 'Roma'). This book is also peppered with crazy, curse-filled, mesmerizing quotes.
PS Other fave quotes;
"I'm the last person in the world who is going to insist something has to be logical. Logical shit is easy. It's the illogical shit that controls our lives" Didi pg. 119
"Lesile had told me some old hippie saying about how nine times out of ten when someone says they're fine, it stands for Fucked-up, Insecure, Neurotic, and I can't remember what the e was supposed to mean. I was not the one in ten who actually was fine." Rae, pg. 340
I'm torn between how I feel about the characters, I found them to be so extreme that I found it hard to believe that people like them really exist. But you couldn't make this stuff up. This is a story of passion, from the characters to the New Mexico setting to flamenco dancing itself with intervals in the Andalusian region of Spain, it is overflowing with deep, raw emotions. All that emotion and passion can be overwhelming and that's how I felt. There was so much going on in this bok in terms of character development and the epic tale spun by Dona Carlota, it was hard to remember everything and unravel the mystery. There was too much emotion for me to handle at times, haha. Plus I could not understand Rae's obsession with Tomas. Nor did I understand Didi. But I did undrestand why Rae felt so attached to her. Not so important but I couldn't figure out how Didi grew up speaking Spanish and how Rae learned Spanish from Didi's mom if Didi's mom was Filipina...unless Filipinos grow up speaking a variety of languages?
The only other thing that bothered/baffled me was Dona Carlota's mentioning of Federico Garcia Lorca, especially since she fictionalized his death. or got mixed up or...something.
I suspect this book is autobiographical, the details about Rae-Rae are so specific, so unique, her Czech heritage, small-town upbringing. What is remarkable about Rae and the author's writing is that they both seem fully immersed in the flamenco culture. Flamenco purists may sneer at them but they know far more than the average outsider, the tourist. I learned so much about flamenco and Gypsy culture, I had no idea Gypsies came from India. I thought they were Spanish when I was very young (blame a Nancy Drew mystery) and then I thought they were Romanian (no idea where that came from...somewhere I read that they wre called 'Roma'). This book is also peppered with crazy, curse-filled, mesmerizing quotes.
PS Other fave quotes;
"I'm the last person in the world who is going to insist something has to be logical. Logical shit is easy. It's the illogical shit that controls our lives" Didi pg. 119
"Lesile had told me some old hippie saying about how nine times out of ten when someone says they're fine, it stands for Fucked-up, Insecure, Neurotic, and I can't remember what the e was supposed to mean. I was not the one in ten who actually was fine." Rae, pg. 340