A review by madameroyale
Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life Under Tyranny by Witold Szabłowski

2.0

I'm conflicted about this book. I thought the first part was really well written and engaging, even heartbreaking at times (for both the bears and the people). There were characters you identified with and understood; you followed their stories and rooted either for or against them. The story of the bears and the people around them was extremely fascinating to read. But once that part was over, the book went downhill. None of the other stories were as interesting or emotionally engaging; none of the other sections even held together narratively as well as the first section did. The author went so deep into the characters (human and otherwise) and their society in the first part that everything that came after seemed distanced, dull, and disjointed. It read like the author had written exactly what he'd wanted to write in part one, and then had to tack on a hundred more pages of random vignettes just to make the book long enough to be a book. Maybe if the organization had been better, or the bears' story had been shorter, I wouldn't have been so disappointed in the rest. 5 stars for part 1, 2 stars for the rest. The story of the bears is very much worth reading. The rest, not so much.