From the Bookshelf of Bound Together…

Dancer

Colum McCann

Start date: April 10, 2019

Finish date: May 1, 2019

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What Members Thought

Apr 12, 2019 Angela M rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

4.5 stars

I waited until I finished reading this to watch him dance or to hear his voice in an interview. I wanted to see whether McCann had given us something of the real Rudolf Nureyev. What McCann does is give us beautiful language, visceral descriptions of war, descriptions that take you to the place in Russia where Rudolf Nureyev was raised, where he first danced, to the cities where he lived and danced, to the social circles of celebrity where he navigated, to his personal life style of ja 4.5 stars

I waited until I finished reading this to watch him dance or to hear his voice in an interview. I wanted to see whether McCann had given us something of the real Rudolf Nureyev. What McCann does is give us beautiful language, visceral descriptions of war, descriptions that take you to the place in Russia where Rudolf Nureyev was raised, where he first danced, to the cities where he lived and danced, to the social circles of celebrity where he navigated, to his personal life style of jaw dropping opulence when he had achieved such fame, and to the gay haunts of New York City where there are no holds are barred on what happens here, to the man on the stage with only the dance. I never quite felt connected to him, except when I read about him as a 6 year old boy dancing for wounded soldiers at a hospital in Russia or read his lists of things to do. I almost always felt like a spectator watching the dance, his life. Ironically, I felt more connected to those characters real or imagined who in large part tell his story as well as their own when Rudi was with them and the affect he had on their lives when he defects. It was like watching the corps de ballet dancing around the main dancer.

I found the narrative structure fascinating with these multiple points of view and I was interested in their stories as well - Anna, his first ballet teacher and her husband Sergei, their daughter Yulia, Rudi’s sister Tamara. I loved Tom, the shoemaker and found the description of how he made the ballet shoes absolutely fascinating and I loved Odile, cook and loyal assistant. I was heartbroken for Victor, even though one of the chapters devoted to him was so sexually explicit that I cringed while reading it. Yet, the gay scene in New York was a part of Rudi’s life so while it made me uncomfortable, it has to be here if we’re to get a picture of who he was.

I am enamored with McCann’s writing, so many perfect phrases. I can’t help but share a few quotes:

“The trains made their way slowly across the trussed bridge, a quarter of a kilometer long, the steel giving out thuds and high pings under the stress of the bridge as if mourning in advance.”

“Vendors solemnly rearranged the emptiness of their kiosks.”

“Birch trees stand in armies along the ice-covered road.”

“Once we filled each other with desire, not remembrance.”

“The real beauty in life is that beauty can sometimes occur.”

Rudi doesn’t for the most part come across as a character to love, yet there are softer moments that shine through among the temper tantrums, the selfish behavior, and chaotic life - his love of Margot Fonteyn and the generosity they showed each other on the stage, his love for his mother, and the genuine friendship with Victor’s character, by wanting to insure that Victor was cared for in his last days. Who was Rudolf Nureyev really ? Maybe the answer is from a letter in the novel to his sister Tamara : “I am a dancer, I live to dance. That is all.”

I found this wonderful interview with McCann in which he discusses the book, his inspiration for writing it, his research. I love how he reflects on storytelling and fiction. An interview worth reading, even if you don’t read the book. http://colummccann.com/interviews/dan... . Now I have read all of McCann’s books. Hoping for another and another. ...more

182 likes · Like · see review

Feb 05, 2016 Dem rated it it was amazing

Shelves: recommended, favorites

" This is not a biography, it's a story, a novel, a tale. For a long time I toyed with the idea of calling it a false portrait" Taken from Colum McCann's interview online.

This is the story of the life of Russian Dancer Rudolf Nureyev and the people that surrounded him and for me it was the surrounding characters that took centre stage in this superbly written novel.

I have read a few of McCann's novels some I have liked better than others but this story from the first chapter where Russian " This is not a biography, it's a story, a novel, a tale. For a long time I toyed with the idea of calling it a false portrait" Taken from Colum McCann's interview online.

This is the story of the life of Russian Dancer Rudolf Nureyev and the people that surrounded him and for me it was the surrounding characters that took centre stage in this superbly written novel.

I have read a few of McCann's novels some I have liked better than others but this story from the first chapter where Russian Soldiers returning from the Eastern front after World War II are entertained by the young Nureyev had me hooked.

I am not a fan of Ballet and knew very little about the life of Nureyev and really had little interest in this book until I saw it was available in Whisper sync and I really love reading and listening to a book especially I want the correct pronunciation of foreign names people and places. The audio book for Dancer is excellent with different narrators for different characters and I didn't find it at all confusing switching between characters. McCann weaves his magic and tells an astonishing and quite believable story. The characters themselves are so wide and varied and the story is told from their viewpoints which makes this book so compelling.

While I was quite interested in the story of Rudof, I was fascinated by the story of those he left behind in Russia and in life in general as it was through their voices we hear the real story. I am not sure I would have liked or cared for the dancer himself but I certainly appreciate his art and how hard he worked for the love of dance.

There were times in the story when I didn't care for the scenes of sex or drugs and readers may not like this aspect of the story but I do understand that it belonged in the book.
There is so much about this book that I loved, Colum McCann is a passionate writer and few authors match his insight, attention to detail and searing prose.

This powerful story will loiter in my mind and already I have played wonderful You Tube videos of Interviews and ballet performances by by Rudolf and his partner Margot Fonten.

...more

70 likes · Like · see review

Oct 18, 2012 Chrissie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arts, russia, usa, favorites, contemp-novel, soviet-union, audible-us, bio

This is fiction, but based on the true life events of the famed Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993). Through fiction the author attempts to show readers not only the external facts of Nureyev’s life but also how he perceived his own life. We are not so much told his inner thoughts, motivations and feelings, but we watch what he does and follow the crazed, hyped celebrity life and the frenzied gay-scene that lead to his death by AIDS. He defected Russia in 1961. We see how this impac This is fiction, but based on the true life events of the famed Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993). Through fiction the author attempts to show readers not only the external facts of Nureyev’s life but also how he perceived his own life. We are not so much told his inner thoughts, motivations and feelings, but we watch what he does and follow the crazed, hyped celebrity life and the frenzied gay-scene that lead to his death by AIDS. He defected Russia in 1961. We see how this impacted his own life and the lives of those left behind. In this book we are shown, not told. What is shown to us is NOT pleasant. I am sure you know of his promiscuous behavior. There is sex and drugs aplenty. This is not a comforting read, no fairy tale. If that is what you want, then look elsewhere. We see Rudi’ s life through the eyes of both those closest to him and those who only brushed shoulders with him, through famed entities such as Jacqueline Onassis, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Erik Buhn, Margot Fonteyn and through fictional characters too.

There is no author’s note stating explicitly what is fiction and what is fact, but I am convinced that Colum McCann has mirrored Nureyev’s world accurately. I did shore up the facts by reading Wikipedia. I learned much through the fictional characters. They gave depth to the story; some of them I grew to love (Odil and Tom and Anna, to name but three.) Having read this book, I feel I have lived next to Nureyev through his childhood, all the way to his death, ending with a final auction of his possessions. Each episode had a message, none were superfluous. I found neither the sex nor his final illness too explicit; I felt the electricity in the air, the dizzying pace, his fight for perfection in his dance and the sensuality of ballet. Don’t expect the life of a true artist to be anything but violent.

The audiobook has five different narrators, named below. In one chapter the reader hops form one character to another, without warning, but I was never confused. The audiobook’s narrators did not correspond to one specific character. You could not assume that if you heard one voice you knew which character was speaking sine there were many more characters than the five audiobook narrators. The only narrator I was not happy with was Jessica Almasy. Her voice was too sweet, too childish! All the others were great, and Suzanne Toren was f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c!!! Is she my favorite narrator? There is a brutal chapter filled with sex and drugs, read by one of the male narrators. That too, with its staccato pulse, perfectly created the world of Nureyev at that time. I believe that listening to the audiobook further enhances the reading experience. The tempo, the dialects, the intonations create an atmosphere that carries the reader beyond the written words.

I feel I know now what moved, motivated and pushed Rudolph Nureyev. I feel I understand him. I pity him and I admire him. Both. When I look at his life I look at it with disgust and admiration. I think the author has done a tremendous job. The way Colum McCann has mixed fact with fiction is really amazing. Five stars.

********************

I have just begun my third book by Colum McCann. It won’t be my last. I cannot get enough of his writing. It is fantastic. Why? Well, because he mixes the tragedy of life with humor and beauty. I have just experienced WW2 in Ufa, Russia. The horror of war is painted on a tableau. Next to this are also people laughing, the wonders of a warm bath, the glint of an eye and the sounds of a balalaika and singing. I can't take the horrors of the earlier tableau if I am not given the happiness too. I love seeing both so beautifully depicted one next to the other. Life IS beautiful if we just pay attention and look and listen and smell. What writing! Is this my favorite author?

I am listening to an audiobook with superb narration by several narrators, men and women who expertly pronounce the Russian dialect. Their names are: Jonathan Davis, Nick Pauling, Jessica Almasy, Marc Vietor and Suzanne Toren. All of them are new to me except Suzanne Toren who did a great job narrating Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader. I am so glad I have a long-listen ahead of me, more than 12hours. :0)

...more

37 likes · Like · see review

Apr 14, 2019 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lor-2019

Thoughts soon.

16 likes · Like · see review

Apr 18, 2019 ♥ Sandi ❣ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: the-arts

2 stars - was okay - barely!

McCann was just removed from my favored author list. I really struggled to complete this book. I also removed one star for the very poor punctuation in this book. One complete section was without any periods and capitalization at the beginning of sentences. What is that all about? What does that do for the book? What does that do for the reader? Only 336 pages and a mass production to take on. You had to guess at who the narrator was in each section of the book, until ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Apr 26, 2019 Irene rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is a fictional account of the life of Rudolf Nureyev. It is told in an unconventional way. Various voices tell bits of their lives: Nureyev’s sister, the daughter of one of his early dance instructors, his housekeeper, several lovers, etc. Often these stories seemed to be tangentially about Nureyev. Some voices were pure stream of consciousness while others used a more traditional narrative structure. In the end, the reader was given a glimpse at the way Nureyev was perceived by those in hi ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Apr 28, 2019 Melanie rated it liked it · review of another edition

I have no idea how I want to rate this book. It took me quite a while to finish because while reading it I thought I didn't like it. Now that I finished it, I realize I liked it more that I thought I would. There are parts hard to read, Victor's (and somewhat Nureyev's) lifestyle, the horrible way of life in Russia that Nureyev's family and friends had to endure, for example. I did come to like several of the characters, like his housekeeper Odile, his shoemaker Tom, friend Yulia and her parents ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Jan 23, 2025 Alena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

a 2025 book BINGO challenge was the perfect excuse to finally read this novel that had been languishing on my to-read shelf for far too long. Every time I read McCann I am even more impressed by his versatility and brilliance. In this novel he is crafting a fictional story of the great Russian (Soviet) dancer Rudi Nureyev whose life went from complete deprivation to absolute excess in the 20th century. Mostly McCann chooses to describe Nureyev through the lens of the people around him during his ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Apr 14, 2019 Ruby Grad rated it liked it · review of another edition

I've been very interested in Rudolf Nureyev since his defection, so I really looked forward to reading this. But it failed to really satisfy. I was fine with the lack of quotation marks around the characters' dialogue, and I appreciated the attempt to convey Nureyev's character more than his biography. I also liked how he conveyed the nature of the relationship between Nureyev and Fonteyn. But I thought the way the author used the differing voices, and the entire chapter of one sentence (which s ...more

6 likes · Like · see review