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)
Kolams Makkens ir sarakstījis vienreizēju un aizraujošu stāstu „Dejotājs”, kurš ir aizrāvis daudzu lasītāju sirdis. Grāmata ir biogrāfisks stāsts par krievu baletdejotāju Rūdolfu Nurijevu un viņa apkārtējiem, tuvajiem cilvēkiem, par mākslinieka dzīvi, ceļu uz panākumiem un traģēdiju. Sākotnēji stāsts risinās Krievijā, taču vēlāk tā darbības vieta mainās.Stāstā „Dejotājs” galvenais varonis iet savu dzīves ceļu. Tā sākumā Rūdolfs Nurijevs ir mazs zēns, kurš dejo necilā būdā. Bet stāsta laikā viņš pieaug, pilnveidojas un kļūst par pasaules ievērojamāko un talantīgāko baletdejotāju. Viņš ir ļoti mērķtiecīgs un vēlas sasniegt pilnību. Tomēr, augot viņa talantam un prasmēm, aug viņa personība un tumšais raksturs. Viņš pieņem lēmumus, ar kuru sekām jārēķinās viņa tuviniekiem, kuri dažkārt tiek iznīcināti. Dejas dēļ viņš pameta savu ģimeni un valsti. Darbā plaši tiek izmantots sarunvalodas stils un literāra valoda, kuras savā starpā mijas. Tiek izmantoti dažādi profesionālismi, lai izteiktu baleta iezīmes.Lasot šo darbu, mani izbrīnīja galvenā varoņa izturēšanās pret apkārtējiem, tā dzīvesveids. Tomēr lasot šo darbu secināju, cik svarīga ir mērķtiecība un talants. To, ka balets sevī neietver tikai skaistu deju, bet arī smagu darbu, centienus, lai sasniegtu pilnību un gūtu panākumus, kā arī šīs dejas patieso grāciju.Kopumā uzskatu, ka šis darbs bija patiešām interesants un saistošs. Tas atspoguļo cilvēku dažādos raksturus un tā izmaiņas laika gaitā. Grāmatā visvairāk patika brīži, kad tika aprakstītas baleta kustības, jo šajos momentos šīs ainas spilgti attēlojas iztēlē. Šī grāmata deva citu skatījumu uz baletu un lika to iemīlēt, un radīja vēlmi doties uz kādu baleta izrādi. Grāmata varētu patikt cilvēkiem, kurus saista deja vai biogrāfiski darbi, tiem, kuri vēlas uzzināt par vienu no labākajiem pasaules baletdejotājiem. Šī ir viena no labākajām grāmatām, kuru es esmu lasījusi un iesaku izlasīt ikvienam, jo tā rada patiešām neaprakstāmas sajūtas.
What do You think about Dancer (2004)?
1. I know only a little about Nureyev (if you want, you can watch him on The Muppet Show, among other things), but while I think more knowledge would have enriched parts of Dancer, I am glad that I didn't know too much. It's an odd kind of historical fiction, not quite a biographical novel, but like one: the differences between fact and fiction are blurry. I really liked that experience, and I think it made the book richer.2. McCann mixes first and third person narrative passages very effectively, bordering them with information from the historical record (although - as you can tell from the opening page which lists things thrown onstage during Nureyev's first Paris season - dance happily crosses the line between legend and history). The first person passages are from people peripheral to Nureyev's story (I suppose some of them of them are complete fabrications) - they are all very interesting characters. And they arouse sympathy, although they are less difficult people than Nureyev, so that reaction isn't really much of a surprise. I liked the kaleidoscope effect very much - it really enriched the story. Although I think a more straightforward historical novel would also have been interesting (and containing its own challenges).3. The first book, with the descriptions of Russia during World War II, is worth a look for itself alone. There is a magnificent and devastating power there. Whether or not you give a damn about dance!
—Madeline
After finishing the book, on a number of occasions, I ran into a few of Nureyev’s photos. For example, there is a little dance studio in NJ which hold classes for school aged children (I was there for a child’s B-day party). And in the main room there is a huge poster of Nureyev. It is a photo shot during one of his performances where it seems he is flying upwards into the air. And I remembered a passage in the book where one of the students, who attended dance school with Nureyev, was thinking bitterly about how Nureyev stays in the air just a bit longer than everyone else. That is actually one of my favorite pars of the book. It gave me the feeling that I was inside this dancer’s head, reading all his thoughts. The same for the rest of the characters, Anna, Sergei, Yulia…I do wish that I could have read a bit more from Nureyev’s voice. But maybe that was never the intent of the author. The passages that do let us her Nureyev’s voice, I thought, were a bit choppy. But maybe that was the intent. We were given a picture of a very energetic and impatient person and maybe a long detailed soliloquy from him would not be faithful to the type of person Nureyev was.
—Julia
As the 3 stars say, I "liked it". I'm definitely ambivalent about fiction based on people who lived so recently; at least McCann had the decency to change the names of people still living (basically turning it into a bit of a roman-a-clef, whether he planned it that way or not), but I noticed that by and large the really major figures in the Western ballet world didn't get much more than an indirect word or two. Possibly they or their ferociously protective estates (Balanchine?) deterred the author from getting too much into real ballet gossip. A pity, perhaps. The writing is, as pretty much everyone agrees, superb; the frequent change of narrative POV keeps the reader hopping, but that's OK. The stream-of-consciousness "Victor" segment depicting Nureyev's life amongst the upper crust - and the gay bathhouses - in the US, is breathtaking. The opening evocation of the horrors of WWII in Russia will stick with me for a long time. I wonder how many of the allusions about Nureyev himself I would have picked up had I not recently read a Nureyev biography; and I also wonder whether it would have mattered.
—Surreysmum
