Dancing Backwards
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Product Description
Washington Post
`If you enjoy the work of Marilynne Robinson, Penelope Fitzgerald, James Salter or Anita Brookner, you should be reading Vickers.'
Philip Pullman
`Salley Vickers [is] a presence worth cherishing in the ranks of modern novelists.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Vickers Classic - sharp, witty and a terrific read,
By Prudence Patts "Prudence Patts" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dancing Backwards (Hardcover)
This is a brilliantly written story of Violet (Vi) Hetherington and a serious life error she made as a young woman, which is recalled as she crosses the ocean to visit the friend she betrayed. The novel unfolds in characteristic Vickers' style - spare, dry, acutely observed and often very funny,as well as poignant and frequently painful. The back story takes place in the sixties, when as a shy young student, convinced of her own insignificance, Vi meets Edwin, her teacher of literature who encourages her to write and they become firm friends. But another friend of Edwin arrives, a serpent in this garden of Eden, and the resulting catastrophe causes Vi to leave her life as a sucessful poet and settle for a safe but drab marriage. We feel both for the young, inexperienced Vi and her older, more melancholy self, whose shrewd eye appraises her fellow passengers but who also becomes, if unwillingly at first, engaged in their lives. Oh, and she learns to dance, which she is surprisingly good at, which leads to another plot theme. What is so enjoyable about this, as with all Vickers's novels, is that her acute observations and insights are never at the expense of her characters, or her readers. She has a wise and compassionate view of humanity, as befits her psychological background, but she is also huge fun. A great book to take on holiday as well as a serious novel.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SALLEY VICKERS AT HER BEST,
By pale rider (Truro, Cornwall United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dancing Backwards (Hardcover)
I am sure that readers who loved Salley Vickers' marvellous first novel MISS GARNET'S ANGEL will, as I did, relish this deceptively entertaining new book. A novel that is such an easy pleasure to read, yet has such wit and wisdom distilled into it, is a rarity and I think only the late Penelope Fitzgerald managed it as seemingly effortlesly as Salley Vickers. This is a book about roads not taken, lives not lived and how it is never too late to hope or to change. It is profoundly moving and ultimately joyous. It also makes one realize how very very hard it is to find time, in the ordinary run of things, to meditate on one's life and maybe that is the advantage of an ocean cruise (the setting for the book). One is literally set adrift. Here it works as a perfect crucible for the protagonist's understanding of how she made such self-destructive choices. It is a book that continues to resonate long after
it is finished.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A bit disappointed,
This review is from: Dancing Backwards (Hardcover)
I had really enjoyed Miss Garnet's Angel and found this one slightly disappointing, in comparison. While being beautifully written, it failed to capture my interest entirely, lacking the depth and the pathos of the Miss Garnet's angel (or perhaps one cannot compare Venice to a ship, as a setting). I was left slightly dissatisfied with the ending and in general it was below my expectations. Worth reading nonetheless.
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