- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate; First Edition edition (25 Jun 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007143141
- ISBN-13: 978-0007143146
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 141,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
61 of 63 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
it is finished.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Gentle reading
A gentle read, nothing hard core about the plot or the language. The characters were difficult to get to know and like but the cruise ship exploits were entertaining. Read more
Published 18 months ago by ZB
Sailing away from the past
Violet, once divorced and once widowed, is on a sea-journey from England to America, planning to meet again a third man, Edwin, with whom she had once had a strong but Platonic... Read more
Published on 11 April 2010 by Ralph Blumenau
Engaging voice who draws you into her tale
Violet, recently widowed, is travelling across the Atlantic to seek closure on a relationship she feels went wrong many years before and is an engaging voice in this novel. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2010 by Arkgirl
Not her best...
Having enjoyed her earlier works, I was really looking forward to reading this but I feel she was lucky to even get it published. Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2009 by Elizabeth Wood
vickers voyage
I have been a great fan of Salley Vickers since the publication of the sublime MISS GARNET'S ANGEL and have read everything since . Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2009 by Paul Ivory
beautiful perfect prose
I have always enjoyed Salley Vickers beautiful prose, Dancing backwards does not in any way disappoint. Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2009 by sarah J
Witty, insightful and wonderfully consoling.
I have been waiting impatiently for a new Salley Vickers novel and so devoured this immediately. However, I have since introduced it to our book group to unanimously good reviews. Read more
Published on 25 July 2009 by Jenny Hampton
Acute vision and distinctive style.
I heard Salley Vickers speak at ways With Words Dartington and bought this on the strength of her funny, gracious and wonderfully articulate talk. Read more
Published on 15 July 2009 by R.I. Mogen
Stunning
This is a stunning novel; beautifully written, wise and immensely entertaining. This may be Salley Vickers' best yet. Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2009 by Mallemaroking
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