Loved it. ( )

I have a bad habit of critiquing books while I'm reading them. Even when I'm immersed in the story and enjoying myself, part of my attention is on how and why the book works. It gives me pleasure and mostly I can't help it.

"Dance, Glady's Dance" was an exception. It reached past my over-analytical head and connected with my emotions. It made me happy, even when it was making me sad.

I'm not entirely sure how Cassie Stocks did that but I'm very glad she did.

"Dance, Glady's, Dance", like many of the best things in life, requires you to use a little bit of imagination and to be willing to hope.

The story starts with Frieda Zweig looking, at twenty-seven, for a fresh start where she can put aside her former life as a would-be artist and live a life more ordinary. She askes herself:

"Who was I going to be? I was more inclined towards inertia than upward mobility and didn’t like most people enough to devote my life to helping others less fortunate than myself. I’d work somewhere, I thought, watch TV in the evenings, and become wholly involved in the lives of non-existent people. I’d develop my own life of quiet desperation, as Emerson’s buddy Thoreau suggested the mass of men (and, presumably, women) led."

To help with this self-imposed task, Frieda defines "Five Steps To An Ordinary Life":

1. Get a real job.
2. Stop seeing the world as a series of potential paintings.
3. Learn how to talk about the weather.
4. Do the things that normal people do.
5. Figure out what normal people actually do.

Although the initial tone of the book is light-hearted, "Dance, Gladys, Dance", is not a comedy. Frieda uses humour to distance herself from her problems and to suppress the strong emotions that always result in her needing to paint. True, Frieda's reality is often orthogonal to the surface of life as most of us live it and she spends a good deal of her time puzzled and occasionally defeated by everyday things like shopping for clothes, but Frieda is bright and intuitive and kind and fundamentally serious in her approach to life.

Frieda's doomed attempt to embrace the ordinary leads her to renting a room in a Victorian house owned by a widower who teaches photography at a local Arts Centre. After she moves in, she meets, Gladys, the ghost of the first woman to live in the house.

In addition to a cleverly designed set of events in the present day that weave together the fates of a number of strong characters, we have chapters that tell us more about Freida^s life and how she came to give up on the idea of being an artist and, bit by bit, we hear Gladys' story.

Many of the characters in the book are damaged or in pain because they lack belief in their own talent or they have given up on their belief that they can be who they want to be. The book shows women in particular as being at risk of losing themselves in this way or being denied the right to use their talent.

The message of the book seems to be: trust yourself, use your talent and take the small opportunities we all have to make the world a less awful place to live in. Delivering this message without coming across as either didactic or sentimental is what makes this book such a triumph.

stocksphoto"Dance, Gladys, Dance" was Cassie Stocks' first novel. In 2013 it won the Leacock Memorial Medal, awarded to the best book of humour written in English by a Canadian writer.

My Blog: https://mikefinnsfiction.wordpress.com/ ( )

‘’Five steps to an Ordinary Life:
Get a real job.
Stop seeing the world as a series of potential paintings.
Learn how to talk about the weather.
Do the things that normal people do.
Figure out what normal people actually do. ‘’

Poor Frieda is at a loss. An ambitious artist who used to see the world in a different light, who refused to conform, who had every potential and a deep passion for her art, threw everything to the wind for the silliest of reasons. Sentiment. I mean, girl, didn’t you pay attention to Sherlock? Sentiment is a chemical defect found on the losing side. And now, she has to find a way through, away from her superficial roommate. Guided by a suspicious-looking and enticing advertisement, she finds herself under the same roof with a charming elderly man, named Mr. H, and a very special ghost named Gladys. A woman who just wanted to dance but sentiment destroyed her world. And then, we have a fascinating elderly lady, a mysterious son and a former partner, who earns his millions through a disgusting enterprise, but with an interesting mother who claims to be a psychic. And of this sounds all over the place, it’s because it is. As it is also vivid and funny. And sad, otherwise we wouldn’t be here, would we?

‘’And what if I don’t, and what if I do?’’

The universe of uncertainty and confusion that is usually associated with artists is excellently depicted and the lively, quirky cast of characters make this a read that is seemingly light-hearted but in reality, it is a rather faithful portrayal of the world of Art and the disappointments that win first prize. It is also a story about the sad, repressive eras when women were not allowed to express themselves without risking their sanity and freedom. Never mind their reputation. Women who were forced to walk the dimly-lit streets, sacrificing their bodies because a man willed it so. Like I said: sentiment does no good. These themes come through a writing style that is humorous and flowing, the dialogue is vivid and realistic and there were quite a few moments when I laughed out-loud. Which happens extremely rarely. I mean, the very questions of Gladys about our modern world are pure gold.

As you can understand, I was invested in the stories of Frieda and Gladys, no doubt about that. What bothered me personally was the focus on Frieda’s love escapades and her awful choices regarding that field that came in absolute contrast with her firm, logic self. In fact, this got repetitive and quite detrimental after a while. However, readers who are graced with an actual heart and who aren’t bothered by awful romances won’t have a problem. In addition, the character of Marilyn didn’t really advance the story in a good way and I’d say the same about the character of Girl. As a result, I did a lot of scan and skim during the last chapters.

So, no, this won’t be found in a literary award list (...although with the 2018 Man Booker Prize longlist you can never know what atrocities are lurking in the judges’ folders....) but it is a funny and moving study of the Art world, the psyche of a disillusioned artist and the cruelty towards women.
‘’It wasn’t my job to make the world understand.’’

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com ( )

Even though this book won the 2013 Leacock Medal for Humour there is a lot of serious issues in it. But there are also some very funny moments so I can see why it won.

Frieda Zweig is 27 years old and has just left a relationship with sex shop owner Norman to return to Winnipeg where she had attended art school. She has decided she is not an artist and she just wants an ordinary life. Her friend Ginny, a successful designer at a media company, thrusts the classified ads at her and suggests she look for a job. Instead of looking at the positions available Frieda finds the following ad:
Beautiful old phonograph for sale, 78 record player. Excellent condition. Gladys doesn't dance anymore. She needs the room to bake. Bring offer.
Who could resist checking out an ad like that? Not Frieda. She calls and goes to take a look. Mr. Hausselman, a widower who teaches photography classes at the Art Centre, shows her a room in his house which contains a phonograph. But the phonograph isn't for sale; he wants to rent out a room so the house won't be so quiet and he wants someone to help him with laughed-overs (leftovers). He doesn't know anything about Gladys but he offers the room to Frieda and she decides to move in. Then Gladys, who is a ghost, appears to Frieda and says she has to help her. This leads to Frieda meeting a host of interesting characters and confronting her own demons.

It is hard for me to pick a favourite character from this novel but the next-door neighbour, Miss Kesstle, would certainly be near the top. She spends her days crocheting and caring for her deaf cat Beethoven and making Sunday suppers for Mr. Hausselman. She was sceptical about Frieda's motives at first but they warm up to each other. ( )