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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2000
Perhaps you had to be there...the 70's, San Francisco, the blossoming and peak of the gay sexual culture. It was a rare time; everything, it seemed, was perfect. So perfect, in fact, that those of us there could not have possibly imagined it might ever be otherwise! The list of honors and citations which precede this more modest effort, don't really reveal or do justice to what Fritscher has written. He has, quite simply, told the truth, sometimes whispering secrets that were to remain secret, sometimes using words to betray unspeakable thoughts. The truth of that time is played out on a vast stage within his head, on occasion momentarily inaccessible. But, within a few paragraphs or pages, some small detail, as if casually discarded, will suddenly bring life, and meaning, and intimacy to what he is saying. Fritscher worked the better part of a decade on Some Dance to Remember, living the life as he wrote the words. The story is tightly and carefully knit together, and it's a story that's hard to put down. In spite of the high page count, Fritscher clearly has a reverence for language, and his style is economical, accessible, and crystal clear. His sentences invite re-reading for the sheer pleasure of their composition. Maybe this book is a tribute to those embraced by the San Francisco fog in that forever vanished, blessed, golden moment. I can only recall that wondrous time with a hollow sadness, everyday missing it even more. But even if you weren't there, the book is a monument to its time. The words come to life, and to read it is to be there. Although Fritscher (perhaps with a wink and a nod) steadfastly insists that his book is fiction, it is also a hagiology of people, place and time. A character such as Solly Bluestein (with his overflowing penthouse of husters) simply has to have really existed, if only because he is far too human to have not existed. So, if you've come this far with me, trust me...the book's a gem!
Product Details
4.3 out of 5
25 global ratings
