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Dancing In The Low Country
by
James Villas
Beard Award-winning author, journalist, and quintessential Southerner Villas delivers a beguiling, witty, and poignant first novel.
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
October 1st 2008
by Kensington
(first published January 1st 2008)
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I picked up a bunch of lovely titled books, determined to read them all, hoping to find at least one in the bunch worthy to read through. Lesson learned--pretty front covers and lovely titles are VERY misleading. Sub-zero stars for this book. A playright said to enjoy the book with some "sippin whiskey." Don't know what that is, but drunk you'd need to be to (or immoral) to get through the expicit homosexual experience of one particular character. Books should be rated! And this one deserves an...more
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I became caught up in this book from the beginning and was really feeling good about it. The Charlotte, Myrtle Beach setting was intriguing since I was very familiar with the places mentioned in the book. The character development was exceptional. Miss Ella reminded me a little bit of my mother in law. Spunky and very independent.
The story was interesting. Miss Ella is recapping her life at her golden age and has come to a major decision that she is going to reveal something she has kept to her...more
The story was interesting. Miss Ella is recapping her life at her golden age and has come to a major decision that she is going to reveal something she has kept to her...more
I wanted to like this book - truly, I did. At first, I was intrigued by it because the characters live in places that I am familiar with, such as Charlotte, NC, Myrtle Beach and Charleston, SC, and New Jersey. In a way, it was fun to read about the different locations the characters visit, especially because Villas uses actual places that you can find on a map. Yes, the house on Colville Road in Charlotte is in an upscale neighborhood, but unless you live in Charlotte or have visited the area, h...more
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This was an interesting story about family and friends. I would recommend this book to friends but not my parents. There was some sex in some of it that I have problems with. A little to detailed in the sex scenes other than that I really loved miss ella and goldie.Dancing In The Low Country
I thought this would be a light read about the Low Country I yearn to visit. Though the descriptions of the Carolinas were lovely and quite vivid, I was disappointed by the flat,rather predictable story and stunned by the sheer raunchiness of some of the passages. Blech.
Didn't much like this - parts of it read like a throwback to the 50's -but they're using cell phones so it's supposed to be relatively current. I'm not sure if I just didn't like the subject, the characters, the style, or the weird ending...
I LOVED this book. Cannot imagine anyone from the south disliking it. I live south of Charlotte NC. Everywhere was so familiar and the story line was fabulous. Enjoyed seeing it through this lovely woman's memories of being young.
I love readin about the lowcountry so I went in with a positive bias. I enjoyed the book. It was free, which usually means it's substandard but this was not. I read it on the beach with my feet in the sand and had a perfectly lovely time.
Interesting back and forth between the past and present, dealing with aging and how the past can become a prison if one doesn't handle it right.
Charming, from the standpoint of looking back and remembering at the end of a long life with nostalgia for what is no longer
Oct 20, 2009
Karen
added it
predictable but leaves some questions unanswered
Loved the book. Nice easy read.
Ugh. Terrible. Southern lit.
It not the good boring really
A bit too descriptive in certain areas. Love the Lowcountry though.
disjointed. could have been better edited.
Love the descriptions of the Low country then and now, liked the characters for the most part. Did find it a little predictable and thought the ending was a little flat.
Not that great
I really love lowcountry tales about NC/SC ... it brings back memories of my property in Calabash, NC and the fun times I had down there. I enjoyed the book, laughed through it and I could picture the places and others things that Mr Villas described. The only thing that disappointed me was the rather abrupt ending, I was like "what this is it?" Wish the ending could have been better, but overall I did enjoy reading this book.
I liked this book but for some reason had a hard time finishing it. I think the initial tension in the story began to bog down and even the author had a hard time finding a decent resolution. In the end it just kind of galloped away towards a resolution that didn't make a whole lot of sense. All in all it was o.k., I enjoy anything with a background of Charleston and the Low Country, but not one I'd read again.
Dec 26, 2011
TAMMY CUEVAS
added it
If it were possible to give negative stars, this book would be a -5. I rarely give up on a book, but I could not finish this mess. One stereotype after another, with every bigoted name possible, just banging the reader over the head . I tried to stay with it, thinking the author was trying to make a point, but i'm afraid there was no point.
GREAT beach reading! I got pretty emotionally involved, and I couldn't put it down. I was amazed how well Villas' voice translated from food writing to his first novel. Especially after reading his memoir earlier this year, I wonered A LOT how much Miss Ella was based on his own mother. Maybe we'll find out in his next book...
An interesting story about an elderly lady living her life in her past memories. She learns to give some purpose to her life by looking at the future. It's mostly a really nice read, but because of a couple of gay characters, there are some pages to be skipped in order to not read about men having sex.
This entire story leads up to a climactic ending that never happens. Kind of disappointing.
Dec 23, 2010
Jean Barrington
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Read it, loved it! There is nothing like southern American writing! Don't miss this. . .
didn't finish it -thumbs down
Free Kindle book.
May 17, 2013
Jamie
marked it as to-read
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James Villas was the food and wine editor of Town & Country magazine for twenty-seven years. His work has also appeared in Esquire, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Saveur, The New York Times, and the Atlantic Monthly, among other publications. Two of his cookbooks have been nominated for a James Beard Award. He has also won a James Beard Award twice for journalism and received Bon Appetit's Food Writer...more
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