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Also Known as Sadzia! The Belly Dancer!
Under pressure from her mother to lose weight in an exercise class, a sixteen-year-old Jewish girl rebels and joins a class in belly dancing where she finds independence, romance, and self-confidence--and an intriguing drummer named Sumir.
- GenresYoung AdultFiction
182 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
2 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Merrill Joan Gerber
39 books9 followersPrize-winning novelist and short story writer who has published seven novels — among them King Of The World, which won the Pushcart Press Editor's Book Award for an "important and unusual book of literary distinction," and The Kingdom of Brooklyn, winner of the Ribalow Award from Hadassah Magazine for "the best English-language book of fiction on a Jewish theme" — as well as five volumes of short stories, nine young adult novels, and three books of non-fiction.
Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Mademoiselle, Redbook and many other magazines, as well as in literary journals such as The Sewanee Review, Prairie Schooner, The Southwest Review, Shenandoah, The Chattahoochee Review and The Virginia Quarterly Review.
She has published essays in The American Scholar, Commentary, The Sewanee Review, Salmagundi and The Writer.
She earned her M.A. in English from Brandeis University and was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fiction Fellowship to Stanford University. She presently teaches fiction writing at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.
Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Mademoiselle, Redbook and many other magazines, as well as in literary journals such as The Sewanee Review, Prairie Schooner, The Southwest Review, Shenandoah, The Chattahoochee Review and The Virginia Quarterly Review.
She has published essays in The American Scholar, Commentary, The Sewanee Review, Salmagundi and The Writer.
She earned her M.A. in English from Brandeis University and was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fiction Fellowship to Stanford University. She presently teaches fiction writing at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 25, 2010
I remember reading this when I was a kid and thinking it was amazing. Now that I am a bellydancer myself, I chased it down secondhand through amazon marketplace. Unfortunately it didn't live up to my memory of it.
The premise is valid: a curvy girl is forced to go to aerobics classes with her mother as she is obsessed with her daughter's weight. While at the rec centre, Sandy (the daughter) stumbles across a bellydance class, and gives it a shot agaist her mother's wishes. She meets and falls in love with the drum player in the class, and with the help of a jingly coin-covered costume, magically becomes a fabulous bellydancer in about three lessons.
While there's some nice exploration of Jewish culture and how it contrasts with Arab culture, most of the characters are cardboard cutouts. Sandy (Sadzia) is a typical teen who is beginning to chafe under her mother's thumb and starts to rebel. The mother, an entirely unsympathetic character, is obsessive and a shrew. Dad is almost entirely absent until almost the climax of the novel. Samir, the attractive tabla player, is handsome and nice, and pretty much slavishly adores everything Sandy does.
As a dancer, I had issues with the way the dance was portrayed. There was many mentions of it being "sexy" and how husbands love it when you turn down the lights and dance for him privately. Eeek! How many ballet or salsa dancers have this to contend with?
At least Sandy is shown to practise a lot, but nevertheless, after a single lesson on "hip lifts", everyone thinks she's been dancing for years. After two lessons, Samir tells her how she is already an amazing dancer and after three, she is ready to teach other people and perform in public! Maybe it was just that the novel was so short, but this progression was more than a little unbelievable.
Since there are so few novels about bellydancers around, if you are a dancer you might like to read it, but it does give unrealistic and very dated impressions of the dance. In terms of a young adult coming of age story, it does follow the formula, but doesn't add terribly much to the genre.
The premise is valid: a curvy girl is forced to go to aerobics classes with her mother as she is obsessed with her daughter's weight. While at the rec centre, Sandy (the daughter) stumbles across a bellydance class, and gives it a shot agaist her mother's wishes. She meets and falls in love with the drum player in the class, and with the help of a jingly coin-covered costume, magically becomes a fabulous bellydancer in about three lessons.
While there's some nice exploration of Jewish culture and how it contrasts with Arab culture, most of the characters are cardboard cutouts. Sandy (Sadzia) is a typical teen who is beginning to chafe under her mother's thumb and starts to rebel. The mother, an entirely unsympathetic character, is obsessive and a shrew. Dad is almost entirely absent until almost the climax of the novel. Samir, the attractive tabla player, is handsome and nice, and pretty much slavishly adores everything Sandy does.
As a dancer, I had issues with the way the dance was portrayed. There was many mentions of it being "sexy" and how husbands love it when you turn down the lights and dance for him privately. Eeek! How many ballet or salsa dancers have this to contend with?
At least Sandy is shown to practise a lot, but nevertheless, after a single lesson on "hip lifts", everyone thinks she's been dancing for years. After two lessons, Samir tells her how she is already an amazing dancer and after three, she is ready to teach other people and perform in public! Maybe it was just that the novel was so short, but this progression was more than a little unbelievable.
Since there are so few novels about bellydancers around, if you are a dancer you might like to read it, but it does give unrealistic and very dated impressions of the dance. In terms of a young adult coming of age story, it does follow the formula, but doesn't add terribly much to the genre.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2012
I loved this book when I was in my early teen years. When I stumbled across the book at my library, it was already over a decade old, in fact, it was published the year I was born. Nevertheless, this early example of young adult fiction appealed to me greatly then, and after having reread it as an adult, it still does today.
Sandy, the main character, hits her teenage rebellion phase in the story. No rebellion could be more appropriate, though, as Sandy has been continually harped on by her meddling, shallow mother for her entire life.
Made to feel substandard and worthless by her mother's emphasis on Sandy's weight, she steals away from the Thinnercize class her mother enrolled them in at the Rec center and discovers the world of belly dancing across the hall. As she explores the fascinting art form, she finds that she is a natural and begins to bloom. She is able to look at her body in a new, healthier way, assert herself in her relationship with her mother, and even fall in love with Sumir, the drummer from her class.
Sandy's journey to a place of self-love is so wonderful to read. It would be nice if this book had survived library weedings over the years, but it hasn't endured a place in the canon like some other young adult books that came out in its era. Still, I feel it's an excellent read with a good message.
Sandy, the main character, hits her teenage rebellion phase in the story. No rebellion could be more appropriate, though, as Sandy has been continually harped on by her meddling, shallow mother for her entire life.
Made to feel substandard and worthless by her mother's emphasis on Sandy's weight, she steals away from the Thinnercize class her mother enrolled them in at the Rec center and discovers the world of belly dancing across the hall. As she explores the fascinting art form, she finds that she is a natural and begins to bloom. She is able to look at her body in a new, healthier way, assert herself in her relationship with her mother, and even fall in love with Sumir, the drummer from her class.
Sandy's journey to a place of self-love is so wonderful to read. It would be nice if this book had survived library weedings over the years, but it hasn't endured a place in the canon like some other young adult books that came out in its era. Still, I feel it's an excellent read with a good message.
May 19, 2010
I admit that I'm way out of the target group but back when I was a teenager I think I might have liked this book. It is an easy read exploring a teenage girl's first attempts to cut the bonds to a controlling mother (who is a perfect example on how not to treat one's teenage daugthers).
July 7, 2007
A 'young adult' book, but since when has that stopped me. I'm completely fascinated by the idea of belly dancing, and was thrilled to get to try it for my bachelorette party :-)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews