A Dance for Emilia

by Peter S. Beagle

The author offers a deeply personal fantasy tale about dreams lost and found, friendship, and the unique relationship that exists between cats and humans.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories, Animals, Novella, Cats, Romance

87 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Peter Soyer Beagle (born April 20, 1939) is an American fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. He is also a talented guitarist and folk singer. He wrote his first novel, A Fine and Private Place , when he was only 19 years old. Today he is best known as the author of The Last Unicorn, which routinely polls as one of the top ten fantasy novels of all time, and at least two of his other books (A Fine and Private Place and I See By My Outfit) are considered modern classics.

Reviews

[Kalin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story for those times when we need to remind ourselves nothing ever ends.

But I wish it were longer and more personal. Yes, even more personal.

A pair of my favorite moments:

https://choveshkata.net/forum/viewtop...

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read somewhere that Peter S. Beagle wrote A Dance for Emilia after the loss of a close friend, that it deals with such themes as aging, grieving, the impermanence of life, the unknown after death. Perhaps it's good I stumbled on that tidbit, because A Dance for Emilia is quite different from other works of Beagle's I've read. It had a distinctly melancholy tone right from the start, which continued even after Sam's spirit came back in his cat.

Synopsis: A Dance for Emilia is a short story about Jacob and Sam and Emily. Jacob and Sam are middle-aged, long-time friends, one of whom managed to reasonably live out his dream of being an actor, and the other had to surrender his dream of dancing and find meaning in another career. I'll leave it to you to decide if Sam should have kept trying, but that's not the point of the story. The point is that Sam dies, and Jacob, and Sam's girlfriend Emily (whom he called Emilia), grieve him so much, his spirit comes back and resides in the body of his cat.

How many of us have lost someone, or, dare I say it, something, like a pet, that we grieved so much we wished a piece of them would come back to us? It wouldn't matter in what form - perhaps a message delivered by a stranger, perhaps a brand new kitten born just recently who picks you out of a throng of people - it would only matter that there was something for us, the ones abandoned, left behind.

Beagle takes this idea, and, as he is wont to do, takes it two or three steps further. He doesn't just have a piece of Sam's spirit inhabit his cat, Millamant, he has the WHOLE spirit, memories and self-awareness and all, descend into the body of this old, lame feline, and actually speak to the ones who love him most.

But he can't stay. He knows that; Jacob knows that. Emilia knows that, but she balks at the idea of losing Sam twice. She tries to keep him, even as a cat.

It's a bit slow at first, with Jacob getting the news of Sam's death within the first few pages, and then what seemed an unnaturally long segment of flashbacks to get to the present day AND have all the background information to continue the story, because who would understand the significance of dancing if one didn't know Sam's history?

It's not my favorite of Beagle's work, but I haven't met a book of his yet that I'd rate less than three stars.

A Dance for Emilia is out of print, but you may find a copy via your local library.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only other books I've read by this author were the two in The Last Unicorn series, but this one is about a man who dies and takes over the soul of his Abyssinian cat, and talks to his grief-stricken best friends Jake and Emily (Emilia) before he eventually passes on yet again. He also dances for his former girlfriend.

It's a very strange story, and the author claims this novel was his way of coping with the loss of a beloved friend. 

[Quinten Kempf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Name: Quinten Kempf

Book title: A Dance for Emilia

Personal Response

Personally, I really liked the book A Dance for Emilia. I liked how the book started off with Sam dying, so you would not get so attached to him later in the book. I also liked how the book takes a sharp left from where you think it would go.

Plot Summary

The book is about two lifelong friends, named Sam and Jacob. One is an actor, and the other is a dancer. Sam, who is the dancer, dies due to cardiac arrest from previously smoking, leaving only his cat and girlfriend behind. Sam’s girlfriend, Emilia comes to visit Jacob and the cat occasionally, reminiscing on their past friend. Until one day the two come to find the cat dancing on the kitchen table, Sam’s soul had entered the cat. Sam remembered Emilia but did not know a thing about Jacob, his lifelong friend, and Jacob hated him for that.

Characterization

When Sam and Jacob were young, Jacob admired Sam’s beautiful dancing and thought he would make a great actor. He sadly never took up theater because he was so dedicated to dancing. Later they moved apart, due to different career paths but later became roommates. When Sam and Jacob had reunited, Jacob sadly found out that Sam had quit dancing, and started smoking. Sam later died due to his smoking habits and Jacob resented him for giving up on his dreams.

Personal Recommendation

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes interesting stories with a lot of conflicts. I would also recommend this book to anyone who is the ages 15-18. I would recommend this age range because the book is a bit hard to read due to the changing perspectives of the characters which would make it harder to read for younger audiences with lower reading levels.

[Stina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book #23 for 2016
PopSugar Challenge Categories:
- A book that's under 150 pages
- A book with a blue cover

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a talking cat. A dancing cat, sure, but not a talking one. Then again, this is Beagle, so it's a mistake to expect or not expect any particular thing. That's one of the things I enjoy about his work.

This really wasn't a calculated tearjerker of a story, but it really got to me. I was sobbing almost the entire time I read it. It's a sweet and touching story of grief and coming to terms with the loss of a great friend. I especially appreciated how he handled the dynamics of all of the relationships. I would recommend this to any Beagle fan, or to somebody who has lost a lifelong friend or a soulmate. But have a box of tissues handy, just in case.

[Eileen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a cute, simple little book about two lifelong friends. One of them is an actor, the other is a dancer. The dancer dies and leaves behind his beloved cat and also a girlfriend, Emilia. Emilia comes to visit the actor and the cat. They come to believe the dancer's spirit is in the cat, which speaks to them. And dances, hence the "Dance for Emilia". It's a cute story, but it lacks drama, or the real magic which Peter S. Beagle is known for. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I thought it was just OK. The cover is beautiful, and it *looks* like a nice gift book to give someone who is grieving ... but don't.

[Delia Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet and sad, with a wonderful first-person narrator who is flawed, selfish, impatient, and beautifully drawn. It's a short little book, and I read it in one sitting in the library. Touching. Meaningful. Sentimental. All the things that Peter S. Beagle does well.

A man with a passion for theater and a man with a passion for dance become friends, though neither sees the success they dreamed of. They stay in touch all their lives, until one day the dancer dies, and the actor finds out things about the dancer's beloved, the dancer's cat, and what awaits the dancer after life is over.

[Larrirosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely book to read when you are struggling with the impermance of life.

[Mila · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Dance for Emilia is certainly not without its merits. In all its simplicity, it is about loss and it is magical, even if significantly less so. For me it was just a tad too magical to pass under the radar as something realistic with fantastical elements, but not quite fantastical enough to pass as anything quite magical. It felt a bit drab to me, most of it seeming like quite the typical working in showbiz in America without being quite successful setting. The friendship and loss elements were certainly enough to keep one going through this quite short work, but it wasn't anything particularly original, emotional or, as said earlier, magical. I feel like it could have gotten more personal, more raw, but it felt like treading safe waters until the very end. Except for it's fantastical elements, which were enough of a juxtaposition to seem jarring than any meaningful addition.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars -- At times, this novel is absolutely beautiful, even when it seems absurd. The story of best friends - Jacob Holtz and Sam Kagan - and their respective navigation of life is filled with reaffirmations of long-held maxims such as: "You can never really know a person, not entirely." "You are different things to different people." "You wear many hats in life." "You never forget the ones you love." As I read this, I couldn't help but think of these. I could not entirely embrace, however, the 'reality' of this story. From the first few pages, the reader knows that Sam dies from a massive heart attack at the age of 56. Jacob tells the story as a flashback, revealing snippets of their lives over those 56 years and then the fallout after Sam's death. I just wasn't quite on board for or in agreement with the fallout. On to the next...

[Pam · Rating 1 out of 5]

This has to be one of the worst books I've ever read. The writing was atrocious. The characters were boring. I expected it to be about A CAT! Not a man who comes back briefly from the dead briefly as a cat. But even that description makes it sound better, by far, more interesting than it was.The back flap claims that the book will "...change the way you think about death-- and life." Nope. Not even a smidgen close. I was just hanging on to finish it. Also I now realize the author also wrote The Last Unicorn, a book I remember not liking as well. You win some and you lose some. This random pick was a "lose some" for sure.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given the first half of this book 5 stars. It had me near tears for much of it.

I might have given the second half a good rating, as well, but the change in tempo and topic threw me. It very much lost the poignancy of the first half, until just near the end.

I will probably read this story again, but I may stop half way through.

*dabs at eyes*

[Gloria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 87-pg novella is a contemporary story with fantasy elements. Based on the author's loss of a very close friend, this explores the lifestyles of those working in the arts. Here is it dancing, reviewing, and acting.

Not a bad story but neither is it gripping. Unattained dreams, unrealized love relationships, etc. give this a melancholy tone.

[Aubrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story about how we deal with loss and perhaps what it means to remember someone back to life. I wanted to read this in one sitting but time didn't allow for that so I read it in two and cried just a little both times.

[Zulfiya · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unusual look at the fantansy genre where the conventional blends into magical and unusual, but it also defies the codes and rules of the genre and becomes somewhat different, unpredictable, and unexpected.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely novella about life, love, cats, and afterlife.

[Wandac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story of friends and a cat

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing little story ...

[Sara G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Left me with a very heavy feeling of missing.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little rambly at first as the author sets up this mystery for us. Spooky. Very short. Cat lovers try this one!

[Zachary Littrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little book I borrowed from a friend while in Illinois that can be read in an hour or two, but within its 100 pages Beagle dwells on the toxic and cathartic intersection of coping with a friend's death. Sam, a disenchanted dancer, dies and leaves behind his best friend Jake, his lover Emilia, and his cat Millamant. Beagle, well known for his fantasy fiction, thwarts the expectations you might have for the plot by introducing a magical, albeit brief, event into his friends' grieving process.


Jake and Emilia think about Sam so much that his spirit returns and possesses Millamant.


I wondered while reading if the fantasy somewhat robbed what was shaping up to be an earnest inspection of grief; it reads a lot better if you assume it's all in Emilia and Jake's head. Even still, the magic is just a vehicle for the grief and the recovery process.

Outside of the novelty of the fantasy twist, I don't think there is much else in this work that wasn't accomplished better in other books; I will probably just describe it to friends as "that little short story with the cat and the dead guy." But it's a trip down your own memory that doesn't overstay its welcome, and I suspect that is just how Beagle and Sam would want it.

[Erin Cataldi · Rating 4 out of 5]

My best friend April has been hyping up this book for months so I was super glad to finally get around to reading it. She told me she was in hysterics when she got to the end and couldn't stop crying for hours so I was preparing myself for the worst. Tissues ready I launched into Peter S. Beagle's "A Dance for Emilia." I had forgotten how much I liked Beagle's writing style, it's so fluid and sounds beautiful in your head while you're reading, "A Dance for Emilia" was no different. This beautiful short story follows a beautiful friendship that amazingly still flourishes after death. Sam and Jake had been best friends for several decades before Sam suddenly passed away. Jake starts to bond with Emilia (Sam's lover) after his death and together for two years they do nothing but recount Sam's life and the adventures they had with him. Then suddenly one day, Sam's old cat, Millamant, begins to dance and speak, and they realize that their friend has come back. It's a beautiful story that recounts the power of friendship and it's a super fast read (the large print version was only 133 pages!). A feel good read that may (or may not) have you grabbing for tissues at the end.

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beagle likes to write about loss. A Dance for Emilia was his attempt to deal with the death of a friend, and it's a fitting memorial for this person and a lovely read for those going through similar situations. Like most of his works, the novella is slow. It starts with Jake finding out that his friend since childhood, Sam, has suddenly died. At the funeral, Jake meets Sam's girlfriend, and the two become platonically close as they remember and tell tales about their friend. However, the power of their love and longing for the man is so strong that they pull his spirit back into the body of his cat. Though the set-up seems like it might be humourous, it is played straight. Jake and Emilia (the girlfriend) must cope with their actions and learn to let go so that Sam's spirit (and the poor cat) can rest. It's a touching, sorrowful, but ultimately positive mediation on grief and love. Definitely worth the effort to track this little chapbook down.

[Douglas Summers-Stay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love The Last Unicorn the way you can only love books you read before you learned about the concept of "sentimentality." The way I love Watership Down and E.T. Anyway, this is very good and he gets the character of actors (at least, the ones I've known) just right: vulnerable, sensitive, but compelled to continually put themselves out in front of people again and again.
His ideas about death make me uncomfortable; but could it be about death, real death, if it didn't make you at least a little uncomfortable?

[Fi's Journey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not a believer in death but still the feelings you have when someone departs into the other realm (the next adventure) can be quite overwhelming for most people. I have experienced it three times.

Nevertheless this story to me is about the love we have for each other and that that love never dies as it always lives on. It's also about letting go (even though you might not want to - you should).

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect little chap book story, touching and sad, beautifully written, and an excellent example of why Peter S. Beagle is just so very, very good at what he does. Open and honest and ghostly, in a vein similar to A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE, but with a magic all its own. Makes you laugh and then makes you cry and reminds you about the value and power of friendship.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a short story - read it in about an hour and a half. It's about the death of a close friend and how it affects people. Interesting read and a little hard to describe - touching, yet surprisingly forgettable.

[LemontreeLime · Rating 4 out of 5]

you know, i horde copies of peter beagle's books. especially the ones i haven't read yet. And then once every year, or two years i pull out a tome i haven't met yet, and read it with great satisfaction. This one was short, bittersweet, and totally worth the wait.

[astried]

I love Beagle, I really do. But this is not his best writing. Good narration but the dialog feels stilted & fake, at least for me. Too bad.

Am giving it 2.5 stars because I know his other stories are far more superior.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it too brief to be satisfying.