I had no point of navigation but I was hell-bent on finding my way to Ordinary. I didn’t know what I hoped to find on that voyage or, God forbid, at the end of it, but I knew there was nothing but bilge rats and bullshit on the course I’d been following.
That’s our introduction to 27-seven-year-old Frieda Zweig, who is currently living with a friend, job-hunting, and trying to ignore her love for painting. After a couple failed romantic relationships and a few hard critiques of her art, Frieda just wants to live an ordinary life… whatever that is. A classified ad in a newspaper catches her attention, introducing her to Gladys and Mr. H.
Mr. H is a widower, estranged from his only son and active at the local art centre, who has decided to rent out his upstairs room because he’s lonely living by himself. As he and Frieda try to help each other, they meet a host of other zany characters, including Frieda’s ex-boyfriend Norman and Mr. H’s movie-producing song Whitman. Soon, this unusual group of friends is embarking on a crazy plan to save the art centre.
Dance, Gladys, Dance
One of the things I liked about this novel was how Stocks brings alive a variety of characters on the margins of society. Mr. H and Miss Kesstle are seniors living alone. Marilyn and Girl are doing drugs and nearly homeless. And Gladys simply needs to tell her story, as she was shunned and ostracized during her life. Telling stories and living your dreams are big themes in this novel.
Dance, Gladys, Dance is a witty, affectionate tale—with a supernatural twist—of several women who are coming to grips with the dreams they’ve sacrificed or outright given up, and the changes that they make to their lives to follow their dreams once again.
For more about Cassie Stocks, visit her website or come back next week Thursday for her guest post right here on The Koala Bear Writer.
4 Comments
And the lucky winner is…
DENISE G!
(who left a comment on Cassie’s guest post)
Congratulations! 🙂
Loved reading Christine’s comment about her grandmother.
I live too in small town Ontario and we’ve got our fair share. The (not-really) Sheriff, The Wolves, the Hermit. I could tell an entire story about the characters on my street!
Besos, Sarah
Zookeeper at Journeys of The Zoo
journeysofthezoo at hotmail dot com
This sounds like a great book! I love witty and affectionate 🙂 Oh my goodness…a zany character? I live on a small island in the rural North! I run into LOTS of zany characters! 🙂
As for someone whose story I’d love to tell, it would have to be that of my grandmother’s. She and my grandfather had to go in hiding from the Japanese during the war and went from village to village with their 8 children. She told me how the Japanese were bayoneting babies (she tried not to tell me all the gory details). When I told my grandparents I was going to Japan to teach for a few years (in my 20s), I didn’t understand at the time why they were so against it. They lived through so many changes and have seen so much in their lives. My grandmother just passed away in May, but her stories are still so vivid in my mind.
I love books that make me laugh! I would love to win a copy. Thanks for the opportunity