From Publishers Weekly
Love and betrayal, political upheaval, the sacrifices required by dedication to art, and class differences are some of the themes that Ferr‚ (The House on the Lagoon) engages in this imaginatively conceived but strangely lackluster story of a Russian ballet company stranded in Puerto Rico in 1917. Suddenly rendered stateless by the Russian revolution, a touring troupe headed by a famous prima ballerina is forced to remain in San Juan. As narrated by Masha, a member of the company who idolizes Madame and serves as her devoted maid and confidante, the troupe becomes caught up in the nascent Puerto Rican independence movement. Madame, who preaches the sanctity of art to her virginal acolytes, herself falls in love with Diamantino M rquez, a young man half her age, who uses her to further his revolutionary activities. Devastated by Madame's emotional abandonment, Masha attempts to save her mistress from her unwise passion. At first, Ferr‚'s straightforward narrative style ably conveys a wealth of background information, but soon digressions to explain historical events and long monologues overwhelm the plot. Jarringly, Masha's narration is broken off abruptly and briefly late in the story to introduce another voice. Overall, the novel is bland, devoid of stylistic distinction and sadly lacking in dramatic tension: even the climactic scene describing a tragic brawl during a carnival has little suspense. Despite Ferr‚'s laudable intentions to encapsulate a period of Puerto Rican history by fictionalizing some events in the life of Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, this novel falls short of her previous work. (June)Forecast: A highly successful novelist in Puerto Rico, Ferr‚ began her career writing in Spanish. She now writes directly in English, which may account for the pedestrian quality of this novel. Since there is more gusto in her Spanish prose, which she herself has called "baroque," a Spanish-language version of this novel will undoubtedly find a wider audience.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Puerto Rican writer Ferr first published novels and stories in Spanish and then with National Book Award nominee The House on the Lagoon began writing in English. Her most recent English-language effort, inspired by Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova's tours of Latin America, is the engaging story of a world-famous but aging ballerina named "Madame" who finds herself and her ragtag company of dancers stranded in Puerto Rico in 1917. Madame's affair with a 20-year-old Puerto Rican revolutionary is seen from the perspective of Masha, Madame's adoring servant and companion, who herself falls in love with a black Puerto Rican shoemaker. The stateless Russians are in Puerto Rico at a time of ferment, when that country has just been acquired by the United States. Masha, born a peasant in Minsk, recognizes herself as a true Bolshevik as she witnesses the oppression on the island that will ultimately become her home. This book is lighter than Ferr 's previous English-language novels, which include Eccentric Neighborhoods as well as Lagoon, but should be equally applauded for its finely crafted language and its sense of history and place.
- Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, OR Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
