Description: Taking his inspiration from biographical facts, novelist McCann tells the erotically charged story of the Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev through the cast of those who knew him. And at the heart of the spectacle stands the artist himself, willful, lustful, and driven by a never-to-be-met need for perfection.
Brief description: Colum McCann's seven novels and three collections of short stories have been published in over forty languages and received some of the world's most prestigious literary awards and honours, including the National Book Award for his novel Let the Great World Spin in 2009. His novel TransAtlantic was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013, and his most recent novel, Apeirogon, also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, is an international bestseller on four continents. colummccann.com
Review Quotes:
"A beautiful, floating novel about Nureyev's life and art." --The New York Times Book Review
"Exuberant and exhilarating . . . A brilliant leap of imagination." --San Francisco Chronicle "The goal of a book like this is to catch the spirit of the person and his age. It's a tall order, and one that Dancer pulls off brilliantly." --The Seattle Times "Fascinating . . . A triumph of voice . . . McCann's fluid lyricism brilliantly conveys Nureyev's towering professional achievement and the wasteland of his personal life." --Newsday "A monumental life . . . Stylistically, Dancer is a leap itself." --Los Angeles Times "An engrossing portrait of a man so complex that no mere biography could possibly convey more than a sliver of his personality. . . . The Nureyev who strides impatiently through its pages seems entirely convincing." --Terry Teachout, The Baltimore Sun "Every sentence sounds new and beautiful, no matter how often it's read." --USA Today "Dancer is the most breathtaking tribute to Nureyev since Jamie Wyeth's famous paintings." --Esquire "Dazzling . . . an intimate portrait . . . Dancer is bigger than the dance, bigger than biography, too. . . . Relish McCann's dizzy, fascinating glimpse." --Miami Herald