Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home - Softcover

Finn, Maria

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1565125177 ISBN 13: 9781565125179

Publisher: Algonquin Books, 2010

Synopsis

Maria Finn's husband was cheating. First she threw him out. Then she cried. Then she signed up for tango lessons. It turns out that tango has a lot to teach about understanding love and loss, about learning how to follow and how to lead, how to live with style and flair, take risks, and sort out what it is you really want. As Maria's world begins to revolve around the friendships she makes in dance class and the milongas (social dances) she attends regularly in New York City, we discover with her the fascinating culture, history, music, moves, and beauty of the Argentine tango. With each new dance step she learns-the embrace, the walk, the sweep, the exit-she is one step closer to returning to the world of the living. Eventually Maria travels to Buenos Aires, the birthplace of tango, and finds the confidence to try romance again. As exhilarating as the dance itself, the story whirls us into the center of the ballroom dancing craze. And buoyed by the author's humor and passion, it imparts surprising insights about how to get on with life after you've lost in love.

About this title

About the Author:

Maria Finn has written for Audubon Magazine, Saveur, Metropolis, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, among many other publications. She has an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College, and her essays have been anthologized in Best Food Writing and The Best Women's Travel Writing. 

Review:

"A gracefully rendered memoir of a woman seeking post-divorce healing through tango." --Kirkus Reviews

"A lively debut memoir, brimming with tango history and lore." --Booklist

"Along with her personal story, involving a trip to a wedding in Buenos Aires and documenting there the gay tango scene, she nicely elucidates the evolution of the dance, through the music of Astor Piazzolla and Carlos Gardel, and traces briefly its flashpoints across the globe, from America to Finland and Turkey." --Publishers Weekly

"This story of heartbreak and healing unravels the complexities of tango, which gradually becomes a source of addictive joy." -- Sally Potter, writer and director of the film The Tango Lesson

"Beautifully told. Maria Finn relays her adventures in the world of tango with excitement, wit, and insight." ---- Robert Farris Thompson, author of Tango: The Art History of Love

A gracefully rendered memoir of a woman seeking post-divorce healing through tango. The tango first evolved in late-19th-century Argentina, spreading to clubs in Europe and the United States in the years leading up to World War I. Known for its fiery drama and stylistic flair, the complexity and emotive breadth of authentic tango has been diluted by simplistic Hollywood numbers and, more recently, TV dance competitions. Finn (editor: Mexico in Mind, 2006, etc.) conveys an abiding veneration for tango, from its rich historical origins and romantic vocabulary to the nuanced precision in gestures and footwork. With chapters named for the structural elements of tango--El Abrazo, La Sacada, El Boleo, etc.--the author bluntly recounts the unraveling of her marriage, along with the machinations of dating, elegantly drawing metaphorical lines between challenging dance maneuvers and the phases of relationships. "These fixed patterns," writes the author, "set to melodies and harmonies, give order in the chaos of emotions. Patterns are what we follow to find the source, and in tango, the source is why a person chooses this dance." Other tango-based journals, such as Marina Palmer's Kiss and Tango: Looking for Love in Buenos Aires (2005), are more provocative; Finn's narrative remains rooted in inner growth and sociological observation than stockings and stilettos. Despite refreshingly candid analyses of her choices and a vivid cast of friends and dance partners, the author's sardonic wit is sometimes eclipsed by cumbersome reiterations of the finer technical points of tango. Nonetheless, from the public tango milongas in New York to her immersion in the Buenos Aires tango community after the 2001 economic crisis spawned a renewed interest in the dance, her devotion to the art is obvious.

Mixing equal parts personal-growth story, social commentary and Tango 101, Finn demystifies the illustrious world of tango with wry yet reverent insight. --Kirkus Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1565125177
• ISBN 13: 9781565125179
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240