Looking For The Possible Dance

Looking for the Possible Dance has ratings and 18 reviews. Shovelmonkey1 said: Learn yerself Scotch Part One (With A.L Kennedy and shovelmonkey1)Gr.
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Community arts worker for the Clydebank district of Glasgow; editor with John Fowles of journal of new writing New Writing 9; lecturer in creative writing at St Andrew's University; occasional columnist for the Guardian. As a student, she sold double glazing over the telephone. Kennedy won a Social Work Today award in for her work as writer in residence at the Hamilton and East Kilbride social work department. She made the list again in ; one of the judges, Observer literary editor Robert McCrum, said at the time that "if anyone was a certainty, she was".

Heavily garlanded, her trophy cabinet is home to two Saltire awards for her first book of short stories, Night Geometry and the Garscadden Train and her novel So I Am Glad , the Somerset Maugham award for Looking for the Possible Dance , and numerous Scottish Arts Council book awards, among others.

Looking For The Possible Dance

Kennedy's contemporary, character-driven novels and short stories are tough and at times painfully honest, but it is her superlative linguistic style that leaves critics groping for the thesaurus to find new ways to praise her. Her writing has been variously described as "lyrical", "sublime", "mesmerizing", "musical", "crisply crafted" and "crystal-sharp"; the London Review of Books labelled her "a virtuoso of prose".

What reviewers frequently fail to mention is the extent to which the bleakness of the stories she tells is leavened by her mordant wit: The reviews for Paradise, Kennedy's latest book, have been uniformly eulogistic; it's a good place for readers wanting to sample her inimitable light-and-dark style to start. Everything You Need, the story of a writer living on an island retreat and desperate to regain contact with his estranged daughter, is her longest, most ambitious and arguably most narrative-driven novel. Of her short story collections, Indelible Acts, "12 stories on a theme of longing", is intensely involving and frequently very funny.

It canny subtract anything from this beautiful love story, no shite. Aye, go ahead hen, read this. You gonny like it too! Feb 27, Tracy rated it really liked it. The loss of her job- even though she was not suited for it and her boss was horrible. And the possibility of losing her relationship with her true love, Colin. This story starts almost at the end-Margaret is on a train to London, thinking and remembering. While on the train she meets James, an otherly abled boy with an uncanny ability to see through her, and they become friends.

While their encounter is brief, he affects he 4. While their encounter is brief, he affects her. For pages, it packs a lot in: It touches on feminism, activism, racism, and sexism, as well as assumptions made about those who have physical or mental disabilities. There is some swearing, and at times it can be hard to catch the transitions.

All in all, a very good, and surprising gem. Jul 26, Robert rated it really liked it. If I can say one thing about Looking for the Possible Dance, that it is definitely not a summer read. Margaret is on a train from Scotland to London and she spends the rest of the novel with some very brief chapters on the present gathering all the events which brought her on this train. The main culprit — if I can say that — lies wi If I can say one thing about Looking for the Possible Dance, that it is definitely not a summer read.

The main culprit — if I can say that — lies within relationships. At first she dissects the relationship with her father, then to her boyfriend Colin and then her boss Mr.

Looking For The Possible Dance by A.L. Kennedy

Lawrence and all of them end in some type of failure. Lawrence fires her due to some frame up and his neuroticisms. As the novel progresses Colin puts Margaret in an ethical dilemma, which could be seen as a sly nod to politics. By the end of the novel Margaret receives the redemption she has been seeking and this is the only uplifting section of the whole book.

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This is my first A. Both have that storytelling air and both fuse in politics while doing this. Kennedy is more realistic and in a funny way more human in her portrayal of characters. So I guess it would be safe to say that Looking for.. Apr 30, Kat rated it liked it. This novel is about a young woman who was raised by a single father to whom she was devoted. He's since died and, though deeply attached to her boyfriend, she also struggles with their intimacy. All of this is made more interesting to me, at least , by the fact that they are working class people who live in Scotland.

This isn't literally the first novel I've read by a Scottish author, but they've been few and far between, and the first thing I noticed about this novel is that Scotland is not Eng This novel is about a young woman who was raised by a single father to whom she was devoted.

This isn't literally the first novel I've read by a Scottish author, but they've been few and far between, and the first thing I noticed about this novel is that Scotland is not England. Seems as though it would be self-evident, but I'm embarrassed to say it wasn't, quite. The landscape is different, the customs are different, the slang is different, and having read dozens hundreds? It's a short book with short chapters and to do it justice it should be read rapidly, which is not how I read it.

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I always read several books at a time and on this occasion travel also interrupted me. The characters and their situations were interesting, but it moves fairly slowly at the beginning. The last forty pages are gripping, however, and well worth the leisurely build-up. Oct 10, Becky rated it liked it Shelves: I'm not sure whether young Scottish authors are a little over represented in the list, or whether it's just skewed towards the kind of books I can find in a charity shop up here. Kennedy is one of the above. Looking for the possible dance is the story of Margaret, a university educated girl who returns home to Glasgow and tries to make her way in a world with few opportunities and a serious lack of privilege.

Central to the story are the two men in her life, her father and her b I'm not sure whether young Scottish authors are a little over represented in the list, or whether it's just skewed towards the kind of books I can find in a charity shop up here. Central to the story are the two men in her life, her father and her boyfriend, and the contribution they make to personality and prospects.

It was an interesting story but one I never felt quite take off, until the ending, which was unexpected and jarred a little with the rhythm of the rest of the book. Not a bad read, but I wouldn't rush to pick up another of her novels very quickly. Dec 02, Holly rated it really liked it. Kennedy is considered one of the best young writers to come out of Scotland in some time. This is her first book; it was absolutely great! I was a little put off by the torture scene at the end - isn't a crucifixion a bit much, maybe even a cliche, a gimmick??!

There are many details left open for reader interpretation, which is one of my favorite characteristics of a good book.

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Mar 07, Kirsty Darbyshire rated it really liked it Shelves: Short but very readable book. Centred on Margaret, sometimes Maggie, youngish, Scottish, it illuminates various relationships that shape her life.

Although much of the book is concerned with the relationship between Margaret and her boyfriend Colin it's the relationship she had with her late father that has shaped her and there are other great examples of interactions between co-workers, strangers on trains and so on. I enjoyed it very much, in a way it seemed to ramble on without a plot but seem Short but very readable book.

Looking for the Possible Dance

I enjoyed it very much, in a way it seemed to ramble on without a plot but seemed like a coherent whole by the end of the book. Dec 18, Virtuella rated it did not like it. I abandoned this after pages, because I didn't want to waste my time on reading another hundred pages of banal dialogue between dull characters. I feel tired, somehow. May 06, Clare Ramsbottom rated it it was ok. I just couldn't bear the violence at the end, and as others said, it really jarred with the rest of the book, although there were ominous undertones all the way through. I also agree that some of the dialogue is bizarre and the characters a bit one-dimensional.

Shame, because there were some interesting themes and some nice writing too. Dec 11, Kate Page rated it liked it.

I almost gave up on this, as I found the voices of the characters very contrived and unconvincing. But in the end it grew on me, and although some characters still didn't work, I did get into the overall atmosphere and the plot narrative. I'll try some more of hers - part of my plan to borrow books from the library and experiment a bit more with what I'm reading.