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Snake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I Found True Love |
Author: Anne Thomas Soffee
Published: 2004-01-01 |
List price: $14.95
Our price: $10.17
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As of: November 23rd, 2008 01:43:05 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 very amusing!
A very amusing book written about the belly dance world. I laughed out loud more than once while reading it. As a dancer myself, I could certainly relate to the experiences & observations that Ms. Soffee had.
Not sure the book would appeal to non-dancers, as I don't think they would "get" a lot of it. It would have been nice to include mention of the incredible health benefits of belly dance as well as the history & the original sacred nature of the dance. Also the many many different styles of belly dance could have been explored a bit more. But this was after all, a story about her personal experience with belly dance and she made it clear that she preferred the cabaret style. My advice to Ms. Soffee is - stay away from those sleazy venues, but I think she has already figured that out for herself.
 Rabid insecurity doth not a good story make
This book has its good moments. The author has a good wit, decent story-telling skills, and definitely keeps the pace moving (a little too frantic, though, at times). Her bellydancing memoirs were the saving grace, for me. Barely. Because the rest of the time she spent bemoaning her life through the lens of her precious identity as a "half-Lebanese half-Christian computer-geek tattoo-nerd ex-groupie who just wants to be hip and find true love." (Seriously, she repeats this phrase, with variations, at least 150 times through a 200-page book). I'm sure this woman has some redeeming qualities, but she went on about her insecurities and desperation to find "THE ONE" at such lengths that I was just about ready to smack her by the end. The author is a 30-something married woman whose emotional maturity apparently got stuck in 8th grade.
The book begins with her getting booted by a total chump, a tattoo-artist scenester who likes to hang out with 17 year-olds and play video games. Their relationship lasted about 6 months; she wails about her heartbreak for at least two years while trying to "move on with her life" (this is when she begins dancing--a courageous declaration of her pursuit of self). So she embarks on this manic quest to reclaim her half-Lebanese roots (never mind the other half) and decides she MUST have a husband of Arabic descent. In the process, she goes from a fundamentalist Muslim playboy (for whom she was willing to convert to Islam and be 3rd wife) to a born-again Christian (for whom she was willing to be saved, and she was just sure he was going to leave his wife for her), and each time goes all out to re-arrange her life and beliefs to suit each of them, merely because they are of Arabic descent. She ends the book with a short philosophical reverie in which she admits she finally gives up on Arabic men and instead married a gun-slinging right-wing conservative paramilitary type (who was, GASP, WHITE!!) and for all I could tell, is settled down now, happy as pie. To which I have to ask: girl, where are YOU in all this? Where are YOUR core values, YOUR beliefs, YOUR principals? Ever heard of common interests? Having your OWN personality, perhaps, independent of a partner???
Oh, and she also ends the book by sharing her ground-breaking realization that maybe it's ok to not be hip, to not be the coolest one on the block, to sit at the popular kids' table, etc., because life is really about pursuing what makes you happy. Or some such schmaltz.
So...I give kudos to a new author for having gotten her book published, and for giving some insight into life as a bellydancer in modern urban USA, but I sincerely hope her future writing is not in the memoir genre.
 Every Belly Dance Should Own This Book!
As a Lebanese Canadian woman (well..half Lebanese on my dad's side - but just like Anne!) who is also learning to belly dance - and getting in touch with my Lebanese roots at the same time - I just loved this book! It had so many laugh-out-loud moments. Anne's recollections of her family reminded me so much of mine and brought to mind things I'd even forgetten about. Like "crawling across the desert is a specialty of Lebanese men"; I remember the talk about how a real man (Lebanese, of course) "would crawl across the desert for you". With chapter titles like, "Blood is Thicker than Sand", "Your Daddy Ought to Smack Your Face - Nice Girls Don't Undulate", "Debkeing Around the Clock in Norfolk", Anne's quirky crazy humour resonates throughout the book. Anne's dating adventures searching for the perfect unibrow Arab husband - recounted in three parts (chapters) - are hilarious! She is convinced that her true destiny is a palace in the desert and a nursery full of little brown unibrow babies. She'd even "settle for third-favourite wife, but not lower...third-favourite affords a hefty allowance, a lot of nice trips, and plenty of free time to pursue hobbies with no bossy husband breathing down your veil". Her stories of the Arab men she dates (including Fahed who she meets online at Arab Chat) are priceless.
If you are a belly dancer, this is a book you MUST own! Your collection of belly dancing books, instructional & performance DVDs, Arabic Music CDs, and zils just won't be complete without Anne's book!
SHIMMY!
This is a delightful book! Anne has a clear and sassy writing style that makes her books hard to put down and promotes the feeling that you are sitting in her kitchen while she's telling you a story first hand.
Her life is like our lives, at times funny, boring, frustrating and heart-aching. I laughed out loud many times during the book - especially when she talks about her family - very reminicient of my own quirky bunch - but also through the trials of learning how to belly dance (I still can't shimmy...).
Pick up both her books and enjoy reading about her adventures and smiling as you remember your own.
Sassy and fun
Dumped by her boyfriend and facing 30, Soffee decides to take up bellydancing to find out more about her ethnic heritage and because it's something to do, dammit. This memoir chronicles her adventures in bellydancing, dating, and ultimately, finding true love. While not a how-to book, the author provides belly dancing resources in her appendix. This story is touching, sassy and smart. A great airplane read.
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