Customer Reviews

Dancing Aztecs

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Not only is this the book by which I judge every other comic crime novel I read, it is my favorite book, period. Westlake's writing is timeless in its humor, yet simultaneously, he manages to capture a snapshot of the culture about which he writes. A running theme of this novel is 'The Hustle,' the dance craze from the period in the 1970s in which it was written, as well as the more perfidious sort of hustle - a scam to smuggle one valuable artifact out of its native country in the midst of a box of fakes, and what happens when that scam goes wrong. Thick with a riot of vivid characters, I laugh and shake my head in disbelief every time I turn the page in this story. It is an amazing piece of work, and a brilliant testament to Donald E. Westlake's wit and craftiness.

OK, we have 16 Dancing Aztec Statues that are given out as awards. Then we have to recover them because one of them is the "REAL THING." Worth over 1 million dollars. Oh, the hilarity abounds. All the searchers have made me pause to collect my breath...I can't laugh that hard for so long. It hurts! This is probably the funniest book I have ever read. Yes, a plot; yes, mystery; yes, hysteria...I honestly had to stop for a while to regain my breath. Donald Westlake, you are my new hero. Please read it and weep from tears of laughter.

One of Westlake's very best. A priceless pre-Columbian dancing Aztec is stolen and shipped to New York with a dozen copies. Naturally it gets mixed up with the copies and several groups try to recover it. A scene on a boat, when Mel puts his foot in the sand-washing bucket is priceless. The scenes with Pedro puking his gulpe all over the pilot, and many others are wonderful. And only a master would think of describing the mad scramble on I 80 from the vantage of a high-flying hawk.. A very rich cast and plenty of funny situations. The ending is a surprise. I am currently on my fourth reading and enjoying is a much as ever.

I first read this book when I was thirteen years old - the UK version called "A New York Dance" - and I loved it so much that, in the following 15 years, I have re-read it more times than I care to mention. At some point I did lend my copy (Ok, my dad's copy) of the book to a friend and never saw it again, but luckily, I found a copy of "Dancing Aztecs" in a New York bookshop in 1997. Phew, I couldn't live without a copy of this book - an all-time favourite. It is has a pretty '70s feel to it, and no real meaningful message, but it certainly fuelled my love of kitsch Americana. Westlake never really bettered this book for me, but I do also love "Good Behavior" and "Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner".

I was deployed in Iraq and this book arrived in a shipment of books. Having nothing to read I picked up this book and could never put it down. Donald Westlake is an outstanding author and I will get another Westlake novel to read in the near future. This story is a "must read". I would really love to see this in movie form.

I still have the 10th printing, in paperback, circa 1978 0r '79, that I first read while visiting my future inlaws. After seeing me rolling on the floor, constantly laughing, with tears in my eyes, unable to make conversation without breaking into more laughter, they were sure their daughter was making a big mistake.
This book is completely amoral, absolutely politically incorrect, totally true to human nature and wildly funny. Hollywood can't see making a movie like this--too many characters, too many subplots and what screenwriter could better Westlake's '70s masterpiece. Whenever I feel like laughing, I pull down my flimsy copy and read it again. It never fails

This is one of those books that, if you're in the groove for the story, can be read again and again. May be Westlakes best comic novel.

Note - Originally this book was published by a different publishing company under the title A New York Dance so if you've read that one then you've already read this!

This classic book was published back in 1976. The original title of the book is a clever play on the word Hustle. The Hustle was a popular dance also known as The New York Dance (Westlake explains this to the reader in the story) so he obviously thought most people would know what the title meant. Unfortunately though I had no idea (I wasn't even born when this book was published) and I assume neither did a lot of other readers which may explain why no one else reviewed this book under its original name ie not many people in the modern era are attracted to read it with that title. Also probably explains when Westlake signed up with a new publisher they released this book as Dancing Aztecs. A New York Dance/Dancing Aztecs however under any name is a really great read. Donald E Westlake novels have taken up a variety of styles and this one is as surreal and humorous as any Carl Hiaasen or Bill Fitzhugh type novel written in recent times. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone. Obviously check out this novel under both titles and get whichever is cheaper.

In A New York Dance/Dancing Aztecs, Jerry an airport pickup courier runs a scam (hustle as it is constantly referred to within these pages) where he steals and on sells deliveries. He also takes the occasional order so is happy to pick up a crate with the letter A on it and deliver it to a remote car park. When he gets there he is told he has the wrong crate and after witnessing the beating given to the go between man agrees to go and exchange it. Bad luck though the other crates have all been delivered and the replica statues inside given out as prizes. The heavies tell Jerry to forget about it and they'll handle it from here but he knows there's got to be something valuable they're after. Jerry works out the original Aztec Priest statue from South America is worth over a million dollars so decides to obtain the statue himself by enlisting a few of his friends. What follows is an hilarious adventure where Jerry and his bumbling friends encounter holders of the statues who a lot of the time are even dumber than them. As the hunt continues on some of the victims also clock onto what is happening and there's a lot of competition to find the Aztec Priest.

A great read up there with Westlake's modern unemployment solution thriller The Ax. Also read Westlake's great comic caper Smoke about a thief who is experimented on by his victims and becomes invisible. Hook and Corkscrew are another example of a Westlake novel published under two different titles but both have the same great story inside about an author with the ultimate solution for writers' block. Read them all!

I'm not a huge fan of Westlake's books that do not feature the Dortmunder gang, but this is one of the exceptions. A growing group of people are frantically searching for a gold statue before someone else finds it, and the antics ensue.

I like the book because it is an easy read, light-hearted, and just plain funny. It's the kind of book you bring with you on vacation to fill in the time spent on the plane, beach, etc. Guaranteed to get you in a good mood and laughing out loud.

I love most of what Donald E. Westlake has written. If his name is on a book, the book goes on my wish list.

Now that he is gone, some of his work is being reprinted. I can see why this is one that isn't. He is not here to agree to changes in the book--and I am not sure the plot would work if he did.

The first time I saw the word "Ch*nk" in place of a Chinese person, I told myself to relax. This novel was written before there were zip codes, and a lot of white folks were less aware of how hurtful those slurs can be. Furthermore, the character who had been slurred was just passing through the plot, so far as I could tell, and so I wouldn't be running into anymore of that.

When one of the characters asked if the were going to have to work with a bunch of n*%%#@s" I drew in my breath. Gee, I hate to give up on a promising book that is shaping up to be really funny otherwise, but this was getting worked into the core of the plot, and the "N" word is deeply disturbing. Sure enough, someone else turns to the thief in question and reminds him that 1 Irishman is worth 10 N*****s. They could go into Harlem unharmed due to their racial superiority.

This book is old, but it was written after the Civil Rights movement, and even were it prior to that, I won't have it on the shelves of my home. I am stunned that the other reviewers gave it five stars---not even one star off for the virulent racism, not even a MENTION. I will continue to read Westlake's work, but if I run across another one like this, I will do the same as I am doing with this copy...toss it.