Customer Reviews

Kiss and Tango: Looking for Love in Buenos Aires

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

After a long period of reservation about whether I wanted to write an unkind review for something, or give a product more attention than it deserved, I couldn't restrain myself any longer after seeing the author on a television program speaking as if she was a representative of the dance and of the scene in Buenos Aires. This bothered me terribly because, as evidenced by this book, she is nothing but a wide eyed, patronizing, privileged tourist. It's bad enough that she is a terrible writer--her descriptions are riddled with cliches (more than once she describes a crowded dance floor as being packed "like a can of sardines") and her explanations of tango terms and customs for non-aficionados are awkwardly shoehorned into the narrative--thereby belying the "diary" format--or briefly used to introduce sections as a heavy handed thematic primer. As for her "authority," it is essentially reduced to name dropping of people and places which are more legitimately established in the tango scene. Okay, up to this point it's just a bad book, no big deal. What really gets me is her utter narcissism and exploitation of the culture and tradition that define this great city. Of course, the premise of the book is of a dissatisfied woman in New York who rushes off to BsA to find romance and adventure, but the hope (for the reader) is that somewhere along the way, she will shed her exoticism of the culture and come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of it and be able to convey that to us. Unfortunately, that never happens. Throughout the book the narrator remains steadfastly self-indulgent. For example, near the end she describes the lockdown of the banks and the forced conversion of pesos, which threw the country into chaos and dropped the majority into poverty. Yet her primary concern was that she would be unable to do her street performance. Such callous disregard illuminates two things very clearly. First, she is a very unlikeable narrator. Secondly, she is NO porteña. I cannot give a lower recommendation.

I was so looking forward to this as I had just returned from my own solo vacation to Argentina and I thought this book would be a fun read and reminder of my trip. What a disappointment. Marina Palmer claims to have passion for the tango, but she only tells and not shows us this. She comes off as being a spoiled, narcissistic spoiled girl of 19, not a woman in her 30s. Her cliche-ridden prose merely describes her sexual conquests and illustrates her utter inability to form both friendships and relationships of substance. Argentina and tango have been done a real injustice by this shallow memoir.

Sorry to bring a little reality to the heavy-breathing enthusiasm, but I had hoped this book would be a little bit about tango.

Instead it's the tale of a spoiled thirty-year-old (!) "girl" who talks her wealthy family into supporting her whim of becoming a professional tango dancer in Buenos Aires. Along the way to the realization two years later that it will never happen, she seduces and sleeps with every Argentine male she can get her hands on, even the delivery boy.

Without previous dance training (she worked in advertising in New York), she had a fantasy of dancing on stage, and at the same time, of finding her "Other Half of the Orange" who also is a Tango God.

Set up comfortably in a luxury apartment and spending her parents' $2,000 U.S. per month on tango classes, shoes and cafes con leche, she brings man after man to her bed, and sometimes two at a time, and doesn't spare us the details.

The book only gets interesting at the end when the Economic Crisis hits Argentina in 2001, but running from the turmoil, Marina quickly escapes to her relatives' elegant country ranch far from the disquieting events in the city. And then, giving up the dream, she returns to the States.

The writing is full of cliches, the lovers are indistinguishable, the women invariably turn out to be "bitches."

So I'm still waiting for someone to write about Argentine Tango in Buenos Aires. Slutty sex is everywhere.

This book is as superficial as Ms. Palmer presents herself to be. Whatever Marina's angst is... her life, her lack of accomplishment, her cynicism against people (both men and women) in general emanates in all ways. I had to put the book down several times because her choice of words were so harsh, her attitude so ugly and unbecoming of a woman, it is of no wonder she has not found a partner in Tango, or in life for that matter. In addition, the fact that she bedded men for recreational purposes spoke volumes of the caliber of woman she is. I'll say it again... it is of no wonder that she has not found a partner. I would suggest that she read the Tao of Tango and learn more about her masculine self vs. feminine self and learn to manage her life in a more thoughtful and peaceful way. I expected much more from this book and was quite disapointed,,, in fact... painful to complete.

This book does not deserve a review, but as a lover of Tango (and books), I have to say that it is truly an amazing self centered piece of work. Tango takes all of life, the old, the new, the lovely, the ugly, and makes them all a part of a beautiful artform. The word "I" is used so many times, repeated endlessly....not in the spirit of Tango-mind, which is like a spiritual practice as well as a dance form. It is time for a good book about the adventure of Tango, a work of a real writer, not this spoiled person. How on earth do these things get published?

I was so excited to pay for a hard cover edition of this book. It bored me to tears! Yet, I kept reading it hoping against hope the woman in the story would stop having one night stands and being disappointed that they went nowhere the next day. This reminded me of being 18 and 20 years old, not the adult woman the book was about. The mix of tango, leaving your life in New York and doing what you dream should have been a great read. Unfortunately its a long tedious book that repeats itself chapter after chapter. All she does is search longingly for a new partner, find one, have sex with him and he dumps her. Over an over. And the ending is even less fulfilling than the entire book! I will not buy anything by this author ever again.

This is a fun, entertaining and enlightening read for anyone. I was born in Argentina and I learned a lot about tango that I didn't know before. She does a wonderful job of describing Argentine culture, and describing Spanish words and foods in easy to follow terms. Since this is basically an autobiography, it makes the book that much better, because you know its not made up. She experienced all of this. I don't like to read, and I could have read this in 3-4 days (which is record-breaking for me) if I wanted, but I liked it so much that I wanted to delay ending the book so I could enjoy it that much longer. Read it. You won't regret it.

Being a Milonguero, I feel fortunate not to have experienced Marina Palmer's Tango community neither here in the States or in Buenos Aires.
Having read this book, I don't believe it is a book about the beautiful music and dance of Argentine Tango. It is more about Marina relating her many sexual conquests and using Tango as the vehicle to get there. I am surprised that she is surprised Argentine men don't consider her marriage material.
I give the book 1/2 star as it includes references to Di Sarli, Carlos Gardel, Confertia Ideal and the Glorieta.
Years back Harper Collins if they would have published this book, it would have been in paperback.

I can only confirm that this book is not about the tango but mostly about the personality of Marina Palmer. Given that the target group is that of TANGO lovers, not Marina Palmer fans, this book feels like a bait-and-switch.

What it shows clearly, however, is that whatever you do and wherever you go, you will always take yourself along. Being professionally frustrated and having a low self-esteem makes one see the outer world in negative colors and attract wrong kind of people.

I am sure that if Marina Palmer were to enter the world of, say, basket-weaving or table tennis she would find them just as wicked and disillusioning as her world of Argentine tango turned out to be.

What is it about Buenos Aires that attracts the masses? Argentine charm? The Sexy men and women? The temptation of living the lifesytle of a KING or QUEEN?

Or is it just the Tango?

Marina Palmer answers this question by taking us on her rollercoaster 'crash' ride to become a professional Tango dancer and to find a 'partner' in Buenos Aires. Palmer skillfully portrays the subtle naunces of the unattainable Argentine Tango and the underground/inside world that circles it. Palmer breaks free of the weighty tones commonplace to most tango writing uncloaking the mystery, nostagia, violence, sex and loneliness of the Tango in an enchanting and lighthearted account that can be read (and will be read) in only a couple engrossing sittings.

Kiss and Tango is about much more than the Tango. It is an empowerment book sure to inspire anyone feeling unfulfilled in their current life position. Palmer's book provides a fun, witty and courageously honest account of what it takes to transform one's life. Although following your passion down to the depths of South America might not be the best option for all, Palmer makes it all too tempting. Kiss & Tango will make you take that first difficult step out of your routine comfort-zone and into that wonderfully daunting world of new and exotic possibilities.

I suggest reading this book on the flight to BsAs and again on the way back!