Customer Reviews

The Next Step in the Dance: A Novel

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

While browsing through the new-fiction shelf at my local library, I stumbled across a familiar name...Tim Gautreaux. He was one of my college professors at SLU in Hammond, Louisiana, so I checked out the book and spent two wonderful nights "going home". Having been raised in the most southeastern part of Louisiana, and being the only daughter of a 100% certified cajun man born and raised in southeastern Louisiana, this book paints the picture of cajun Louisiana with glorious highs and lows. The struggle for life, love and self-esteem from the two main characters had me laughing, crying and feeling homesick all at the same time. Well done, Dr. Gautreaux!

I could not put down this book. The characters were fun ,touching, and rang true. Of course there are some expected "cajun" types, but that is the reality as well. I appreciated the rather moving story of what the oil crisis did to Louisiana (and the oil boom also). I look forward to reading more of Tim Gautreaux's books.

When you read a book that makes you laugh and can actually bring a tear or two to your eyes, it's a good book!In reading other reviews of this book, it's been said it was overplotted. It got a little sticky in one or two places, but the pay-off is well worth the effort!

To be honest,I found this book to be as realistic a portrayal of Louisiana as you can find. I saw names familiar to me (I have family that lived in Napoleonville),so the book became more vivid and interesting.However, I did find myself not liking Collette very much because she was so mean to Paul,but he just loves her that much and it only served to endear the book to me more. Gran-Pere Abadie is so complete a character I can see my wifes Grandfather every time Abadie comes into the scene.

I would highly reccomend this book, and (having just finished it 10 minutes ago)am actually on this site to order my next Tim Gautreaux book!

...I have to agree - at least in part - with another reviewer who prefers Tim Gautreaux's short stories to this, his first novel. I wouldn't go so far as to compare it to a TV soap, however - the characters here are far more believable, down-to-earth and fleshed-out than the cardboard cutouts that populate the morning and afternoon airwaves. Gautreaux is an excellent writer, and I don't think he deserves that sort of analogy.

The novel is not face-paced - there are some scenes in it that are full of action, and these move along nicely, but for the most part it is languid, much like the atmosphere that so dominates the landscape of the South. Like that atmosphere, the book is thick with the sort of stuff that cannot be readily seen - but it can most certainly be felt. In his depiction of the troubled marriage between Paul and Colette Thibodeaux, the author demonstrates (as he does so well in his short stories) how well he knows the people of his region - indeed, of any region, for the emotions laid bare here in his carefully paced prose and dialogue are universal. They exist in all of us - especially those of us who have been blessed enough to experience the joys, sorrows, ecstasy, pain and constant struggle of a relationship. Fairy tales are just that - fairy tales - and this is not one. To make a marriage/relationship last takes constant attention and work, give and take, mutual respect, strength, wisdom and compromise, and much, much more. It is never a free ride - and this is something that most of us have to learn by doing, sometimes `the hard way'. The trick is to stick with it - at least one of the partners has to have the commitment and the faith to keep trying to make things work. That is the core of Paul Thibodeaux's character - and that is the engine that pulls this novel along, slowly sometimes, but surely.

For about the first 60 pages or so, I found myself tempted to put the book down, possibly returning to it when I was more `in the mood' for its pace - but I persevered, and I'm so glad I did. Once I relaxed enough to accept the pace at which Gautreaux is determined to tell this story, I was pulled into it headlong, and I had reached the end before I knew it. I have a lot of respect for an author who has that sort of talent - the sort that makes know there is a lot to be gained from a book if I give myself up to it completely.

I see that Gautreaux has a new novel, THE CLEARING - I can't wait to read it. This man is an incredibly talented artist - his style is both powerful and gentle, and he has stories to tell. Listen to him.

Tim Gautreaux's first novel is a good one. "The Next Step in the Dance" is a fairly engaging love story set in Southern Louisiana, Los Angeles, and Southern Louisiana (again). The writing is first rate and the glimpse into Bayou Country life is entertaining, moving, and informing. This novel is at times poignant, humorous, and riveting and each phase well-developed.

Essentially a story about the love between two lifelong residents of the Bayou--Paul and Colette Thibodeaux--this is a novel of several phases. The early part of the novel details the nascent marriage of Paul and Colette and its unraveling. From the beginning, there's an obvious gulf in Paul and Colette's relationship. Paul is a satisfied, unambitious machinist (and a darn good one) who likes to drink, stay out late dancing, and occasionally fighting with other patrons of the town's many nightspots. Colette is the town's best looking woman and full of ambition. She's a driven, hardworking, independent woman, and when Paul is caught at the drive in with another woman, she decides to make a change. Paul's love for Colette is true and in spite of appearances, he's committed and faithful, although he tends to make some unintelligent decisions. But that's not enough for Colette. She wants more stability, more attention, and more things (i.e., money). And here lies the only real complaint I have with this otherwise terrific novel--Colette's character is either not properly developed or she really is the self-centered, ambitious woman Gautreaux has portrayed (more on this later). The first phase of the novel ends here with Colette taking a train to California to follow her dream (and ambitions).

Colette lands on her feet in California and finds a very good job at a bank (albeit surrounded by a lecherous boss) where she seems somewhat content and rarely thinks about Paul or the life she's left behind. Eventually Paul follows her to California where he, too, finds a decent job and they live in separate apartments three blocks apart from one another. One thing leads to another and eventually they both head back to Louisianna (at different times) and find that a poor economy has essentially eliminated all the jobs in town. Thus begins the final and most entertaining, moving, and adventuresome part of the novel.

The author describes the struggles facing the town and Paul and Colette in moving detail and describes the lengths each is willing to go to in order to make ends meet. Their relationship remains unreconciled, but they do interact and Paul's unrelenting, unconditional, (and to my mind, unwarranted) love for Colette persists. Each face many challenges through this rapidly paced last part of the novel and their feelings for each other are central to the action--and there's plenty of action, both on the water, in the town, and in the plant where Paul and Colette work for a man Colette dated prior to heading to California. We continue to learn more about each character and feel sympathy for Paul and his struggles. However, Colette is very difficult to sympathize with and Paul's obdurate affection for this seemingly self-centered woman does grow old at times.

Nevertheless, the novel is moving and surprisingly fast-paced. And overall, highly recommended. A good first novel from a great short story writer. Recommended.

Maybe that's what others mean by "overplotted." I'll take a well-written, overplotted book any day over a novel where uninteresting people gaze at their bellybuttons and nothing happens. And though plenty happens in this novel, it is still a character-driven work, with two very realistic, flawed characters (and Colette had better be flawed or she'd be in danger of being Wonder Woman!) and a boatload of memorable supporting characters. The descriptions sparkle, and you get a real sense of the author's love for the place and the people.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. Isn't it true that we always think somewhere else will have more interesting peole, a more beautiful life to offer us. Only to find out that generally speaking one place is like the next once you get there. I like the characters in the book and found that the setting was very much like the Louisana I remember seeing many years ago. You can almost feel the humidity and see the bayous in the words Mr. Gautreaux has chosen. As I read it I could recall the feelings I had as a teenager and young adult about wanting to get out of the small town and bust out into the big world where townsfolks weren't there doing small town, boring things. Of course I know live in a small town, but that is what this is about, how we rebel against the familiar in search of excitement only to find out that it was already there and we didn't see it. The relationship of Colette and Paul is one that bears looking at because it is regular, and uncertain, and real. The events of the story I found to be very good reading and would encourage others to give it a try. I would hazard a guess that anyone who enjoys Nicholas Sparks, or Richard Paul Evans would like this story as well.

The best book I have read in a long time, and the best book I have ever read about Louisiana. The author keeps the reader in suspense and when the two main characters seem to overcome one problem, another crops up just like in real life. Dance through Louisiana and life with this novel set in Louisiana. This book should be made into a movie. I can just picture it. Suspense and picturesquire details put you in the middle of a world of water as the search is on for Paul. Colette learns a lesson about true love and what is really important in real life. The glamour of California could not compare to the swamps and mud of Louisiana, where life had real meaning for Colette. A book you won't want to put down until the end, so don't miss it!!! I have written two Louisiana books, but they don't begin to compare!! Barbara J. Robinson

Being from Louisiana,I have a critical eye concerning how the state and people are portrayed. If you enjoy the detail of landscape and characters in James Lee Burke novels, then this book is for you. Tim Gautreaux tells a simple story about a young Louisiana couple, Paul and Colette, who question their values, surroundings and commitment in a detailed account that made me laugh out loud, sigh with regret, and take pride in their revelations. When Paul remembers that Colette had said "that Louisiana was a land of limited ambition" the story really takes off. Read this book to find out if Colette was right. I promise that you'll dance with the one who brung ya!

This book is replete with small town blue collar America. It is a wonderful look at the values held by folks just scraping by in a hard-hitting (literally), hard-dancing hard-living area.

The novel gives a look at a young - in age and maturity - couple living deep in the bayou. Starting during the oil boom, it continues ionto the bust. The couple starts together for a very short time, breaks up, head west separately, return home separately and end up together. Throughout this odyssey, they both grow at different paces and for different reasons. They both come of age through some very hard times.

Mr. Gautreaux's is very good. The story moves well carrying the reader along on a relentless dance of the two characters' lives. Dancing is throughout the book - in reality and metaphorically. Better than his writing is Mr. Gautreaux's depiction of his characters. They are given depth that makes them realistic. They both have foibles that make them believable and they both have the inconsistencies of youth trying to reach their dreams and adults who find their dreams were not what they thought they were.

A great homage to family roots and small towns, this book is entertaining as well as thought-provoking.