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Snake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I Found True Love [Paperback]

Anne Thomas Soffee (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After being dumped by her loser boyfriend, Soffee, a "sober, nerdy, rock 'n' rolling, coffee-drinking, school-teaching, erotica-reading, kitsch-loving Lebanese American" moves back home to Richmond, Va., to wallow in self-pity. There, she comes across a flier advertising the usual classes in yoga, vegetarian cooking, ballroom dancing and... belly dancing. Her girlfriends think she's lost her mind, but Soffee knows she's found the perfect distraction. Not only does belly dancing have nothing to do with her ex, it's a fine way to reconnect with her Lebanese roots. Plus, "it is a relief to be part of a subculture where younger and thinner do not automatically equal better." Soffee learns to roll her hips, shimmy and make her stomach poof out; spends wild amounts of money on the tackiest costumes imaginable; and most satisfying discovers the ultimate cool of "belly dancer bonding." Her ethnic high leads to marital fantasies, e.g., being "third-favorite wife" to a young sheik she's cyber-dating, although she admits "being obedient is easy on-line." She also has flings with an insufferable Iraqi yuppie and a born-again Lebanese boy-next-door all hilarious disasters. Soffee's women friends keep her from feeling too lousy ("[t]he good thing about girlfriends is they usually hate your exes before you do") until Mr. Right catches her by surprise. While there is a lot of information on the belly dancing culture, this is not a how-to book, although an appendix lists resources for the interested. What Soffee's really offering is a guide to mending a broken heart: embrace a totally distracting activity, bond with your girlfriends and don't forget to laugh.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Soffee found the cure for her broken heart in her own belly--belly dancing, that is. In a larger sense, belly dancing was something she could throw herself into, a focus, a passion, almost a calling. In this engaging memoir, she recounts how her life changed for the better when she took up the ancient art after her too-cool tattoo-artist boyfriend dumped her. The half-Lebanese Soffee had always wanted to learn more about the Arab side of her heritage, and belly dancing provided the opportunity to explore the music and culture of the Middle East. Along with describing her obsessive listening to Arabic pop music and her late-night Internet searches for information on belly-dance greats past and present, Soffee shares her ongoing dating adventures, including the Emerati millionaire she meets online, the Arab American history professor who offers wine to the 12-stepping Soffee, and the born-again guy who avoids "appearances of evil" in public and wrestles Soffee to the bed in private. Memoirs that chart personal journeys toward self-acceptance often seem self-indulgent, but that isn't the case here. Soffee's witty, flowing prose draws readers into this unlikely but captivating story of how a "sober, nerdy, rock 'n' rolling, coffee-drinking, school-teaching, erotica-reading, kitsch-loving, Lebanese American belly dancer" came to terms with herself. Beth Warrell
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 266 pages
  • Publisher: Chicago Review Press; 2nd edition (January 1, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1556525222
  • ISBN-13: 978-1556525223
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #645,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

Anne Thomas Soffee
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
"IS THIS YOURS?" a foot-high plastic statuette of the X-Men's Wolverine is held up for me to peruse. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
belly dancing records, other belly dancers, zil number, veil number, snake hips, belly dancing class, shoulder shimmies, belly dancing lessons, little brown babies, snake arms, baba ghanouj, oil sheiks, hip circle, clown makeup, finger cymbals, harem pants
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Moose Lodge, Saint Anthony, Women of Selket, Middle Eastern, Mary Mary, World Cup, Lebanese American, Jesus Freaks, Port Said, Too-Tall Mary, Arab Chat, North Carolina, Blood Is Thicker, Cloverleaf Mall, Daddy Fats, Ethnic Police, Have Zils, Paper Moon, Peeking Under the Tent, Sea Monkeys, Will Travel, Bettie Page, Dot's Back Inn, Freddie Masmoud, Generation Xmas
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Grandmother's Secrets by Rosina-Fawzia B. Al-Rawi
 

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Customer Reviews

52 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (52 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Been there and done (most of) that, June 18, 2003
By Robyn Russell (Fairbanks, Alaska) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Snake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I Found True Love (Hardcover)
As a bellydancer, I picked up this book out of curiosity, mostly just to see what the author had written about the dance and how accurate it was. I was surprised to find the book both well-written, compelling, and absolutely dead-on about the world of American bellydance. Even though I learned to dance some twenty years and 3,000 miles away from where Anna Soffee first took lessons and even though my personal life is nowhere as turbulent as hers, I found myself repeatedly nodding my head and saying "Sister, I have been there and done that." The first performance at the country fair, the sleazy come-ons from men that assume that because you're a belly dancer you are also stripper/hooker, the terrible audience that is ABSOLUTELY not interested in you, the lack of understanding from family and friends, the in-fighting between dancers and troupes--it was like the author was writing about my own life.
My advice? Even if you aren't interested in belly dance, buy this book and read it any way. The style is edgy, hip, and funny and the moral of the book--that you have to accept yourself the way you are before you can achieve any sort of personal fulfillment--is ultimately very uplifting. I came away with a lot of respect for Ms. Soffee as both a dancer, a writer and a survivor.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars To live! To laugh! To shimmy!, January 11, 2003
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This review is from: Snake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I Found True Love (Hardcover)
Despite the fact that Ms. Soffee and I are probably opposite ends of the conservative range, and that I would no more get a tattoo, then I would bungee jump off of Mt. McKinley, I really could relate to her. I guess when it comes down to getting dumped, learning to love yourself and finding your own identity, we're all the same, regardless. The background of belly dance was an added bonus, since I have always had a fascination with its beauty and mystery. The real appeal of the whole book, though, is Anne's sense of Far Side type humor. To look at life and see what is humorously skewed is a rare gift, and Anne has it in spades. I'll keep this one for my own library.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars ROFLMAO - This book is great!, April 2, 2003
This review is from: Snake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I Found True Love (Hardcover)
This book is terrific! I'm almost done and it kept me up till 5am..AGAIN. I've been a dumbek player in a troupe who has been playing about 10 years, and an on and off beginning dancer occasionally, so I have been into the dance scene for a while. So many of the stories in the book sound like they could have happened up here. I knew JUST what she meant. The divas, the cliques, LOL. I've been to those dance shows, I've been at those gigs (or well, not quite as bad as that restaurant LOL but..). Its just hysterical. I'm so glad nearly everyone has given it 5 stars.

One thing I really enjoyed was hearing more about all these familiar names. I'm hearing names of people that i've heard of before, seen before (Morocco) talked to in email when ordering stuff(Lucy), or even know somewhat(Anthea). It really shows what a small world this is. Not every day do you read about people you know in a book!

I bought this book because of the bellydance, but also really enjoyed the whole single 30s woman relating and coping and trying to find true love part. There seem to be a number of books on that line lately, and I tried to read a few of the more popular ones. A couple were just so silly and unrealistic, I couldn't relate, and quickly ended up flung against the wall to land in the bad bad book heap. Anne's on the other hand is very intelligently written. She's not talking down to us. She's someone I could see hanging out with. She's real. Though I haven't had quite the adventurous heavy metal tatoo past that she has had, I could still totally relate. Its a very down to earth book in that way.

So..5 stars!
Anne if you read these come to Michigan and do a book tour please! There are lots of dancers here, and plenty of arabic culture too. Arabic night clubs and a whole stores with just arabic music.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointment
i bought the 307 pages long book a few years ago but could never get into it and always ended up putting it to the side. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Riem Farahat

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
I thought this book was funny and real. We meet a lot of people in our life time some are here to stay and some only come into our life for a reason and in between those times we... Read more
Published 8 months ago by The Princess Talks

5.0 out of 5 stars A very funny book
I really love this book. I take belly dance classes through the Adult education system in a nearby town. Read more
Published 18 months ago by T. Wadding

5.0 out of 5 stars Tremendous Must Read for All Dancers - or anyone with humor!
One of my dancer friends gave me this book, and I read it after several months of hanging onto it. It was WONDERFUL! Read more
Published 18 months ago by Zahara Ahlam

4.0 out of 5 stars very amusing!
A very amusing book written about the belly dance world. I laughed out loud more than once while reading it. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Alzubra

3.0 out of 5 stars 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). Read more
Published 23 months ago by W. Butler

5.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more
Published on March 30, 2008 by Shepherdess Extraordinaire

5.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more
Published on November 16, 2007 by Kristine J. Mcguigan

5.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
Published on June 9, 2007 by M M Frank

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!
I never gave the art of belly dancing a second thought prior to reading Anne Thomas Soffee's engaging book. Read more
Published on April 1, 2007 by Portia

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