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Danser
Off the coast of a South American resort, Bill Danser quietly surrenders to the mindless chaos created by too much Tanqueray. As he sits alone on a small boat and burns everything he has ever written, he toasts to the future; his decision is made. A short time later, from inside an airplane, Bill watches the buildings of la Diana slowly fade away, along with his past.
Determined to find sobriety, purpose, and love in America, Danser lands in San Francisco and embarks on a road trip across the country in an old Jeep with oversized tires. While striving to maintain his idyllic, simple view of living and loving, Danser travels from Half Moon Bay to a wheat farm in Kansas, where he encounters curious characters and discovers true love with a beautiful woman and her amazing son. As his journey leads him to places he never imagined, Danser is challenged to find meaning, humor, and passion amid the reality that the world is never an easy place. But it is only after tragedy strikes and his life comes full circle that Danser may finally have the chance to realize his dreams.
Danser is the poignant tale of one man's misadventures as he travels from South America to America's heartland in search of sanity, love, meaning, and laughter.
Determined to find sobriety, purpose, and love in America, Danser lands in San Francisco and embarks on a road trip across the country in an old Jeep with oversized tires. While striving to maintain his idyllic, simple view of living and loving, Danser travels from Half Moon Bay to a wheat farm in Kansas, where he encounters curious characters and discovers true love with a beautiful woman and her amazing son. As his journey leads him to places he never imagined, Danser is challenged to find meaning, humor, and passion amid the reality that the world is never an easy place. But it is only after tragedy strikes and his life comes full circle that Danser may finally have the chance to realize his dreams.
Danser is the poignant tale of one man's misadventures as he travels from South America to America's heartland in search of sanity, love, meaning, and laughter.
334 pages, Paperback
First published May 13, 2014
785 people want to read
About the author
Greg Jolley
30 books180 followersGreg Jolley (also published under Gregory French) earned a master of art in writing from the University of San Francisco. He is the author of sixteen novels and one collection about the fictional, film industry-based Danser family. He currently lives in the Very Small town of Ormond Beach, Florida
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 13, 2016
Goodreads winner!
There seems to be a trend on goodreads in which reviewers read a book they don’t like and give it three stars. They briefly stipulate the plot and state something vague like, “it was good” or “not normally my sort of thing but this was enjoyable.” It’s evident they don’t like the book due to the blandness of their tone: their lack of passion when describing it and sometimes there lack of words. More to the point of this, I will say when I don’t like a book and try to be clear in my reasoning for it.
I didn’t like this book, not remotely. The reasoning for it is its simple tone: bland language and simple sentence structure, and its uninteresting plot: unexciting characters and just lack of interest evoked. Each of these elements alone is not enough to make a bad book. A book with simple tones, such as The Hungar Games by Susanne Collins, can still be marvellous if the plot is intense. Conversely a book with poor plot , such as Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, can still be marvellous if it is told it artistic prose that are a real pleasure to read, regardless of the context. Alas, this book has neither.
The plot initially had some promise; I liked the symbolism of the book burning at the beginning even if the burning of a book is like blaspheme to a bookworm, such as myself. Bill Danser was moving on with his life; he bought a Jeep, met a few women and was going on a road trip. After a while it just became tedious. I didn’t want to read further, so I didn’t. I think what may have been a good idea was poorly executed, even if it was by someone with a master’s degree in writing.
I apologise if my harshness has offended the author but this book copy was in exchange for an honest review and an honest review I have given.
There seems to be a trend on goodreads in which reviewers read a book they don’t like and give it three stars. They briefly stipulate the plot and state something vague like, “it was good” or “not normally my sort of thing but this was enjoyable.” It’s evident they don’t like the book due to the blandness of their tone: their lack of passion when describing it and sometimes there lack of words. More to the point of this, I will say when I don’t like a book and try to be clear in my reasoning for it.
I didn’t like this book, not remotely. The reasoning for it is its simple tone: bland language and simple sentence structure, and its uninteresting plot: unexciting characters and just lack of interest evoked. Each of these elements alone is not enough to make a bad book. A book with simple tones, such as The Hungar Games by Susanne Collins, can still be marvellous if the plot is intense. Conversely a book with poor plot , such as Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, can still be marvellous if it is told it artistic prose that are a real pleasure to read, regardless of the context. Alas, this book has neither.
The plot initially had some promise; I liked the symbolism of the book burning at the beginning even if the burning of a book is like blaspheme to a bookworm, such as myself. Bill Danser was moving on with his life; he bought a Jeep, met a few women and was going on a road trip. After a while it just became tedious. I didn’t want to read further, so I didn’t. I think what may have been a good idea was poorly executed, even if it was by someone with a master’s degree in writing.
I apologise if my harshness has offended the author but this book copy was in exchange for an honest review and an honest review I have given.
October 28, 2014
I received my copy of Danser by Greg Jolley as part of the Goodreads First Read program in exchange for an honest review.
I struggled with reading this novel and I now struggle with writing the review.
The blurb on the back cover appealed to me. It suggested that this book would follow the male lead as he cast off his past (alcohol, perhaps a failed writing career) and set off in search of his future. He leaves the South American resort where he has been living(?) hiding out(?) laying low(?) to travel to America. Sounds intriguing, a journey of self-discovery. The opening paragraph was intriguing as well, depicting Bill Danser on a boat, setting fire to his collective works. A cleansing ceremony, perhaps? The writing was terse, simple. I thought it showed great potential. Unfortunately, the rest of the novel did not live up to the expectation set in the opening pages.
We follow Bill Danser as he is able to literally shake off alcohol withdrawls within a day or two. He lands in California, decides to buy a Jeep and a bicycle, buy a condo, get his utilities turned on, get his teeth cleaned, travels to Britain to find a woman, brings said woman back to California, installs her in condo, then goes shopping and line dancing every night until she tires of him and dumps him. All by page 23. Plenty of discovery, description and character growth there.
Bill decides to hit the road again and continues traveling, this time to a mysterious lake house. The location and key to the lake house are in a sealed envelope in the brief case of money that his aunt Baby Ruth gave to him before he left the resort. Bill camps out, rents rooms, sees his first snow, he apparently has his first taste of coffee with milk and sugar. Eventually he finds the cottage, secures a job in the small town as a grocery packer and meets a local tavern owner, Emmy. Out of the blue his aunt informs him that his cousin Wiki will be joining him at the cottage/lake house. He picks her and her female lover up at the airport and the following chapters detail their trips to the Goodwill outlet, and nights of playing instruments on a floating boat where they have taken all their household furniture. Oddly, Wiki’s girlfriend seems to boldly kiss Bill on the mouth often and there are scenes in which the three of them lay naked on the raft after having swam out to it. Is this yet another of Bill’s fantastic adventures? By the way, just how old is Bill anyway? Likely too old to be have bohemian, possibly drug soaked (the mints from Sara’s tin to help them drink more espresso) parties. The tavern owner, Emmy makes a passing comment that she has seen this sort of thing with her sons as she leaves the party, and stops hanging out with Bill. So again, Bill is how old? And with his cousin?!
Suddenly Bill decides to hit the road again, stays at some more hotels, has an encounter with a woman in a hotel pool, until the woman’s nanny and child appear to ask when her husband will be joining them. Bill heads out again the next day, only to be in a car accident, hurt, taken to hospital where he meets the woman’s husband who has stolen Bill’s Jeep in order to get to the hospital with his wife and son. And moving along again …. Bill hits the road. He has a vehicle breakdown and a woman pulls over to help him, taking him and the vehicle back to her farm where she proceeds to change his alternator. After dinner she offers him the room that her husband used to stay in. Oh, by the way she has a young son, about 9ish, good thing she considered him when inviting a strange man to move in to her house.
I could go on about the unrealistic plot lines, but I’m not sure there is a plot. The characters have no personality, they don’t develop, they show no emotions, and yet Bill and Ali supposedly fall in love. All the characters have the same voice, they all say “darling” and “coolest,” whether they are from London, Kansas, South America or Wildwood Lake. They all have a thing for cowboy hats and sunglasses, blues/country music and apparently everyone in Jolley’s world drinks Tangueray. There are pages at a time of dialogue which consist of “dudes” “yep, yes” “coolest” “sick” and I had no idea who was talking or what they were talking about! Almost a whole chapter is dedicated to young Kazu waking Bill and Ali up with “Merry Halloween” and descriptions of him opening Halloween presents while talking about his pirate costume. I was lost.
And don’t get me started on the morally reprehensible characters! Bill and Kazu stand by as Kazu’s oddly tall Japanese father swears in a drunken tirade and then proceeds to get in the car and drive. Does no one think to call the police? Kazu gave him the glass of ice for his drink. What is going on? There is a fire at the farm, Kazu and Ali lose everything they have, and Kazu’s father is found dead in the basement. Heavy stuff for a young boy, but the characters move on with no emotion yet again, only a strange conversation with the Fire Marshal and Coroner.
At first I thought this book was written in an experimental form, perhaps it was social commentary of some sort and if I stuck it out, like Ulysses, eventually all would be revealed and I would somehow be richer for the experience. No such luck. I found no answers, no growth, no character development, barely a thread of plot, only very confusing scenes in which only the writer knows what is going on. I did not enjoy this book and sadly, can no name one of my book club mates who would.
I struggled with reading this novel and I now struggle with writing the review.
The blurb on the back cover appealed to me. It suggested that this book would follow the male lead as he cast off his past (alcohol, perhaps a failed writing career) and set off in search of his future. He leaves the South American resort where he has been living(?) hiding out(?) laying low(?) to travel to America. Sounds intriguing, a journey of self-discovery. The opening paragraph was intriguing as well, depicting Bill Danser on a boat, setting fire to his collective works. A cleansing ceremony, perhaps? The writing was terse, simple. I thought it showed great potential. Unfortunately, the rest of the novel did not live up to the expectation set in the opening pages.
We follow Bill Danser as he is able to literally shake off alcohol withdrawls within a day or two. He lands in California, decides to buy a Jeep and a bicycle, buy a condo, get his utilities turned on, get his teeth cleaned, travels to Britain to find a woman, brings said woman back to California, installs her in condo, then goes shopping and line dancing every night until she tires of him and dumps him. All by page 23. Plenty of discovery, description and character growth there.
Bill decides to hit the road again and continues traveling, this time to a mysterious lake house. The location and key to the lake house are in a sealed envelope in the brief case of money that his aunt Baby Ruth gave to him before he left the resort. Bill camps out, rents rooms, sees his first snow, he apparently has his first taste of coffee with milk and sugar. Eventually he finds the cottage, secures a job in the small town as a grocery packer and meets a local tavern owner, Emmy. Out of the blue his aunt informs him that his cousin Wiki will be joining him at the cottage/lake house. He picks her and her female lover up at the airport and the following chapters detail their trips to the Goodwill outlet, and nights of playing instruments on a floating boat where they have taken all their household furniture. Oddly, Wiki’s girlfriend seems to boldly kiss Bill on the mouth often and there are scenes in which the three of them lay naked on the raft after having swam out to it. Is this yet another of Bill’s fantastic adventures? By the way, just how old is Bill anyway? Likely too old to be have bohemian, possibly drug soaked (the mints from Sara’s tin to help them drink more espresso) parties. The tavern owner, Emmy makes a passing comment that she has seen this sort of thing with her sons as she leaves the party, and stops hanging out with Bill. So again, Bill is how old? And with his cousin?!
Suddenly Bill decides to hit the road again, stays at some more hotels, has an encounter with a woman in a hotel pool, until the woman’s nanny and child appear to ask when her husband will be joining them. Bill heads out again the next day, only to be in a car accident, hurt, taken to hospital where he meets the woman’s husband who has stolen Bill’s Jeep in order to get to the hospital with his wife and son. And moving along again …. Bill hits the road. He has a vehicle breakdown and a woman pulls over to help him, taking him and the vehicle back to her farm where she proceeds to change his alternator. After dinner she offers him the room that her husband used to stay in. Oh, by the way she has a young son, about 9ish, good thing she considered him when inviting a strange man to move in to her house.
I could go on about the unrealistic plot lines, but I’m not sure there is a plot. The characters have no personality, they don’t develop, they show no emotions, and yet Bill and Ali supposedly fall in love. All the characters have the same voice, they all say “darling” and “coolest,” whether they are from London, Kansas, South America or Wildwood Lake. They all have a thing for cowboy hats and sunglasses, blues/country music and apparently everyone in Jolley’s world drinks Tangueray. There are pages at a time of dialogue which consist of “dudes” “yep, yes” “coolest” “sick” and I had no idea who was talking or what they were talking about! Almost a whole chapter is dedicated to young Kazu waking Bill and Ali up with “Merry Halloween” and descriptions of him opening Halloween presents while talking about his pirate costume. I was lost.
And don’t get me started on the morally reprehensible characters! Bill and Kazu stand by as Kazu’s oddly tall Japanese father swears in a drunken tirade and then proceeds to get in the car and drive. Does no one think to call the police? Kazu gave him the glass of ice for his drink. What is going on? There is a fire at the farm, Kazu and Ali lose everything they have, and Kazu’s father is found dead in the basement. Heavy stuff for a young boy, but the characters move on with no emotion yet again, only a strange conversation with the Fire Marshal and Coroner.
At first I thought this book was written in an experimental form, perhaps it was social commentary of some sort and if I stuck it out, like Ulysses, eventually all would be revealed and I would somehow be richer for the experience. No such luck. I found no answers, no growth, no character development, barely a thread of plot, only very confusing scenes in which only the writer knows what is going on. I did not enjoy this book and sadly, can no name one of my book club mates who would.
October 30, 2014
Danser
By: Greg Jolley Pages. 334
Archway May 2014
Copy Courtesy of Goodreads First Reads
Reviewed by: tk
Wealthy, good-looking, and looking for adventure and discovery, Bill leaves the safety of the island. However, Bill will find that it is not an easy journey to find his true love.
The story is good. I really did enjoy the idea of what Bill was trying to do. The characters are interesting and diverse. It is the writing of the story I found to be very hit and miss. The reading experience was disappointing until the last third of the book. When Bill meets Ali and Kazu (Love them.) the story finally smoothes out. It was like reading a draft of ideas that just did not quiet connect. If the story was to flow well, I would have given it a 3/5, but the best I can do is a 2/3.
By: Greg Jolley Pages. 334
Archway May 2014
Copy Courtesy of Goodreads First Reads
Reviewed by: tk
Wealthy, good-looking, and looking for adventure and discovery, Bill leaves the safety of the island. However, Bill will find that it is not an easy journey to find his true love.
The story is good. I really did enjoy the idea of what Bill was trying to do. The characters are interesting and diverse. It is the writing of the story I found to be very hit and miss. The reading experience was disappointing until the last third of the book. When Bill meets Ali and Kazu (Love them.) the story finally smoothes out. It was like reading a draft of ideas that just did not quiet connect. If the story was to flow well, I would have given it a 3/5, but the best I can do is a 2/3.
November 10, 2014
*I received a copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway*
Bill Danser is a writer who, at the beginning of this story is found burning everything he has ever written. Once he has accomplished this task he finds himself leaving the place he has called home for some time, and beginning a new life in America. It takes a bit of traveling, and meeting a variety of new people, but eventually Bill finds a place he can call home in Kansas with Ali and her son Kazu.
The simplest summary I can give this book is that it is about a man embarking on an ‘adventure’ to learn and find himself and eventually happiness. In regards to the plot, I was looking forward to seeing what adventures Bill went on and how he grew through each one. You do get to see some character development throughout the story and each group of people he meets help to facilitate this. I do have to say though, it is a good thing that Bill was a writer and had money because he just kept buying things like money was no matter.
In regards to the characters I did not really like Bill at the beginning of the story but he came to grow on me as he met his various friends along the way. My favorite characters would have to have been Ali and Kazu, they were a little weird which made them fun.
Overall, I enjoyed the book but it is not one for everyone. If you like books about self-discovery while trying to find a home and love than I think that you should give this book a try.
Bill Danser is a writer who, at the beginning of this story is found burning everything he has ever written. Once he has accomplished this task he finds himself leaving the place he has called home for some time, and beginning a new life in America. It takes a bit of traveling, and meeting a variety of new people, but eventually Bill finds a place he can call home in Kansas with Ali and her son Kazu.
The simplest summary I can give this book is that it is about a man embarking on an ‘adventure’ to learn and find himself and eventually happiness. In regards to the plot, I was looking forward to seeing what adventures Bill went on and how he grew through each one. You do get to see some character development throughout the story and each group of people he meets help to facilitate this. I do have to say though, it is a good thing that Bill was a writer and had money because he just kept buying things like money was no matter.
In regards to the characters I did not really like Bill at the beginning of the story but he came to grow on me as he met his various friends along the way. My favorite characters would have to have been Ali and Kazu, they were a little weird which made them fun.
Overall, I enjoyed the book but it is not one for everyone. If you like books about self-discovery while trying to find a home and love than I think that you should give this book a try.
January 22, 2015
I won this book in a giveaway from goodreads!
This book was okay. I really liked the characters. I liked that they were believable and real. The story was good. It was interesting. Its just very different from what I normally read and I just feel like it didn't really have the "umph" I look for in a book.
This book was okay. I really liked the characters. I liked that they were believable and real. The story was good. It was interesting. Its just very different from what I normally read and I just feel like it didn't really have the "umph" I look for in a book.
November 22, 2014
Another book about the Danser family in which Bill Danser travels in search of love and adventure from South America to San Francisco and ultimately Kansas. If you like music mixed with your novels you will like this book.
October 29, 2015
This is a fun book. I love the Danser family. Look forward to more adventures---or is it misadventures.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews