George Balanchine actually has a pretty fascinating life story, (Don’t worry Lucius, I’m not praising him as a choreographer) but this book was nearly impossible to get through because of the dull voice the author employed. Yes, this is a biography, thus non-fiction, but that does not automatically toss a book in the boring category. Certainly, a biographer’s job is different than that of a fiction writer. A biographer must stick to the solid facts, while a fiction writer is free to do whatever he or she pleases. The trueness of a biographer’s story does not excuse repetitive sentence structure and lack of voice. The duty of a biographer is to chronicle a person’s life, but it is also to write in such a way that people actually want to read it.
George Balanchine: The Ballet Maker by Robert Gottlieb
Advertisements
