Christina Reviews *Early From the Dance* by David Payne

         Early From the Dance is about a 30 something year old guy who reconnects with the love of his life, several years after they parted company. The love of his life was originally the love of his best friend's life, you see. When they were all 18, Adam stole his best friend Cary's girl (Jane). This led to lots of heartache. A few years later, Cary killed himself. Adam and Jane parted ways shortly after they decided their love was so grand it was worth risking Adam's friendship with Cary for it. And now, about fifteen years later, the two lovers meet up again. The point of view alternates back and forth between Adam and Jane.

         I could not stand this book. I disliked the characters, particularly Adam and Jane. Cary was the only one who interested me in the slightest. Of course, he had to be the one to kill himself.

         It also annoyed me the way the dialogue all ran together. It was like this: I said "Great!" and then she said "Fine!" and then I said "I'm happy you feel that way," and then she said "So that's that," and then I said, "I guess so," and then she said, "Well all righty then," and then I said, "OK," and then she said, "I'll be going then," and then I said...  It was really aggravating. I understand that the author must have done this on purpose. I don't know what his intention was, but it only got on my nerves. I have such a hard time with long sentences and paragraphs. I like to be able to stop every now and then and rest. It was hard enough with the small text. The run on sentences and paragraphs were just too much. As a result, it took me forever to read the book. I was supposed to have read it for grad school so I felt obligated to finish it.

          I admit, there were parts of this book I enjoyed. The prose was great. I liked the sections with Cary. I liked reading about the male characters' relationships with their fathers. I remember the characters having some interesting discussions about life and stuff.
 
         At the end of the day, though, it`s still just another love triangle story. Maybe if the two point of view characters had had more depth to them, it could have been more, but as it was, they just didn't get under my skin. I did not understand why Adam was so in love with Jane. I didn't understand what the two of them saw in each other. Maybe I missed the point of the story, but I kind of got the impression that the book was a long-winded explanation of why it's OK to cheat with your best friend's girl and why it's your friend's problem if he can't deal with it.  If only I could have felt the love between Jane and Adam, I could have cared a little bit more. But I just didn't understand how it came about. And, you know, maybe that had something to do with the fact that it took me forever to read the book and the fact that, after a period of time, I just resorted to skimming it.  Still, I don't think Adam and Jane knew each other all that well before he was falling head over heels in love with her. How was this girl so special that he was willing to risk Cary's friendship for her? That's what bothered me most. It wasn't so much that he stole Cary's girl. Jane had been trying to tell Cary, for a while, that it was over. The real betrayal, on Adam's part, was that he knew this would likely hurt Cary, and that was a risk he was willing to take. And to what gain? So he could win over a girl who Payne ultimately failed to convince me was anything special? 

          Anyway, on top of everything else, when Adam and Jane weren't being totally boring, they just had this sort of condescending air about them, as if they were better than everyone else. It was very off-putting.

         But if you like love triangle stories and you don't mind selfish, narcissistic characters who overanalyze everything, by all means, check this book out.