Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home

We have a lovely Argentine Tango community in SW FL. We now have a "tango bookclub" to give us insight to the dance, the history and the culture of tango. This was the 2nd book we read. Although none of us believed that the main character could learn to dance this dance so well in such a short time, every one of us could relate our experience of WHY we became so devoted to this dance. Several of us could empathize with her and found that her experiences were similar to our own. It had a very authentic ring to it and her research into the history and culture of the dance seemed quite accurate. What I liked best is that the author chose to express her personal feelings about this beautiful dance and how it helped to change her life. I have experienced the same and heard many similar stories. Good job!

I read this book and LOVED IT. I sent a copy to my sister and she immediately sent another copy to her best friend. I'm sureit went on from there. I'm not a tango dancer but the story of the author's heartbreak the challenge of moving on is universal and we all havea lot to learn from her travels. It reminded me that all personal tragedies are opportunities for growth and change.Maria Finn obviously takes this very much to heart and I found myself almost immediately cheering her on. As a protagonist, she'shard to resist. I absolutely marvel that, after splitting up with her husband, she would take up tango -- a technical and punishingdance form to master after such a devastating ego blow. She seemed to draw faith that she would triumph from some deep well even she didn't know she had. The book is apage turner -- and I laughed out loud many times. I recommend it HIGHLY -- not just for dance lovers -- but for anyonewho has ever had their heartbroken and found the courage to put it back together again.

This book about the author's emotional healing through a combination of tango and Zen was intriguing. Although one might think the two were not at all similar, the intensity of immersion in both is the same.My biggest challenge with the book was with the cavalier way the author described how all the men at the milongas thought of her as a dancing goddess, of how she could eat whatever she wanted without gaining an ounce, of how she was able to just pick up and move to Buenos Aires for a year with no financial worries. I would have felt more empathy for the author if she had expressed any negative feelings at all about anything except herself.Discussed this in a book group, though, where people who were more familiar with Zen felt this was an uplifting and inspiring book. They would have given it 5 stars.

If you have a passing interest in Argentine Tango but are not sure of how the dance affects those who travel to Buenos Aires, this book is for you. It is not a book of anecdotes covered with tasty frosting but rather a collection of experiences of living life as a temporary "Porteno", learning the dance and what affect it has on life for the many unique people Maria Finn met in a short time. In the end, the reader understands the nature of the title and is left wondering what has happened since living in Argentina.

This book can be summarized by this reviewer in one sentence: "I took a bunch of tango lessons and got better than I was when I first started." There is no story, and I came to dislike the vain, self-absorbed memoirist who wrote this book. Take the title itself. What word in the title occurs twice as often as any other word? The word "me." Here is an example of her self-absorption (beware the clichés): She wrote, "Divorce also feels like hitting rock bottom: You are stuck in the nastiest, worst emotions a person can feel." Worse than someone who has experienced dear family members slaughtered in one of the many senseless military operations extant across the globe at present? Or someone who has had their life torn asunder in a natural catastrophe such as the Haitian earthquake? Why are her emotions the worst a human can feel? Because they are her emotions. Vain, isn't she?There is a stumbling, superficial, abortive section in the book about a romance half-heartedly being dabbled at. It doesn't really start, it goes nowhere, and it just fades out unobtrusively. Just like this book itself.

Interesting concept of getting over heartbreak through the lessons learned in Tango classes. The author had some pretty neat comparisons of dance principles to life principles. Only gave this three stars because there were various areas where the story seemed to drag and the dance descriptions were confusing to read. However, I would recommend this book to anyone trying to get over an emotional struggle since it does provide various outside the box ways to think about the journey through such a difficult time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its many layers. It is a primer on argentine tango, a story of personal recovery, a comic account of feminine New York social life and a witty dialogue, among others. The author shifts easily from technical dance terminology to humorous verbal exchanges to flowing, descriptive creative writing. The book stays intriguing as the author describes her journey through the learning curve of tango and inserts flashbacks to help the reader understand what happened to her and why she has chosen to learn tango, which is a masochistic process of sorts. All in all, a complete book that kept me interested.

Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home is an exceptional memoir from a terrific writer. Not only does it include the history and roots of the tango, Maria Finn is able to successfully intertwine her Irish Catholic Kansas City upbringing along with the story of her divorce. I was impressed with the high quality of writing and am going to share parts of the book with my students as they learn how to write in this genre. I greatly look forward to more novels from Maria, and I am anxious to attend her book signing in Kansas City later this month!

I liked the descriptions of the main moves in tango and discussions about how invitations to dance from a man to a woman have evolved. The descriptions of the dance venues are authentic, and the giving of nicknames to dancers which all adds up to a realistic account of the tango scene. A must for any beginner or enthusiastic dancer.