Product Description

This hilariously uplifting memoir follows an Arab American woman's merry life as she shimmies her way from getting dumped by her tattoo-artist boyfriend to coming to grips with being single, ample, and 30. Feeling lost and heartbroken, Anne Thomas Soffee moves back home to Richmond, Virginia. Against the wishes of her extended family and friends, she enrolls in a belly dancing class hoping to heal her heart and reconnect with her Lebanese roots. Her life is never the same after she discovers the riotous world of American belly dancing, a warm and welcoming subculture where younger and thinner are not necessarily better. Wildly funny adventures ensue as a newly confident Soffee embarks on romantic adventures with a domineering sheik and a beautiful Lebanese boy-next-door. Among the zils (finger cymbals) and thrills of attending classes and performing in moose lodges and county fairs, Soffee is surprised to find happiness and true love along the way.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #356836 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 266 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781556525223
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

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.

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

Review
"A rediscovered sense of passion." -- Variety

"Winningly charming and funny." -- Salem Press

Customer Reviews

Been there and done (most of) that
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.

To live! To laugh! To shimmy!
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.

ROFLMAO - This book is great!
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.