Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home

January 4, 2010
Shaken by the discovery that her Cuban husband and salsa partner was having an affair, Finn, a contributor to New York
magazine, embarked on learning to tango as a way of healing her broken heart, and chronicles her journey in this rather dry memoir. In tango, an Argentinean dance form originating in the immigrant neighborhoods and brothels of Buenos Aires, she tapped the “sources of human sorrow and human happiness” and found a safe comfort and intimacy among strangers. From standing on the sidelines watching the elegant, accomplished couples to plunging into her initial lessons at the South Street Seaport and attending her first milongas
, or social dances, Finn had to connect with a series of constantly changing partners, some better at leading than others, and some more forgiving than others about her mistakes. Finn organizes her memoir around the tango steps—from la salida
(the basic) through la caminata
(the walk), la volcada
(the fall), el boleo
(the throw), all the way to el abrazo
(the embrace)—which also cleverly mirror her stages of grief, from anger to acceptance. Sadly, her foray remains journalistically stilted rather than tango sensuous, and rarely warms the reader. Along with her personal story, involving a trip to a wedding in Buenos Aires and documenting there the gay tango scene, she nicely elucidates the evolution of the dance, through the music of Astor Piazzolla and Carlos Gardel, and traces briefly its flashpoints across the globe, from America to Finland and Turkey.

December 15, 2009
A gracefully rendered memoir of a woman seeking post-divorce healing through tango.

The tango first evolved in late-19th-century Argentina, spreading to clubs in Europe and the United States in the years leading up to World War I. Known for its fiery drama and stylistic flair, the complexity and emotive breadth of authentic tango has been diluted by simplistic Hollywood numbers and, more recently, TV dance competitions. Finn (editor: Mexico in Mind, 2006, etc.) conveys an abiding veneration for tango, from its rich historical origins and romantic vocabulary to the nuanced precision in gestures and footwork. With chapters named for the structural elements of tango—El Abrazo, La Sacada, El Boleo, etc.—the author bluntly recounts the unraveling of her marriage, along with the machinations of dating, elegantly drawing metaphorical lines between challenging dance maneuvers and the phases of relationships."These fixed patterns," writes the author,"set to melodies and harmonies, give order in the chaos of emotions. Patterns are what we follow to find the source, and in tango, the source is why a person chooses this dance." Other tango-based journals, such as Marina Palmer's Kiss and Tango: Looking for Love in Buenos Aires (2005), are more provocative; Finn's narrative remains rooted in inner growth and sociological observation than stockings and stilettos. Despite refreshingly candid analyses of her choices and a vivid cast of friends and dance partners, the author's sardonic wit is sometimes eclipsed by cumbersome reiterations of the finer technical points of tango. Nonetheless, from the public tango milongas in New York to her immersion in the Buenos Aires tango community after the 2001 economic crisis spawned a renewed interest in the dance, her devotion to the art is obvious.

Mixing equal parts personal-growth story, social commentary and Tango 101, Finn demystifies the illustrious world of tango with wry yet reverent insight.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2009
When she discovered her husband was cheating on her, New York City resident Finn wallowed in anger and griefbut not for long. She realized the quickest path to recovery was to get off her duff and dance. Finn was drawn to the tango from the moment she happened upon a cluster of dashing dancers strutting their stuff in Central Park. She soon found her date book filled with nightly milongas (social dances). Tango, Finn learned, had its own vast vocabulary of steps, from El Gancho (The Hook) and El Boleo (The Throw) to El Abrazo (The Embrace). Its themes of sorrow and heartbreak meshed well with her melancholy frame of mind. The tango eventually gave Finn the confidence to begin dating again. Most of her matchups were a bust, but she didnt give up hope. When she traveled to Buenos Aires (on a trip originally planned with her husband), she realized that her life wasnt over; it had only begun. Finn has penned a lively debut memoir, brimming with tango history and lore.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)