Sweet and sad, with a wonderful first-person narrator who is flawed, selfish, impatient, and beautifully drawn. It's a short little book, and I read it in one sitting in the library. Touching. Meaningful. Sentimental. All the things that Peter S. Beagle does well.

A man with a passion for theater and a man with a passion for dance become friends, though neither sees the success they dreamed of. They stay in touch all their lives, until one day the dancer dies, and the actor finds out things about the dancer's beloved, the dancer's cat, and what awaits the dancer after life is over. ( )

Its a cute modern fairly tale. its a fast read. We have two middle aged men, who have been friends since high school. One of them passes away suddenly, leaving a hole for the other. We also have the dead man's girlfriend and his cat, all mourning for him. Of course, the cat suddenly starts dancing.

The story is sweet, not overly so. The characters are a bit bland, but flawed. As a short story, its a fast read. Is it ground breaking? Nope. But enjoyable. ( )

Eh. Weird, but I didn't find it all that interesting. Three people who haven't lived up to their dreams have formed friendships - one from childhood, one much more recent. One of the three (Sam) dies, which connects the other two. And then somehow Sam's cat becomes a conduit for him to return to his friends - and to dance, which was the dream he never achieved. Very literary, not very interesting to me. ( )

Not sure how this rates an independent publication - it really is just a short story. If it were a children's book it would stand alone, but it definitely is not. (Clean read, but too sophisticated to appeal to most kids.) It's a charming enough fable, for the right audience, but it just didn't do anything for me.

I give up - I've tried so much by Beagle, who writes stuff I should love, but the only time I truly enjoyed his work was when it was heavily illustrated ([b:The Last Unicorn|8890606|The Last Unicorn|Peter Gillis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1357045524s/8890606.jpg|24172413] graphic novel). ( )

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?book=1118 ( )