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Experience the Life of a Gypsy Flamenco Dancer, by Suza Francina The Gachi transports the reader into the life a gypsy flamenco dancer. This is the story of an angry young woman fleeing to a strange, far-off land. Witnessing the flamenco dance as a teenager inspired Susan Salguero to study Spanish cultural history. Upon graduation from Cal Berkeley, she traveled to Spain and discovered a world that would sweep her away from her California life. She began to live and breathe Flamenco, and immersed herself body, mind and soul in the world of Spanish gypsies. Reading this book I experienced the sights and sounds of the gypsy world, all the color and excitement of flamenco, and all the romance and pain of that way of life from an American woman's perspective. I applaud and admire the author for baring her soul and bringing her unique story into the light of day. The Gachi by Jacquelyn R. Davis Susan Salguero is a captivating writer. She writes with wry wit, intelligence, and seems to pull no punches in telling the story of her early adult years with the gypsies of Spain. I finished reading it in two days. This book, I believe, would be an interesting read for those who have themselves defied convention; or for those who simply dream. This book was a wonderful read. Written from an outsider's perspective learning to integrate herself into the gypsy life of flamenco in Spain, Salguero gives you an amazing look into the people who are not only masters of this strange and wonderful music/dance, but are born with it in their blood. Best of all, this work of non-fiction is based on Salguero's life. Her imagery and descriptions of the music make you feel like you are traveling on her life journey. I highly recommend this quick read. Susan Salguero Discovers Emotional Depth of Journey Into Flamenco In The Gachí, Susan Salguero paints a poignant picture of Flamenco life. She shares vivid insights of a Spanish world, the excitement of flamenco, and the pain that followed her life as she followed flamenco. Now, many years later, she shares her earlier life, but from the perspective of a mature woman. In it, the reader feels the open wounds of her soul as she discovers herself. In the 1960s, before she crossed the ocean to Spain in search of her heart’s desire to learn Flamenco dance, she wasn’t the only angry woman at Cal Berkeley. She felt edgy but had no clue why. She only knew she had to flee, that she couldn’t save the world until she first saved herself. Her passion for music propelled her to Spain, to Seville, a provincial city fertile with the excited cry of the guitar. Coveting gypsy power, and driven to dance that wild and perfect audacity, she staked her claim, and her life, on Flamenco. She first penned The Gachi many years ago, but it took maturity to fully learn the lessons inherit in those earlier years. "I wrote the book when I was young and in the throes of life. It took maturity to understand my motivations and weave in those third dimensional depths - which is part of why it was published 30 years after beginning on it. The disadvantage of age," she says, "is word finding. A perfect word's hidden in there, but I can't finger it onto the keyboard until tossing dictionary and thesaurus around, and then waiting hours or days for it to bubble up on its own. I have a list of oft-lost verbs, (engender, glower, defect) which helps. Once they're down, they're here to stay." But finding the right word notwithstanding, Susan opens her heart and soul to the reader and shares, in all honesty, the struggles she faced during those earlier years. But along with the struggles, come the power of a woman finding her own voice. Nothing carries more weight.
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