How can a child not have a grip on life? Is it something to be learnt? Why is it relevant to to be grounded in reality, to answer questions truthfully to a child, however painful they might be? And lastly, why is it good to cry?
As the name suggests, Dancing on the Edge is about an adolescent girl dancing on the edge of life, skirting death. For how long can anyone go on living if she is convinced that she is not really alive?
‘Miracle’ is called so because her birth was miraculous. She was born out of a dead woman’s body. Her mother died in a car accident before the girl was born, and her grandmother will not let her forget this awful fact. Her father, Dane, was a child prodigy, a novelist at age thirteen. Which means he does not have to be fatherly at all, he is lost to his writing. But like all children who cannot find fault with their parents, Miracle adores her Daddy.
After all, even though he ignores her, Daddy is alive. Unlike Mommy, who escaped before she could even see her. And really, Daddy ain’t so bad. He doesn’t keep reminding her of Mama, like her Grandmother does. Grandmother is another story altogether. She talks to the dead, (except Mama of course), sees auras, wears only purple because it is supposed to be the highest in spiritual colors. She considers herself special, a psychic, but to the outsider, she is nothing short of a witch.
Especially when her son, the writer, mysteriously disappears one day, in thin air, leaving behind his gown and slippers on the floor? The explanation that Grandmother gives when Daddy vanishes is that ‘Dane has melted.’ Since Daddy was a prodigy, Miracle believes that he wouldn’t just ‘die’ or run away, like normal people did. He melted. Hopefully, he will come back, if she matters to him. If she is a child prodigy too, if she excels in something, he might come back, to see her.
To avoid the social pressure, Grandmother moves to Grandfather’s house, along with Miracle. But this is merely an arrangement, between the two ‘enemies.’ Grandfather hates the hocus-focus that grandmother indulges in, and this confuses matters further for the girl.
‘If you were born out of a dead woman’s body, you are also dead.’ Says her Grandfather, and his conviction does something to her sense of being alive. Very slowly, it starts to deteriorate, replaced by fears and demons.
A bad family is better than no family; a family that replaces itself can be tremendously strenuous. Miracle is pushed deeper into her shell when her Grandmother leaves the scene, to marry someone and get a new life. Grandfather gets a heart attack and Miracle blames herself. It is too late for the new family that she is entrusted to become ‘family’.
At school she is a misfit, and children can be cruel to someone of a different feather. Her intense need to communicate with someone familiar, her melted father, leads her to set fire to herself.
How she is saved, both physically and emotionally, is the rest of the story. The language is simple, the plot is far too interesting and overrides all literary considerations. The characters are as real as the hands holding the book.
Winner of the 1997 National Book Award, Dancing on the Edge is an experience that can inspire you to be a cautious and caring parent. It brings home the similarity in the words, family and familiar.
This book is a must for anyone working with children, for it offers a clear insight into the workings of a disturbed adolescent and also throws light on the healing process.
What I did not like about the book:
Reading the book can create a fear of the supernatural, of fairy tales, and anything imaginative.
What I liked about the book:
I liked the character of the psychiatrist who helps Miracle regain her sense of life. It is through him that the author, Han Nolan speaks, and heals the broken self image of the girl.
