Dance Real Slow Hardcover - 1996

From the publisher

Calvin eats dirt. He never actually swallows it, just places loose clumpsonto his tongue and sucks, I think....He knows better, my son, but he is stillyoung and needs to be watched. So goes the poignant journey of discovery for Gordon Nash, a journey that begantwo years ago when his wife suddenly walked out on him, leaving him alone toraise their son. Calvin is now four, fragile yet stubborn, devoted to his pet, a dead Portuguese man-o-war he calls Mom. Faced daily with the struggle andjoys of raising this bright little boy, Gordon learns the vast reaches of hisaffection and the limits of his patience. He plumbs the deep well of ragewithin himself, to find there disturbing echoes of his own father. And hecomes to understand that nothing is as important as this complex, imperfectlove--a lesson he must turn to when his wife reappears one day, threatening toturn his and Calvin's world upside down once again. An elegant glimpse of love and loss.
--The New York Times Book Review A debut that glows with warmth and perception. --Chicago Tribune A brave and wise book about keeping love. This is a passionate debut.
--GQ A full-hearted novel about a man's love for his child...A winner! --Los Angeles Features Syndicate