Dancing Bears


Fiction - Short Story/Novela
162 Pages
Reviewed on 03/22/2024
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Stefan Vucak for Readers' Favorite

When their parents died and the eviction notice arrived, Vireo’s sister Belinda, eighteen, drops out of high school and becomes an exotic dancer at the Dancing Bears club to pay the bills. Things are looking bright for the two sisters until a customer gets Belinda into trouble with the cops over stolen money and she loses her job. To help make do, Vireo lies about her age and joins the club. Their cousin Rip is into drugs and feels the world owes him payback for his misery. He takes on a different job for the Young Republicans but has no direction in life. After a while, he hates getting paraded in silly costumes and tells the young GOPs to shove it. In steps the club owner’s nephew whose ideas threaten to ruin the business. Things don’t look too good for anybody.

With Dancing Bears, William Jackson presents a quirky, funny, thoughtful novella that is a delight to read. Narrated by Vireo in a somewhat rambling and unusual style with hardly any story structure, readers are plunged into the life of an exotic dancer; how they view their profession—an interesting insight—and what they think of the drooling, slavering customers who fantasize over the girls. No hanky-panky as the girls put on their nightly shows, enjoying teasing the customers. Dancing Bears is an intimate look into Vireo’s life, the wreck that is Rip, and a peek into the life of other dancers at the club. William Jackson tells the story from a very personal and frank perspective that readers will appreciate.