Wow! At first I wasn't sure about the story, then it sucked me in and wow! Really enjoyed it!!

I first read this book in college (1991) and it blew me away. Has been one of my favorite books since then. Wow. Just loved it. The writing style might not work for everyone, but it forever has a special place in my heart.

Right now I'm a mixture of sad, mad and happy. This book ripped my heart out in so many ways! At one point it was so strange I almost gave up but I'm glad I stuck with it. I went from hated Jane and A to loving them. And Cary! I have no words to express for my feelings about sweet Cary. I was crying by the next to last chapter and was glad the author redeemed himself by the end. A great story! Coudnt give it 5 stars simply because of the character of Cleanth.

This is one of my all time favorite books. I re-read it about every 3 to 4 years. It was assigned for a Psychology of Relationships class in college, and I just really enjoyed the style of writing from three different perspectives. The love triangle of best friends is a common theme, but I love the way David Payne takes it to a different level by spanning different chronological perspectives and allowing you a full understanding of each character's psychological state throughout the story. I still have my 15 year old copy if anyone wants to borrow it!

Southern writer, overall good, but a little slow in the middle.

Interesting characters and well-written but some of these scenes (particularly the conversations between characters, which consisted of repetitive themes and conflicts) were too long. Worth a read, but will require some patience.

Addresses suicide in a beautiful way... I wish everyone who was feeling that way could read a few of the lines arguing for waiting...

I always wanted to read this book ... It's quite lovely, old-fashioned in a way, not too too plotty, "character-driven," perhaps, w/ever that means. It reminded me a little of an over-long "Daniel Martin," which I remember as being pretty long itself. I like young love stories about three people ... true love ;)

First read this book 20 years ago and have returned to it every five or so years.... First picked it up because of the N.C author and connection - but found it hard to put down and read it the first time in only a couple of days. Hard to put a finger on why I liked this one so much - but a great read. I've read a couple of his other books and they are good reads as well - but nothing approaching this one...

Early From the Dance preached a multi-faceted perspective on life, constructed through each character's philosophies, one different from the next, their personalities and beliefs rooted in their past (Faulkneresque, oh my).

Adam/A.
(I would love to find a better quote, but I was lazy with this book and didn't mark in it as much as I usually do, perhaps because I didn't find as much meaning in it as other books, though it still carries a significant message. )

"'My love for Cary was a great thing,' he said, 'but my love for you was greater, Jane, and losing him was the price I had to pay for you. And the real hell of it is, I paid. I paid the fucking price, Jane, I just didn't have the strength or courage to own the thing I bought. No, life made me lose Cary, but it didn't make me lose you--that choice was mine. One act, and I've never been right since. ... because what's wrong in my life now, Jane, started then. It all goes straight back to that summer...
'I still miss him, Jane, I'll miss him till the day I die, but last night something broke for me. I've always felt guilty about Cary, like I was responsible for his death. I don't feel that anymore. You can't be responsible for that in someone else. Cary has to take that responsibility back. He has to carry his just like I have to carry mine'" (492).

Cary
"'The only way would be to change [the truth:] but you can't, because there isn't any change, and even if there was you couldn't change the truth or else it wouldn't be the truth, not the real one. But when you know the real one, right that second, time stops and you realize it was always an illusion, just a swirling that you took for change, and then you either live with it or you don't, you either close your eyes or you go down in the basement and you look at it--I have'" (483).

Jane
"As I climbed back in my car, my hands caked with dirt, the awful pictures stopped, there were no more questions. Let A. ask the questions, I didn't need them anymore, because I finally understood what Mama had known all along, just like Sadie did, that it takes more strength and courage not to ask the questions than to ask them. Now I knew it, too, and every woman does. And what men know isn't worth lug tobacco compared to it, not worth the dust down in the bottom of the bale. It's not asking the questions, holding the doubts in abeyance, knowing they're there and can't be put away, not finally, not ever, but choosing to live beyond them and to trust that life is good--that's what real wisdom is, as any tobacco girl will tell you" (488).

I might elaborate later. I still can't figure out why there isn't any material on this novel or David Payne. He wrote an excellent essay titled "Carrying America's Shadow," which appeared in Oxford American. He is, undoubtedly, a Southern writer and, as a Southerner, his work appeals to me personally.

Payne, David. Early From the Dance. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989. Print.

This is the best book I've read in a long time. Absolutely fantastic book!

I got an advance copy of this book when it was new and bought another one later - I like the main two characters, A. and Jane, and Jane's mom, and A's dad, and a few of the lesser characters, but not the weirdness of Cleanth and Morgan. My favorite part these days when I reread it is A's recollection of his dog Pete and crabbing with Pete and his mom, I read this aloud to my wife just the other night.