Reviews

The book arrived last Wednesday.  I read over half of it that night and the rest Thursday night after work!  I rarely just sit and read, more in short times like before going to sleep or eating alone, or waiting for things, so that says a lot (that I read it through in part of two evenings)!

I really loved it, of course, since I could not put it down!

Several years ago the thought came to me that tango is somewhat like church for me, in the sense of tango being my community.

When I first saw the book cover on-line, I just loved it, and seeing it in person just confirmed what a great cover it is.  --Cammie Strange


Cheeeriiieeee, I finished The Church of Tango!! Gobbled it up in two days in spite of my insane schedule! Your storytelling totally drew me in, what great anecdotes you chose to tell in each situation. As a fellow traveler, I would love to retell many of my itinerant experiences but what to tell? What's worth narrating? I think you got that down really well. Also a very clear voice comes through and I loved the ever-present dance theme. Again, congratulations for pulling this memoir off, you libidinous writer, you. Felicitaciones, de corazón. --Maria from Porto Alegre


Hello. It was the first thing I read after I got home on Saturday. Finished it by Sunday morning. Wow! Wonderful. --Pearl Yonezwaya


Dear Cherie,

     I purchased your book at the Feria Del Libro a few weeks ago while visiting here in Buenos Aires.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!  I grew up on a farm in Nebraska and lived in LA for fifteen years before moving to Melbourne, Australia twelve year ago.
     I am visiting my in-laws who live in Belgrano.  My partner and I are giving thought to moving here and I would love to hear more about your Buenos Aires life.  When is your sequel being released?
     Again, just wanted to thank you for sharing your experiences.

Un cordial saludo,

--Brian Copple

  
I cannot put the book down! And it is SO well written I finished the book yesterday and it was FABULOUS! I loved it!—Barbara Bill


     You are a good writer, and I particularly like the straight forwardness of your account.  I don’t feel you are seeking  any pity, just telling it like it was.  There are enjoyable turns of phrase, and terrific nuggets of humor.  I look forward to finishing the book, learning how you got to BA,--Larry Siegel

Cherie – I’ve been struggling to find the right words to capture my reaction to your book and to describe what I feel you have accomplished with it.  Forgive me if that struggle muddles these comments.

First of all, I am in awe of your open heart, open soul approach to what surely has been a larger burden of loss and pain than most of us experience.  Since I know you a bit, there was an initial fascination at an unknown past and then amazement at the magnitude of what I didn’t know about you.  Sitting, as we have together over two meals, I could never have connected all that your book describes with the bright spirit sitting nearby.

Then, there is how you tell the story.  There is wonderful, smiling honesty in the telling of your experiences: the joy and loss of lovers ( I suppose the great love story of Ruben comes in vol. II), the crafty survival instinct that emerged, and the submission to the inevitable when only submission was left.  Those who do not know you will discover they can  say things about ourselves, even embarrassing and usually unmentioned things, and that dignity is not only intact, it expands.

You may have guessed I liked the book.  In my own search for why we are here  I keep arriving at the gift of survival.  It its best form, it is human victory over impossible life events.  That is what your book so beautifully describes.—Larry Siegel



     There are few people in this world who could "pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and start all over again", to paraphrase the words of an old song.

Cherie Magnus does that and more. After the tragic death of her beloved husband, she does indeed start all over again. In the process she discovers the world of music and dance that tango offers. She moves back and forth, from Los Angeles to France and to Mexico, with stops in between, making new friends, betrayed by old friends and strangers, finding a French lover and losing him, all the while bouncing back and going forward. Losses of all kinds pursue her, and every time she comes back from disaster to new life.

Cancer invades her life, as it did her husband's, and medical trials and tribulations become part of her world. Cherie draws the reader in to become a participant in her life with all its trauma, its happy times, its sadnesses, its changes. Her life in Los Angeles as a librarian, a happy wife and mother, is clearly etched. So are each of the chapters following her husband's death, her relationships with her sons, her mother, her friends and coworkers, her neighbors and good friends in L.A. at Chateau Rodney.

One is happy to know that she is in Buenos Aires, teaching, dancing, writing, with a dance partner who is also a romantic partner, new friends, a new life again. One hopes that only good things will follow Cherie now.

This is a "must read" for those who will admire a woman with guts, with stamina, with a "joie de vivre" that has survived incredible ups and downs. Bravo, Cherie !!!—Helene Mochedlover, Los Angeles Public Library

During my first two years or so in Argentina, the opportunity to read an English-language book was something of a luxury; however, all that changed in 2012 thanks to my Kindle. I read a number of interesting and engaging stories last year, and I'd like to share my thoughts about one of them, The Church of Tango: a Memoir by Cherie Magnus.

I first met Cherie, a retired librarian and former belly dancer, a few years back when she traveled to Mar del Plata on a visit with her partner Rubén. We had initially connected through our blogs and thought it would be great to meet in real life. Cherie struck me as a joyful person, someone with a true zest for living, an impression that was further strengthened through subsequent meetings. She spoke about her old life in the U.S. in a wistful sort of way, but I chalked that up to standard-issue expat behavior, that is, until I read her book.

I never would have guessed that the vivacious, smiling Cherie I'd come to know had experienced so much loss in her life and, well, just plain bad luck. But there is life after loss. Cherie's story proves that.

Although the title may indicate otherwise, this memoir isn't really about tango or even necessarily dance. It tells the story of a woman who had built a beautiful life for herself and then watched it all crumble as fate cruelly dealt her one blow after another. Yet, in spite of the death of loved ones, battles with illness, and betrayal, Cherie shows us that even in our most broken moments, we must keep moving forward. By literally putting one foot in front of the other, dance, and more specifically, the tango, gave her the strength to put one foot in front of the other in a metaphorical sense, too. In the hopes of regaining some of what she'd lost, Cherie's journey takes her from Los Angeles to France, then Mexico, and lastly, Buenos Aires. Here she finds solace in the Argentine capital's many milongas (tango dance halls), and she begins to build a new life for herself through the tango.

It's clear to me that Cherie possesses an indomitable spirit, but much like the haunting strains of the tango, I also see in her a touch of melancholy and nostalgia for the past. Perhaps that's why she finally found her home in Buenos Aires.

If 2012 was a difficult year for you, pick up The Church of Tango and be inspired.

--Katie Metz de Martinez, Seashells and Sunflowers

Dear Cherie.
I have finished your book " The church of tango". I have followed you through ups and downs, laughed and cried of your experiences, and have to admit that you are a really surviver. I was angry with your "friends" about taking advantage of your situation with your house and apartment in France, and envy you falling in live with Oliver(but not the rest of the story) and your tangodancing.But would not believe it was possible to get  breast cancer twice..
Your feelings during your difficulties could I remember from my own life and difficulties, they are so human.
It is good for us to see that you now have a good life with Ruben i BsAs, we can see that you love and care for each other.
 
We had a good time in November and probably will I go again to BsAs.
In Norway is it winter now, with snow and temperature below zero,but nice christmasweather. I will be with my to daughters and their husbands and children at Christmas.
 
I wish you and Ruben a good time in love and peace, and happy new year.
 
Regards from Randi Dale, Norway