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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
Bright Burning Stars is the story of best friends Marine and Kate who are training at the Paris Opera Ballet School, and have become inseparable best friends. When the stakes are tested, Marine and Kate begin to question what the cost is to win the ultimate prize: to be the one girl selected to join the Opera's prestigious corps de ballet.
What I Appreciated About This Book: I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and got so much out of the experience of joining Marine and Kate's world of ballet. I found the elements of their intensive lives so fascinating, as it is so different from my own. However, the desires and needs that drive these girls are so human and relatable- they want to be seen and loved, they are struggling with their body image and maturing just as many teens do. The emotions described in the book are so raw and palpable, it was easy for me to relate to both characters.
What Did Not Work For Me: I loved this book, but I do wish the ending had been fleshed out more, as it felt sudden. There is so much buildup throughout the book, and I wanted it to close on a crescendo. Overall, I truly enjoyed this book, and it is one that will stay with me for a long time to come!
What I Appreciated About This Book: I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and got so much out of the experience of joining Marine and Kate's world of ballet. I found the elements of their intensive lives so fascinating, as it is so different from my own. However, the desires and needs that drive these girls are so human and relatable- they want to be seen and loved, they are struggling with their body image and maturing just as many teens do. The emotions described in the book are so raw and palpable, it was easy for me to relate to both characters.
What Did Not Work For Me: I loved this book, but I do wish the ending had been fleshed out more, as it felt sudden. There is so much buildup throughout the book, and I wanted it to close on a crescendo. Overall, I truly enjoyed this book, and it is one that will stay with me for a long time to come!
This gripping and confronting story gives you some insight to how hard it is to make it in the ballet world, all the efforts, labor and sacrifices it takes. It is not just physically but also mentally draining and not all boys and girls are cut out to make it to the top, not matter how hard they try or want it.
As annoyed I was by the choices Marine and Kate made I also really felt for them. The pressure on their shoulders and the environment were not healthy and they were forced in this competition to become a winner or loose everything they worked so hard for in the last 6 years.
As annoyed I was by the choices Marine and Kate made I also really felt for them. The pressure on their shoulders and the environment were not healthy and they were forced in this competition to become a winner or loose everything they worked so hard for in the last 6 years.
First off, I know nothing about ballet or being in ballet school. My first school did require us to take ballet and I had to have little ballet slippers and that's as close to ballet as I got. Which means, I am no expert. But to be immersed in A.K. Small's Bright Burning Stars, you don't have to be an expert. The intensity experienced by these students could belong to any specialized group of athletes like gymnasts, skaters, or tennis players, or likewise musicians.
Marine and Kate have been friends for many years. They made a pact that they would tell each other everything. However, as decisions are coming to be made in their final year of being at the ballet school everything begins to unravel.
As Kate breaks rules, becomes a bit boy crazy and loses focus, Marine becomes equally fixated on her body, trying to get as thin as possible. Along the way, their friendship deteriorates as they too deteriorate.
Bright Burning Stars is not a joyous romp in the park. When characters are so fixated on a prize, it seems that they would do anything to attain it and if that fails and they don't, what's left? Imagine training for so many years only to have your dreams smashed. Small does an excellent job of making that emotion pervasive throughout Bright Burning Stars. There's a kind of desperation that feels alive here. It's all or nothing. If left with nothing, what then?
Once I got into the novel after a slow start, I found it hard to put down. I wanted to shake Kate for not seeing how history can repeat itself, especially with egotistical boys and men, but she is a teenager and a sheltered one at that. She gives in to compulsions and selfishness.
Marine frequently seems older, wiser, and even her last gesture speaks of someone a bit more mature than a teenager, someone who has embraced some wisdom through a health scare, seen treachery and deceit, and knows what her future should be.
Despite the topics and the situations, I didn't find this book overly laden with angst or melodrama--I appreciate that.
I would recommend Bright Burning Stars for YA readers who like their novels on the more intense side but not ones who have issues with sex, unwanted pregnancies, and drugs appearing in a novel. (There is no graphic sex.) Please use your discretion.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Marine and Kate have been friends for many years. They made a pact that they would tell each other everything. However, as decisions are coming to be made in their final year of being at the ballet school everything begins to unravel.
As Kate breaks rules, becomes a bit boy crazy and loses focus, Marine becomes equally fixated on her body, trying to get as thin as possible. Along the way, their friendship deteriorates as they too deteriorate.
Bright Burning Stars is not a joyous romp in the park. When characters are so fixated on a prize, it seems that they would do anything to attain it and if that fails and they don't, what's left? Imagine training for so many years only to have your dreams smashed. Small does an excellent job of making that emotion pervasive throughout Bright Burning Stars. There's a kind of desperation that feels alive here. It's all or nothing. If left with nothing, what then?
Once I got into the novel after a slow start, I found it hard to put down. I wanted to shake Kate for not seeing how history can repeat itself, especially with egotistical boys and men, but she is a teenager and a sheltered one at that. She gives in to compulsions and selfishness.
Marine frequently seems older, wiser, and even her last gesture speaks of someone a bit more mature than a teenager, someone who has embraced some wisdom through a health scare, seen treachery and deceit, and knows what her future should be.
Despite the topics and the situations, I didn't find this book overly laden with angst or melodrama--I appreciate that.
I would recommend Bright Burning Stars for YA readers who like their novels on the more intense side but not ones who have issues with sex, unwanted pregnancies, and drugs appearing in a novel. (There is no graphic sex.) Please use your discretion.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I SPED through this book (started it this morning) and it was very compelling although I have mixed feelings about some of it!
Content Warnings (super huge + definitely recommend you look at these if you have any triggers):
Content Warnings (super huge + definitely recommend you look at these if you have any triggers):
Spoiler
suicidal thoughts, severe disordered eating, severe body dysmorphia, self-harm, intentional drug use, grief over an abortion
ok. ok. I love a dance movie/book, so when I skimmed the description on NetGalley, my brain understood "French ballet boarding school" and downloaded it immediately.
This was...fine. I liked the ballet stuff, though there's not much here that's groundbreaking if you've ever seen/read any other dance movie/book. Eating disorders? Sexually charged dance partners? Gross ouchy feet? You don't say. But that stuff is all done well, if you're into that kind of thing, which I am.
A linguistic pet peeve: this is set in France, the characters (except one) are French, they're presumably speaking French all the time but we're reading the dialogue translated because, you know, that's how books work. Except sometimes a random French word is thrown in the dialogue. So what's that, like, double-French?? (SOMETIMES this is for a specific phrase with the purpose of translating the difference between that and a similar English idiom, which makes sense for the American character, but sometimes it's just like bonjour or whatever, and like, why.)
But HERE'S THE SPOILER I WANT TO DIG INTO:
This book is contemporary!!!! They have like, cell phones and the morning after pill and everything!! The beekeeper thing is so weird that I'm like, is this magical realism??? But everything else seems...not that???? Is the beekeeper literal?
IF YOU HAVE READ THIS PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT THE BEEKEEPER.
:O
This was...fine. I liked the ballet stuff, though there's not much here that's groundbreaking if you've ever seen/read any other dance movie/book. Eating disorders? Sexually charged dance partners? Gross ouchy feet? You don't say. But that stuff is all done well, if you're into that kind of thing, which I am.
A linguistic pet peeve: this is set in France, the characters (except one) are French, they're presumably speaking French all the time but we're reading the dialogue translated because, you know, that's how books work. Except sometimes a random French word is thrown in the dialogue. So what's that, like, double-French?? (SOMETIMES this is for a specific phrase with the purpose of translating the difference between that and a similar English idiom, which makes sense for the American character, but sometimes it's just like bonjour or whatever, and like, why.)
But HERE'S THE SPOILER I WANT TO DIG INTO:
Spoiler
OK so Kate, the slutty American ballerina, gets pregnant, because of course, so she goes to the pharmacist to get a pregnancy test, and the pharmacist also gives her a morning after pill but it doesn't work because she lied and it's been way more than 72 hours, which, OK, I buy that a panicked teen might try that, whatever. But then the pharmacist is like "anyway if that doesn't work talk to the beekeeper" and she's like OK and THEIR BALLET BOARDING SCHOOL ALSO HAS A BEEHIVE AND BEEKEPER ON STAFF and I guess the beekeeper is a retired OB/GYN who just has beekeeping as a hobby?? and they have an actual nurse and everything on staff, and anyway the beekeeper helps her with herbal abortion rememedies.This book is contemporary!!!! They have like, cell phones and the morning after pill and everything!! The beekeeper thing is so weird that I'm like, is this magical realism??? But everything else seems...not that???? Is the beekeeper literal?
IF YOU HAVE READ THIS PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT THE BEEKEEPER.
:O
Although ballet is at the heart of Small's debut novel -- Marine and Kate are enrolled in a prestigious ballet school in Paris with unbelievable stakes for their futures -- the bigger story here is that of a close friendship torn apart by secrets, lies, and competition. The girls, despite their promises to always been honest with one another, withhold information from one another beginning their final year at the school. It starts small, but it grows bigger and bigger. This is primarily Kate pulling away, thanks to her desire to connect with boys physically, as well as her oncoming addition to pulls. But Marine also pulls away, as she begins eating less and less to maintain a smaller physique. She's always been a larger student in the school and wants to rectify it. Though we see behind the scenes the care the girls have toward one another in private, we see how they fail to show this in their relationship openly in person and how it makes their future uncertain.
A lush Paris setting and exceptional ballet writing, it took me a bit to connect with the characters. I enjoyed Marine much more than Kate, though I suspect Kate will resonate with many who see Marine as a bit of a wet blanket. These differences highlight, too, the European and American backgrounds of each.
The romance didn't captivate me as much as the story of friendship did, so the ending and who ends up with who and where didn't land as much as I wish it did. But, the way that Marine and Kate come to figure out how their relationship stands at the end did land well for me.
Readers who want a story of friendships ending will do great here, as will readers itching for a ballet story with excellent sports/arts writing.
A lush Paris setting and exceptional ballet writing, it took me a bit to connect with the characters. I enjoyed Marine much more than Kate, though I suspect Kate will resonate with many who see Marine as a bit of a wet blanket. These differences highlight, too, the European and American backgrounds of each.
The romance didn't captivate me as much as the story of friendship did, so the ending and who ends up with who and where didn't land as much as I wish it did. But, the way that Marine and Kate come to figure out how their relationship stands at the end did land well for me.
Readers who want a story of friendships ending will do great here, as will readers itching for a ballet story with excellent sports/arts writing.
This book was interesting. I liked the story of two girls at an elite ballet academy. However, I really don't know what the author's purpose was. There was no real message, good didn't triumph over evil, and hard work didn't always pay off.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
This story revolved around 2 girls who were dancers and best friends, who wanted to win the top prize - to join the Opera's prestigious corps de ballet. Marine and Kate have spent years training for this moment, but sometimes the pressure to win will tear down friendships. These teens must stay thin and focused and do whatever it takes to get ahead, but is it worth it?
This was a good read. It was well written and full of teen drama!
Thank you to Algonquin Young Readers and NetGalley for the #gifted copy of the book.
This was a good read. It was well written and full of teen drama!
Thank you to Algonquin Young Readers and NetGalley for the #gifted copy of the book.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes