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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Not as complex as some of Diane's stories but still enjoyable nonetheless.
Spoiler
(No real spoilers, but just in case, I'm checking the box.) In true Chamberlain style, this book kept me reading (in my case, listening) at every opportunity. She weaves the story well and while it isn't quite the mystery that some of her other books have been, I stayed along for the story (the voice actor they use for her books is quite good).I did struggle somewhat with the protagonist, especially in the last several chapters. She was so spoiled and selfish that I wanted to smack her. :) For someone who had spent many of her formative years being raised by a psychologist, she was truly clueless on how to manage emotions or address her issues. Her lack of empathy was appalling at times.
I felt like there were some missing pieces for her later teenage years... time when one would think she could have learned many lessons. I also find it odd that she apparently had NO memories of her life before she came to Nora and Graham.
But it was touching and sweet and all tied up in a nice bow at the end. Time well spent.
Diane Chamberlain never lets me down. Her books draw me in immediately and hold the promise of keeping my attention. Highly recommend Pretending to Dance!
I’ve been making my way through Diane Chamberlain’s backlist and you can always depend on her for a great story! Pretending to Dance is a blend between historical fiction, coming of age, domestic fiction, and mystery. I love how this one explored the many themes you expect in a Diane book- family, friendships, love, loss, secrets and regrets- but felt totally unique as it dived into motherhood and adoption. Alternating between the past and present timelines, the build up was slow and steady, and while not as twisty as I’d thought it would be, the ending was satisfying and brought all the feels. I listened to the audiobook and thought it was excellent!
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain brings us the story of Molly, a thirty-eight year old lawyer who has not been able to have a child. While Molly thinks of her marriage as loving and honest, she has some big secrets from her childhood that she hasn’t shared with her husband, including that her mother murdered her father. As the couple begins the process to adopt a baby, memories rush back to Molly, especially the summer she was fourteen, the summer when her father died. Her cousin’s emails pop up in her inbox, adding to the weight of the memories and the pain of the betrayal that made her leave her family behind.
Molly’s story unfolds in both the past and the present with chapter titles that signal where they take place, San Diego for the present and Morrison Ridge for the past. The transitions are clear and Chamberlain does a good job of making the voice feel authentic for both the Molly of the past and the Molly of the present.
Pretending Dance focuses on Molly’s emotional journey, and not just facing her past, but facing her present, as well. She and her husband are seeking an open adoption, an arrangement that makes Molly anxious. When she and her husband adopt a baby, will the baby love her more or the birth mother? Will jealousy haunt her relationship with her child? When Molly communicates her fears with her husband, it seems that they are not in perfect harmony about how they want the adoption to go. Her fears about the adoption feel realistic, as does her anxiety over the past.
Would I teach this book? Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain was a recent pick for my book club. More of the conversation focused on past Molly and her experience as a teenager than adult Molly. It is easy to feel sympathy for little Molly and all the things she was helpless over or didn’t understand. Adult Molly seems a bit less mature for her age and her story is not quite as compelling. I wonder whether another structure may have served the story better, even though the telling is already clean and consistent.
It was a decent choice for a book club, but I don’t think that I would use it in my classroom. The story feels a bit bloated, like at least fifty pages could be pruned back in order to give it its full emotional blooming.
Molly’s story unfolds in both the past and the present with chapter titles that signal where they take place, San Diego for the present and Morrison Ridge for the past. The transitions are clear and Chamberlain does a good job of making the voice feel authentic for both the Molly of the past and the Molly of the present.
Pretending Dance focuses on Molly’s emotional journey, and not just facing her past, but facing her present, as well. She and her husband are seeking an open adoption, an arrangement that makes Molly anxious. When she and her husband adopt a baby, will the baby love her more or the birth mother? Will jealousy haunt her relationship with her child? When Molly communicates her fears with her husband, it seems that they are not in perfect harmony about how they want the adoption to go. Her fears about the adoption feel realistic, as does her anxiety over the past.
Would I teach this book? Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain was a recent pick for my book club. More of the conversation focused on past Molly and her experience as a teenager than adult Molly. It is easy to feel sympathy for little Molly and all the things she was helpless over or didn’t understand. Adult Molly seems a bit less mature for her age and her story is not quite as compelling. I wonder whether another structure may have served the story better, even though the telling is already clean and consistent.
It was a decent choice for a book club, but I don’t think that I would use it in my classroom. The story feels a bit bloated, like at least fifty pages could be pruned back in order to give it its full emotional blooming.
I wasn’t sure about this book when I started it because of the adoption aspect but I ended up really enjoying it! It was a page turner to find out what Molly was hiding from her childhood.
Jumping between two time lines Pretending to Dance followed Molly as a child and as a grown adult. The story was a good story. I however had find other stories by Diane Chamberlain to be more enjoyable.
At times I found the storyline following Molly's childhood to be kinda long and wanted to jump ahead, but stuck with it.
Overall a good read about adoption, love, growing up and family.
Opera dance anyone??
At times I found the storyline following Molly's childhood to be kinda long and wanted to jump ahead, but stuck with it.
Overall a good read about adoption, love, growing up and family.
Opera dance anyone??
I have not read Diane Chamberlain’s work before, but she reminds me greatly of Jodi Picoult’s writing style and subject matter. I enjoyed this book but found it lacking in substance. The main character, Molly Arnette, never really comes to life. Her marriage seems too perfect to be real, EXCEPT that she has a major secret from her husband, who knows nothing about Molly’s early life.
The most interesting character is Molly’s father, Graham, a psychotherapist who has developed a treatment tool called “Pretend Therapy.” Graham is in the end stage of progressive multiple sclerosis when Molly is a teenager, and her fourteenth summer is devoted to making her father happy, but also to coming-of-age. Her father and adoptive mother, Nora, conceal from Molly the seriousness of Graham’s condition, and she is completely unprepared for his death. The repercussions from that secretiveness play out for the next twenty years as Molly cuts off all contact with Nora and the rest of her extended family.
I read this book just after I had finished reading Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, and it dove-tailed well with some of Gawande’s insights into accepting our mortality and preparing for death. If Molly’s parents (one of them a psychotherapist!) had acknowledged the truth of her father’s condition, much anguish and misunderstanding could have been avoided. Even a fourteen-year-old deserves the truth about illness. “Pretending” is never a good substitute for facing reality. At the end of the book I felt like the entire premise of the story was invalid.
The most interesting character is Molly’s father, Graham, a psychotherapist who has developed a treatment tool called “Pretend Therapy.” Graham is in the end stage of progressive multiple sclerosis when Molly is a teenager, and her fourteenth summer is devoted to making her father happy, but also to coming-of-age. Her father and adoptive mother, Nora, conceal from Molly the seriousness of Graham’s condition, and she is completely unprepared for his death. The repercussions from that secretiveness play out for the next twenty years as Molly cuts off all contact with Nora and the rest of her extended family.
I read this book just after I had finished reading Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, and it dove-tailed well with some of Gawande’s insights into accepting our mortality and preparing for death. If Molly’s parents (one of them a psychotherapist!) had acknowledged the truth of her father’s condition, much anguish and misunderstanding could have been avoided. Even a fourteen-year-old deserves the truth about illness. “Pretending” is never a good substitute for facing reality. At the end of the book I felt like the entire premise of the story was invalid.
I stuck with this book until the end, but so far, it’s my least favorite of her books. Many times I just wanted to yell at Molly, “will you just shut up and listen?” I found her to be a very annoying character. I found her adult self to be as annoying as her teenage self. I will still read Diane Chamberlain’s books, but this one left me feeling irritated.