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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
THE BALLERINAS by Rachel Kapelke-Dale is not like the books the blurb compared it to. Not really.
This is a strive to be like those books. In my opinion it simply falls short of what it aspires to be. A little like it’s main character actually. Centimeters short…
2cm is what stands between Delphine and her dreams. And what’s 2cm, a few secrets and several sexual encounters between friends?
Well, that’s where I was hoping I would be while reading it. But I was in fact, perplexed by the authors jarring use of words.
*SPOILER*
It reminded me of NO EXIT where the author ponders (for much too long) (imo) on the personal hygiene of the scary,-yet dually afflicted with alopecia and body odor-serial killer who traps girls in cages and then stops to fart at a rest stops (no dna matching here) to refill his coffee and take a piss during a snowstorm.
Oh sorry, that’s not appealing for me to read about.
There are more than a few other words that I felt were inserted (no pun here) just to surprise readers and seem sexy and provocative like female serial killers.
Like the thought of double jointedness making you special, this book rubbed me the wrong way. And I may never need to hear the word *ipecac* again or visualize it working. Thanks for that!
This is not a case of me being a prude. I like my literature dirty. Filthy and fabulous is fine.
I think what’s lacking is an element of necessity. It’s a shock and awe campaign that if the writing were solid, would be unnecessary.
Remember the saying
YOU’RE USING CURSE WORDS BECAUSE YOU LACK THE VOCABULARY TO EXPRESS YOURSELF.
That’s not me saying that. I promise.
What I am saying is that this book is actually more similar to a book I read last year called THE DIVINES.
Both tried to use verbiage and language to incite strong emotions, but fail to realize that it actually does matter how you use those words. It does matter how words are carried within a sentence. How the sentence is structured.
⭐️⭐️ stars.
This is a strive to be like those books. In my opinion it simply falls short of what it aspires to be. A little like it’s main character actually. Centimeters short…
2cm is what stands between Delphine and her dreams. And what’s 2cm, a few secrets and several sexual encounters between friends?
Well, that’s where I was hoping I would be while reading it. But I was in fact, perplexed by the authors jarring use of words.
*SPOILER*
It reminded me of NO EXIT where the author ponders (for much too long) (imo) on the personal hygiene of the scary,-yet dually afflicted with alopecia and body odor-serial killer who traps girls in cages and then stops to fart at a rest stops (no dna matching here) to refill his coffee and take a piss during a snowstorm.
Oh sorry, that’s not appealing for me to read about.
There are more than a few other words that I felt were inserted (no pun here) just to surprise readers and seem sexy and provocative like female serial killers.
Like the thought of double jointedness making you special, this book rubbed me the wrong way. And I may never need to hear the word *ipecac* again or visualize it working. Thanks for that!
This is not a case of me being a prude. I like my literature dirty. Filthy and fabulous is fine.
I think what’s lacking is an element of necessity. It’s a shock and awe campaign that if the writing were solid, would be unnecessary.
Remember the saying
YOU’RE USING CURSE WORDS BECAUSE YOU LACK THE VOCABULARY TO EXPRESS YOURSELF.
That’s not me saying that. I promise.
What I am saying is that this book is actually more similar to a book I read last year called THE DIVINES.
Both tried to use verbiage and language to incite strong emotions, but fail to realize that it actually does matter how you use those words. It does matter how words are carried within a sentence. How the sentence is structured.
⭐️⭐️ stars.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sometimes I forget that I like a thriller, if it's more psychological than gory, and I don't think it's a stretch to say this is a ballet thriller. It's other things as well (a study of the complexity of long-term female friendships is certainly one of them), and I also love an author who will write a not-particularly-likeable protagonist. It reminded me a bit of Detransition, Baby in the sense that there were times I was cringing at various characters' choices, but because they were believably terrible, not unbelievable. Kapelke-Dale also writes with great precision about the underestimated depth of female ambition and desire in a patriarchy, especially in the particularly strange patriarchal microcosm of professional ballet. This does feel like a first novel in ways that are hard for me to specify, but if you're looking for a quick, evocative read with some interesting themes, it's good.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
I am not a dancer, nor do I pretend to be one on T.V., but boy do I love reading about professional ballerinas! This book focused on the technicalities of dance and the cutthroat methods to rise to the top. What set it apart were the deep dives into the intricacies of the friendships of the three main characters. The secrets they kept, the traditions they bucked, and the philosophies they each held allowed the reader to see a bigger picture outside the walls of the studios. This was an enjoyable read, a page-turner to watch the characters evolved and mature in their thoughts and actions. Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was everything I didn’t know I needed.
• Friendship between women
• The secrets we keep
• The relentless and exhausting pursuit of perfection (one that I’d argue is an experience profoundly belonging to women)
• The feeling of being watched that all women live with
This book ended up healing me in ways I didn’t expect. Here are some of my favorite quotes. Huge spoilers in the last couple:
We all stuck to our stories. And it is so easy to see someone through only one own lens: the role they play in yours. Stella had been right. I’d only ever seen her as a guru, a mentor, the friendly neighborhood witch. Who was Stella in her own story?
I’ve always thought dying would be a little bit like dissolving into the sun. We leave our little frames behind and see the whole picture for the first time. The entire panorama. I like to feel the sun on my face because I can practice living and practice dying. Both at the same time.
I watched her, struggling for perfection, this woman who had been struggling for perfection for more than twenty years, and I was fascinated.
This is why I loved choreographing. This is why it was better than dancing. Instead of trying to contort myself into someone else’s vision, I would take what was already inside me and find the perfect vessel for it.
Living our lives as though we expect it to be forgotten. As though now is all that matters. It might be easier on the mind to live like that, but it’s harder in the soul.
You’re bigger than us. And after everything’s said and done, we depend on your goodwill. Not just to make things easier. For survival. If you want, to you can kill us, and we know it.
This wasn’t the movies in our lives didn’t work that way. Someone was always, always watching us and it was too late. It had been too late since I pushed him through the window. It had been too late long before then. Besides, I didn’t want to cover this up. Monstrous and horrible as his body had become, as horrified as I was that I actually killed somebody, I also felt like I was watching the stage at the end of the best dance I’ve ever made. In the darkness, I felt my mother beside me. Smiling. Maybe, after everything, this was her legacy. She spent her life performing for the void but two hands on Daniel‘s chest and I flip the script, made the only ballet that could ever truly be for us and about us at the same time. And achieved what she never could: we had become the spectators for once. We had been the ones to please. And he was the one who failed. His death was my masterpiece. Because that’s all ballet is, in the end. Just bodies moving through time and space.
Absolutely stunning novel.
• Friendship between women
• The secrets we keep
• The relentless and exhausting pursuit of perfection (one that I’d argue is an experience profoundly belonging to women)
• The feeling of being watched that all women live with
This book ended up healing me in ways I didn’t expect. Here are some of my favorite quotes. Huge spoilers in the last couple:
We all stuck to our stories. And it is so easy to see someone through only one own lens: the role they play in yours. Stella had been right. I’d only ever seen her as a guru, a mentor, the friendly neighborhood witch. Who was Stella in her own story?
I’ve always thought dying would be a little bit like dissolving into the sun. We leave our little frames behind and see the whole picture for the first time. The entire panorama. I like to feel the sun on my face because I can practice living and practice dying. Both at the same time.
I watched her, struggling for perfection, this woman who had been struggling for perfection for more than twenty years, and I was fascinated.
This is why I loved choreographing. This is why it was better than dancing. Instead of trying to contort myself into someone else’s vision, I would take what was already inside me and find the perfect vessel for it.
Living our lives as though we expect it to be forgotten. As though now is all that matters. It might be easier on the mind to live like that, but it’s harder in the soul.
You’re bigger than us. And after everything’s said and done, we depend on your goodwill. Not just to make things easier. For survival. If you want, to you can kill us, and we know it.
This wasn’t the movies in our lives didn’t work that way. Someone was always, always watching us and it was too late. It had been too late since I pushed him through the window. It had been too late long before then. Besides, I didn’t want to cover this up. Monstrous and horrible as his body had become, as horrified as I was that I actually killed somebody, I also felt like I was watching the stage at the end of the best dance I’ve ever made. In the darkness, I felt my mother beside me. Smiling. Maybe, after everything, this was her legacy. She spent her life performing for the void but two hands on Daniel‘s chest and I flip the script, made the only ballet that could ever truly be for us and about us at the same time. And achieved what she never could: we had become the spectators for once. We had been the ones to please. And he was the one who failed. His death was my masterpiece. Because that’s all ballet is, in the end. Just bodies moving through time and space.
Absolutely stunning novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Abortion, Murder
Minor: Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Death of parent