Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
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
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
This is an interesting book about ballet and dancers. As I was always fascinated by ballet I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt for the characters.
it's about rivalry, toxic friendship and the characters are damaged both phisically and mentally.
An interesting read, a bit slow burning.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
it's about rivalry, toxic friendship and the characters are damaged both phisically and mentally.
An interesting read, a bit slow burning.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
dark
emotional
tense
slow-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
Title: The Ballerinas
Author: Rachel Kapelke-Dale
Genre: Adult Contempary
Format: library hardback book
Series: N/A
Star Rating: 3 stars
tw: assault, underage drug and alcohol abuse, grooming of a minor, infidelity, cancer, disordered eating, alcoholism, murder, abortion, miscarriage, recording without consent, sexual assault of underage women, revenge porn
If there is anything to know about me, I love the world of ballet. I am not a dancer by any stretch of the imagination but I just love the world. Everything about it to me is just magical. I love dancing and music. Classical music is so soothing to me. Just everything is great to me, so I should have liked this book right? But alas, I didn’t. This book was alright. It was kind of annoying, to be honest.
The main character was just a mess. Delphine was so selfish and horrible. Lindsay and Margaux, her best friends, were equally terrible. It felt like they didn’t like each other at all. Even when the chapters were of them at school, they still acted like they secretly didn’t like each other. Reminds me of my high school time. I had friends that I’m pretty sure didn’t like me. They often ruined a lot of relationships for me. I almost got beat up once because someone thought I was my friend. Needless to say, I am not friends with them anymore.
This book has been compared to the Black Swan, a movie. Well, at least that’s what I saw on the Goodreads page. That movie was way more grittier and intense than this book. I recommend you all watch that movie. I personally think it’s Mila Kunis’ best performance. Anyway. Sure, there was some tension involving a secret. But honestly, the secret wasn’t even that horrible. It was awful, sure, but not as bad as they made it seem. Once the secret was revealed, the plot kind of lost its way.
Overall, this book was okay. One of the positive things, that I forgot to mention in my annoyance with the main characters, that it had going for it was it certainly is a feminist book. There was an awesome message about how women need to fight back and not put up with men’s crap. Other than that, it was okay. They talked a lot about different music, dances, and performances. I didn’t really know what most of them were. So that was annoying. Overall, just a mediocre book at best.
slow-paced
As a millenial, I have to admit I loved Center Stage. And Save The Last Dance. And Step Up. And Black Swan. It seems we could not get enough of those dance-centered teen rom-coms, so when I came across The Ballerinas, it struck me as a little nostalgia-meet-psychological thriller and I knew I wanted to read it. Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader’s copy!
The Ballerinas is told from the main character Delphine’s point of view, flipping back and forth from present-day 2018 to her past at the Paris Opera Ballet (POB) starting in 1995. Delphine considered herself a musketeer of a sort with her two best friends, Margeaux and Lindsay, but after causing a tragic incident, Delphine runs off to St. Petersburg to choreograph ballets for her new boyfriend. When Delphine finally returns to Paris in 2018, she is forced to face her past and the aftermath of her decisions.
I had some mixed feelings about this book. For starters, it was a bit slow and I never really got into it. It was promoted as a psychological thriller and there was a ton of foreshadowing in the first half of the book about what the “tragic incident” was, but when I finally found out what happened, it was anti-climatic.
All three of the girls were self-absorbed and selfish, making them difficult to relate to or even feel bad for. While I didn’t necessarily love this novel, I do think it addressed some really important, serious situations and themes of female empowerment, sexual harassment and assault, and even motherhood and family. These topics were what kept me engaged in the end and I love that these conversations are becoming so much more open and prominent.
The Ballerinas is told from the main character Delphine’s point of view, flipping back and forth from present-day 2018 to her past at the Paris Opera Ballet (POB) starting in 1995. Delphine considered herself a musketeer of a sort with her two best friends, Margeaux and Lindsay, but after causing a tragic incident, Delphine runs off to St. Petersburg to choreograph ballets for her new boyfriend. When Delphine finally returns to Paris in 2018, she is forced to face her past and the aftermath of her decisions.
I had some mixed feelings about this book. For starters, it was a bit slow and I never really got into it. It was promoted as a psychological thriller and there was a ton of foreshadowing in the first half of the book about what the “tragic incident” was, but when I finally found out what happened, it was anti-climatic.
All three of the girls were self-absorbed and selfish, making them difficult to relate to or even feel bad for. While I didn’t necessarily love this novel, I do think it addressed some really important, serious situations and themes of female empowerment, sexual harassment and assault, and even motherhood and family. These topics were what kept me engaged in the end and I love that these conversations are becoming so much more open and prominent.
Wasn't sure where this was going for the first 60% of the book...not entirely sure I like where it ended up. When the big secret was finally revealed, I was disappointed and the ending was just a bit absurd
dark
emotional
reflective
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
The Ballerinas is a story of complicated female friendship. Delphine, Margaux and Lindsay met as young dance students at the highly competitive Paris Opera Ballet. Now they are in their mid-30s, and after more than a decade away, Delphine is returning as a choreographer and hopes to resume the closeness the three once shared. But given that two of them are hiding a major secret involving the other, and that times have changed, will that even be possible?
There was real depth and breadth to the storytelling which I enjoyed. The exploration of sexism and misogyny in the world of ballet felt spot on; the me too storyline all too plausible. The book also took an in-depth look at some issues specific to the world of ballet, particularly the constant critiquing of women’s bodies - what they look like and what they can do, the fetishisation of the image of the graceful and elegant perfect ballerina vs the hard physical reality of the job, as well as issues relating to the fact that choreographers and ballet masters are mainly men.This is not a book in which the male characters came off well. They all seemed to want to control women’s bodies and or limit their career opportunities. The female characters aren’t wholly likeable, either. All three were flawed, made questionable decisions, and let ambition get the better off the them at times. Delphine was particularly self-absorbed and lacking in awareness of the possible needs of others.
I thought the then and now storylines worked effectively to explore the friendship between the three, how it began and the challenges it faced. Specifically, the very insular pressure-cooker nature of ballet made it hard to make and maintain friendships outside the company, and yet ballet is intensely competitive and cut-throat. Is it possible to maintain a friendship when you are competing against your friends, vying for plum roles and key promotions?
I thought some of the social messaging was overly heavy handed and had mixed feelings about the ending, but overall enjoyed the time I spent with this book.
There was real depth and breadth to the storytelling which I enjoyed. The exploration of sexism and misogyny in the world of ballet felt spot on; the me too storyline all too plausible. The book also took an in-depth look at some issues specific to the world of ballet, particularly the constant critiquing of women’s bodies - what they look like and what they can do, the fetishisation of the image of the graceful and elegant perfect ballerina vs the hard physical reality of the job, as well as issues relating to the fact that choreographers and ballet masters are mainly men.This is not a book in which the male characters came off well. They all seemed to want to control women’s bodies and or limit their career opportunities. The female characters aren’t wholly likeable, either. All three were flawed, made questionable decisions, and let ambition get the better off the them at times. Delphine was particularly self-absorbed and lacking in awareness of the possible needs of others.
I thought the then and now storylines worked effectively to explore the friendship between the three, how it began and the challenges it faced. Specifically, the very insular pressure-cooker nature of ballet made it hard to make and maintain friendships outside the company, and yet ballet is intensely competitive and cut-throat. Is it possible to maintain a friendship when you are competing against your friends, vying for plum roles and key promotions?
I thought some of the social messaging was overly heavy handed and had mixed feelings about the ending, but overall enjoyed the time I spent with this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship