You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Not at all what I thought it would be and much more enjoyable for that fact
This book details the lives of Delphine and her friends, Lindsay and Margaux, who studied ballet with her when they were all younger. Delphine left Paris 14 years earlier to move to Russia with her boyfriend/husband Dimitri and has now returned to choreograph a ballet at the Palais Garnier Opera House. She hopes to reconnect with her friends and establish her career in Paris. However, life has continued to move forward and her friends have changed, as has she. Delphine struggles with this as she essentially thinks of her friends in terms of what they were like when she left them.
I was not a fan of this book and struggled to continue with it because I didn’t like any of the characters. I felt like it took forever to get to what the big secret was that was hinted at in the teaser of the story. To be fair, maybe part of my problem with this book was the going from the present day to the past as that is something I don’t like.
I felt the author did a good job in writing about ballet and the struggles to have a career in this field, especially since I know nothing about this area. I appreciated that she made Delphine a little more self-aware towards the end, but still did not like the book.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was not a fan of this book and struggled to continue with it because I didn’t like any of the characters. I felt like it took forever to get to what the big secret was that was hinted at in the teaser of the story. To be fair, maybe part of my problem with this book was the going from the present day to the past as that is something I don’t like.
I felt the author did a good job in writing about ballet and the struggles to have a career in this field, especially since I know nothing about this area. I appreciated that she made Delphine a little more self-aware towards the end, but still did not like the book.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thriller? Where? Boring and very unlikeable characters.
It has its flaws but overall I was quite pleased.
There is a lot of cursing in this book as well as a few Me Too trigger warnings and mentions of unwanted pregnancies and talks of abortion/an abortion that happens flippantly in the book. The spice is more artistic than anything, it's hard to explain but basically take any amateur indie director making a film for their class and that's what it felt like.
Pros:
- the characters are reminiscent of Sally Rooney's writing where while the characters are unlikable, they are very much real people with many flaws and annoyances but also something that makes you want to continue.
- The ballet aspects of the book are very prominent and enjoyable. I do wish it went more into the actual dance moves and not something so general and superficial. She really didn't name many of the positions but just said things like "she lept across the stage and brought her foot behind her head with ease" those moves have names and she could have easily incorporated developpe or jete into the story without causing confusion with directional cues for the reader who isn't familiar with ballet.
Cons:
- The first 60% of the book is very slow and dull. I thought it would be faster paced but it really dragged on and I was very confused since this book was compared to Black Swan and Dare Me by Meghan Abbott. I assumed it would be a thrilling book but in fact it was more along the lines of a gritty, artistic rendition of literary fiction. It took me some time to read the book as I could only give it 30 pages at a time before I wanted to go do something else. I thought it was merely because I'm busy right now but I do think the book was a bit of a bore.
- Every character who sucks REALLY sucks. It was like no one had redeemable qualities and there wasn't anyone who felt like they were even remotely in the right. All the characters were narcissistic and yet they blamed everyone else for being narcissistic. It seemed like even Stella struggled with empathy. Delphine endured massive amounts of trauma from the moment she was conceived and yet Stella expected her to be there for her as her equal and not the 40 year age difference they actually had between them. Delphine constantly said Stella was her only true mother figure and yet Stella wanted Delphine to be her equal and not "her guru".
This book will probably stay with me for a very long time and even still, I can see myself thinking about it in passing many years later. Would I ever read it again though? No, it doesn't seem like something I would reach for. Would I recommend it? Only if you think Sally Rooney is a wonderful author (I do not).
Pros:
- the characters are reminiscent of Sally Rooney's writing where while the characters are unlikable, they are very much real people with many flaws and annoyances but also something that makes you want to continue.
- The ballet aspects of the book are very prominent and enjoyable. I do wish it went more into the actual dance moves and not something so general and superficial. She really didn't name many of the positions but just said things like "she lept across the stage and brought her foot behind her head with ease" those moves have names and she could have easily incorporated developpe or jete into the story without causing confusion with directional cues for the reader who isn't familiar with ballet.
Cons:
- The first 60% of the book is very slow and dull. I thought it would be faster paced but it really dragged on and I was very confused since this book was compared to Black Swan and Dare Me by Meghan Abbott. I assumed it would be a thrilling book but in fact it was more along the lines of a gritty, artistic rendition of literary fiction. It took me some time to read the book as I could only give it 30 pages at a time before I wanted to go do something else. I thought it was merely because I'm busy right now but I do think the book was a bit of a bore.
- Every character who sucks REALLY sucks. It was like no one had redeemable qualities and there wasn't anyone who felt like they were even remotely in the right. All the characters were narcissistic and yet they blamed everyone else for being narcissistic. It seemed like even Stella struggled with empathy. Delphine endured massive amounts of trauma from the moment she was conceived and yet Stella expected her to be there for her as her equal and not the 40 year age difference they actually had between them. Delphine constantly said Stella was her only true mother figure and yet Stella wanted Delphine to be her equal and not "her guru".
This book will probably stay with me for a very long time and even still, I can see myself thinking about it in passing many years later. Would I ever read it again though? No, it doesn't seem like something I would reach for. Would I recommend it? Only if you think Sally Rooney is a wonderful author (I do not).
I really wanted to love this one. It has parts that are interesting, but it's really pretty anti-climatic and the characters are dramatic. It covers a lot of really important topics, but I don't think it's executed very well. I would really give it a 3.5 if I could, but it's not quite a 4.
To be the best in the world, you must sacrifice a lot. Especially in the perfect world of ballerinas, where you need perfect posture, technique, and bodies to succeed. The story follows three young ballerinas through flashbacks between the past and the present to walk us through their stories. The main character, Delphine, has come back as a successful choreographer in Russia to the Paris Ballet, where she used to dance with her best friends Lindsay and Margaux. This story deals with relationships, love, grief, family, and most of all, who you want to be and who others want you to be. I enjoyed this story immensely for its elegant imagery and the way the author does justice to fully fleshing out the characters, their relationships, and letting emotions show through, I was a bit disappointed with how the ending fared - I wanted there to be more justice done with regard to the video scandal, and found the resolution to be a little abrupt, not enough. There didn’t seem to be enough background or foundation for Daniel throughout the story, so the last sections seemed to be very out of character. I know we’re supposed to sympathize with the ballerinas, but there were times where they seemed a little too uncaring. However, I found this story to be interesting due to the fascinating look into the world of ballet, and if you are interested in this kind of novel, I would recommend it. Female friendships are forever, and this story really solidifies that for me.
I received this book via NetGalley. This is an independent review.
Love. Friendship. Betrayal. In the gorgeous setting of Paris, we become intimately connected to three women living in the world of ballet. They dance. They celebrate life, friendship, and milestones. They hide secrets - sometimes from each other. This book is not just about ballet; rather, the ballet provides the backdrop that allows Kapelke-Dale to dig deeply into the complexities of how women navigate life and find their true passions. This book was timely, gritty, surprising, and resonated deeply.
Love. Friendship. Betrayal. In the gorgeous setting of Paris, we become intimately connected to three women living in the world of ballet. They dance. They celebrate life, friendship, and milestones. They hide secrets - sometimes from each other. This book is not just about ballet; rather, the ballet provides the backdrop that allows Kapelke-Dale to dig deeply into the complexities of how women navigate life and find their true passions. This book was timely, gritty, surprising, and resonated deeply.
This took me so long to listen to because there wasn’t much to sink your teeth into - the story was all over the place and I thought it would be more of a thriller. So meh.
medium-paced