Reviews with content warning for Vomit - The Ballerinas

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The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

5 reviews

temeade's review

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

OMG! This book was amazing! The beginning was a little slow at the start however, there are little sprinkles of things that made me think, "wait what?" that appeared as though they were not going to be brought up again. I loved the details and the alternating timeline of telling the story. Kapelke-Dale kept my curiosity on it's toes through the many twists and turns of Delphine's life choices. Several times my mouth fell agape as I was shocked that not everyone is who they seem to be.

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jillgoober's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book centers around ballerinas in the Paris Opera Ballet throughout their lives - from age 13 to 36. It mainly focuses on Delphine, our narrator, and her two friends Margaux and Lindsay. With a combination of present day scenes and flashbacks, we learn about the harsh world of professional ballet and how it takes its toll on them. This book is very character-driven and focuses on their development as opposed to plot development.

I enjoyed reading this book overall mostly due to the drama behind the curtain, so to speak: who's cheating on who, so and so was injured, she will get cut from the company next season, etc. I found the structure to be a little boring sometimes mostly because I wasn't sure where this story was going. Every time some big secret was vaguely brought up, I thought we would have to wait until the end to hear the details but it was always revealed much sooner. However, I certainly did not see the end coming.

Like I said before, I loved reading about the drama behind the scenes of the ballet company as well as the focus on the competitive aspects and how, at some point, you might age out before achieving star status. I would recommend this to readers who enjoy character-driven stories where the characters are flawed, make many mistakes, and are still working on it by the end.

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rusty_moonshadow's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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thenovelbookshelf's review

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A compelling novel of three ballerinas, friends from youth and ballet school, and their friendship, competitiveness and relationships throughout their dancing life.

This isn't a book about ballerinas, but rather a journey of the hardships dancers go through to be the best they can be and want to be.

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liteartha's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

over a decade since leaving her spot as a soloist with the paris opera ballet and moving to st. petersburg, delphine returns as a choreographer. keen to reconnect with margaux and lindsay — friends with whom she'd ascended the ranks of the ballet school — and right a glaring wrong from the past, delphine begins to discover much has happened in the time she's been away and making things right won't be nearly so simple.

it's been ages since i hesitated quite so much on a rating.

on one hand, the ballerinas tries to handle a lot at once and packs its second half with a great deal of somewhat disparate subjects that don't necessarily come together very smoothly. the pacing is very inconsistent and while i don't generally mind a slow start, this did make the book feel very unbalanced.

on the other hand, there was a lot that i did like. the ballet, for one. the ambition, the artistry, the cost of it all. it's clear a great deal of care and research went into portraying the inner workings of a ballet company. there's also a heavy focus on the complexities of women, their relationships with each other, and patriarchal systems they exist within.

i do have to say that the synopsis of this book feels misleading. despite comparisons to black swan and dare me, i'd very much hesitate to call this book a thriller. at its core, the ballerinas is a meditative character study of a novel, focusing mostly on delphine, the maturing she has yet to do, and the messy relationships with the women in her life.

ultimately, i enjoyed this. it's a strong debut novel and touches on compelling themes. the pacing, side characters, and general focus of the novel could've been improved upon, but i'd still definitely recommend this book and would read more from the author in the future.

thank you to netgalley and st. martin's press for providing this digital review copy in exchange for an honest review

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