Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

7 reviews

bookwormsandcoffeestains's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcoholism

Minor: Death of parent, Addiction, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Abortion, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Grief, Infertility, and Abandonment

Additional TW: revenge porn

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-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

4.0

 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.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Cancer, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship

our_bookish_reads's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

I disliked this book so much!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Cancer, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

mondovertigo's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Medical content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Death of parent

Moderate: Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Grief, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Sexual violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

lilacsandliterature's review

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

megaden's review

dark emotional tense 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

4.0

From Center Stage and Dance Academy to the darker Black Swan and Flesh and Bone, I’ve always been obsessed with the world of ballet. In The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale, Delphine returns to Paris to choreograph her own ballet after years of living in Russia. There she reconnects with friends from her teen years and the guy who got away. The story takes place during two time periods telling what’s going on now and also following the girls during their last year’s at their prestigious academy. There is plenty of foreshadowing of “something” the girls did in the past and I was a bit let down when the reveal happened, but I do love a twist. 

This book was a lot darker than I was expecting and ended up being about female friendships and how often women are forced to conform to men’s expectations. Every single character in this book was a horrible person and I loved all of them. I’d recommend this book to people who liked Trust Exercise or My Dark Vanessa.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

nini23's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Why is it that trauma is written so easily on women's bodies? It's so readable if you know how to look.

This book purports to write about women, and specifically ballerinas, how their bodies are contorted physically and metaphorically to fit pleasing aesthetics.  However, it becomes very clear that this is a story about white women, since as Delphine the narrator states matter-a-factly there are less than a handful of racialized ballerinas at this exalted Paris ballet company.  There are still more offhand remarks that the colour of the ballet shoes don't complement darker skin colours, another shrug.  When Delphine as a ballet choreographer is asked to devise a contemporary feminist piece or one with more racial diversity, she claims she can only do one or the other. While the fury over patriarchy, male gaze and sexual predation is clear from the text, so is the indifference toward the lack of opportunities in this rarified field to POC women. Their stories and struggles don't even warrant a mention.  If white young women are getting groomed and preyed on, then how much worse would it be for a young POC woman trying to get a foothold in an almost all white field? How much abuse are they silently taking? Feminism is not feminism unless it includes all women.

And can we have a true bona fide childfree woman in a story for once? 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, and Abortion

Minor: Miscarriage