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pennyzizzle's review
5.0
What a beautiful book! The fragmented nature of illness combined with essays about dance and writing works to create a stunning collection. The braid of those 3 topics carries throughout each essay in subtle and complex ways. I enjoyed each essay more than the next.
keeganrb's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Chronic illness
bookdragon217's review
When I had the opportunity to read Fierce and Delicate: Essays on Dance and Illness by Renee K. Nicholson I was really excited because of my own ballet/dance background and my curiosity about what happens after dance life. I wanted to connect with a huge part of my past before all these injuries and I wanted to learn a little bit more about chronic illness from a dancer's perspective.
I appreciated the raw honesty of this one. The first half really talks about the dark side of dance and exposes the dangers of pedophilia, grooming, and disordered eating. The second half goes into how rheumatoid arthritis forced her to stop. The author does a good job of giving you the details of events and how her illness progressed.
However, I really wanted to love this one but I struggled to stay connected to her story. The author talked about really dark events but never connected emotionally. It is written as if the author is an outsider looking in and she intends the reader to stay exterior as well. There is no emotional connection to the events which it makes it difficult to become invested in her story. The writing feels more like reporting than personal essays. It just didn't dig deep enough for any emotion to come through. It does give you an understanding of the dance world and how tough dancers have to be mentally and physically but that is about all that it gives.
Thanks to @booksforwardpr for the gifted copy.
I appreciated the raw honesty of this one. The first half really talks about the dark side of dance and exposes the dangers of pedophilia, grooming, and disordered eating. The second half goes into how rheumatoid arthritis forced her to stop. The author does a good job of giving you the details of events and how her illness progressed.
However, I really wanted to love this one but I struggled to stay connected to her story. The author talked about really dark events but never connected emotionally. It is written as if the author is an outsider looking in and she intends the reader to stay exterior as well. There is no emotional connection to the events which it makes it difficult to become invested in her story. The writing feels more like reporting than personal essays. It just didn't dig deep enough for any emotion to come through. It does give you an understanding of the dance world and how tough dancers have to be mentally and physically but that is about all that it gives.
Thanks to @booksforwardpr for the gifted copy.
readingwithsammi's review
2.0
This book is about Renee's journey from being a baby ballerina to a professional to giving it all up because her RA then finding herself in other ways.
The description promises a bit more drama glamour and emphasis on the ballerina phase but in reality much of it is focused on the post-ballet days - finding her new niche. This was a quick read and I always love ballet stories - I understand how strong ballerinas are and how hard the battle to become a professional is. The essays felt a little bit forced, like the writer wanted to create drama and emphasis where it didn't need to be..it felt like she was trying a bit too hard.
I do appreciate her journey and all that she has accomplished, this series of essays just felt a tad flat for me.
Dance, illness, theater, writing, non-fiction, essays.
* I received an arc in exchange for an honest review*
The description promises a bit more drama glamour and emphasis on the ballerina phase but in reality much of it is focused on the post-ballet days - finding her new niche. This was a quick read and I always love ballet stories - I understand how strong ballerinas are and how hard the battle to become a professional is. The essays felt a little bit forced, like the writer wanted to create drama and emphasis where it didn't need to be..it felt like she was trying a bit too hard.
I do appreciate her journey and all that she has accomplished, this series of essays just felt a tad flat for me.
Dance, illness, theater, writing, non-fiction, essays.
* I received an arc in exchange for an honest review*
my_forest_library's review
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I'll start by saying that the moment I heard this book was coming out, I knew I had to read it. I, myself, was a ballet student when I was young, and the experience shaped my whole life, even though I had to quit at a young age. I still have pretty much the entire Nutcracker Ballet memorized. When I was in ballet it was my whole world. Like the author of this memoir, I had to leave ballet (and gymnastics, which I also loved) due to my progressing chronic illness, though in my case my illness was life-long and I had to quit while I was still a kid.
Reading the early chapters on Nicholson's early experiences in ballet felt like someone writing about my own life. And then reading about her early struggles with learning that she had arthritis and trying to cope with it... well, my experience was a little different because I always knew I was sick, but it was still extremely identifiable to me.
In later chapters she discusses her experiences in academia, as a dance teacher and as a writer. Once again, I can identify. I don't know enough about dance to teach it, but I have worked in academia most of my adult life.
Basically, I feel that I have such a close personal connection to the experiences shared in this book that it is impossible for me to look at the book objectively like some other reviewers have done. And that's okay because I feel like I might be the one person in the world for whom this book was written.
So if you, too, have personal experiences with ballet or with quitting your passion due to disability, this book may be just right for you. I enjoyed it and found it very readable, though as I said, I was eager to read it because it felt almost like I was reading my own life story.
I'll start by saying that the moment I heard this book was coming out, I knew I had to read it. I, myself, was a ballet student when I was young, and the experience shaped my whole life, even though I had to quit at a young age. I still have pretty much the entire Nutcracker Ballet memorized. When I was in ballet it was my whole world. Like the author of this memoir, I had to leave ballet (and gymnastics, which I also loved) due to my progressing chronic illness, though in my case my illness was life-long and I had to quit while I was still a kid.
Reading the early chapters on Nicholson's early experiences in ballet felt like someone writing about my own life. And then reading about her early struggles with learning that she had arthritis and trying to cope with it... well, my experience was a little different because I always knew I was sick, but it was still extremely identifiable to me.
In later chapters she discusses her experiences in academia, as a dance teacher and as a writer. Once again, I can identify. I don't know enough about dance to teach it, but I have worked in academia most of my adult life.
Basically, I feel that I have such a close personal connection to the experiences shared in this book that it is impossible for me to look at the book objectively like some other reviewers have done. And that's okay because I feel like I might be the one person in the world for whom this book was written.
So if you, too, have personal experiences with ballet or with quitting your passion due to disability, this book may be just right for you. I enjoyed it and found it very readable, though as I said, I was eager to read it because it felt almost like I was reading my own life story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, and Medical content
Minor: Eating disorder and Racial slurs
There is a point in the book where the author is describing a trip she took to Russia, and she uses a common slur that describes Romani people.joceraptor's review
reflective
3.0
Fierce and Delicate is Nicholson's memoir meditating on her life as a dancer and as someone whose early rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis cut short her plans to dance professionally. The biggest issue I had with Fierce and Delicate is that it often felt like Nicholson skirted away from making meaningful connections. There was a shallowness to both the essays individually and the collection as a whole that left me wanting. Also, in the earliest chapters detailing her younger life, mentions of pedophilia/grooming and disordered eating were so casually cast that they bordered on not taking such issues seriously. Overall, I felt that more engagement in the text was necessary for this to be a truly standout memoir.
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