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A review by saidtheraina
The Turning Pointe by Vanessa L. Torres
4.0
Rosa is sure that she loves to dance. What she isn't sure about is whether she wants to be a professional ballet dancer for her father's dance company.
It doesn't help that Prince Rogers Nelson is rehearsing just upstairs.
It's 1983 Minneapolis, and Torres brings Block E of Hennepin Ave to life. We spend significant chunks of time in Teener's Theatrical, a "costume shop" that defies that definition. I found a pic of the place online which transported me on sight. Moby Dick's bar is a location pivotal to the plot.
I especially appreciated how queer this book was. Rosa's love interest wears makeup and skirts, talks about his gay father, is involved in the local drag scene, and says something to the effect of he "loves who he loves" at one point. I think it's easy for those of us who grew up in the 90s to miss how queer parts of 80s culture really were. Torres includes depictions of the local gay bar, police brutality and harassment of queer people, AIDS (she does use the term AIDS only, and I assume it was an intentional choice to be anachronistic), and more. I imagine that people who lived through it and Prince fans would tell me that queerness is a required theme in a book that shows Prince's impact on a person.
There were times here when I was a little nervous about how Torres depicted Rosa's sister's disability. But ultimately, I think the way that she rounded out that character steered it away from the potential missteps. Curious about what other people think about this.
Part of me wonders if this will be popular with today's teens. Do pandemic-era teens care about ballet? Do they know who Prince is? He died six years ago, as I write this, which is a long time ago both during the pandemic era and to a teenager in general.
Wrote a booktalk though, and next time I go to a high school, I'll see if it takes.
This was written by a friend of a friend who lives in my town, so I was pleased to get to review it for my work-related reviewing gig. If I'm not mistaken, a character's last name is a nod to Oly's local ballet school.
It doesn't help that Prince Rogers Nelson is rehearsing just upstairs.
It's 1983 Minneapolis, and Torres brings Block E of Hennepin Ave to life. We spend significant chunks of time in Teener's Theatrical, a "costume shop" that defies that definition. I found a pic of the place online which transported me on sight. Moby Dick's bar is a location pivotal to the plot.
I especially appreciated how queer this book was. Rosa's love interest wears makeup and skirts, talks about his gay father, is involved in the local drag scene, and says something to the effect of he "loves who he loves" at one point. I think it's easy for those of us who grew up in the 90s to miss how queer parts of 80s culture really were. Torres includes depictions of the local gay bar, police brutality and harassment of queer people, AIDS (she does use the term AIDS only, and I assume it was an intentional choice to be anachronistic), and more. I imagine that people who lived through it and Prince fans would tell me that queerness is a required theme in a book that shows Prince's impact on a person.
There were times here when I was a little nervous about how Torres depicted Rosa's sister's disability. But ultimately, I think the way that she rounded out that character steered it away from the potential missteps. Curious about what other people think about this.
Part of me wonders if this will be popular with today's teens. Do pandemic-era teens care about ballet? Do they know who Prince is? He died six years ago, as I write this, which is a long time ago both during the pandemic era and to a teenager in general.
Wrote a booktalk though, and next time I go to a high school, I'll see if it takes.
This was written by a friend of a friend who lives in my town, so I was pleased to get to review it for my work-related reviewing gig. If I'm not mistaken, a character's last name is a nod to Oly's local ballet school.