A review by addicted2booksstefania
The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale

4.0

Between 3-4 stars | The Ballerinas was an impulse buy last year. I was very intrigued by the cover, the premise, and the relatively good reviews it got. Although a bit slow in the beginning, this book really surprised me! There were elements of dark academia in the Paris Opera, the intense world of ballet, and a very interesting take on friendship. While I enjoyed the twist, the back and forth chapters, and the descriptions, there were a few things I wasn’t a fan of. The book is set from the perspective of a 36 year old woman. In a previous review of Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri, I pointed out that my least favourite narrators are the self-identified “old” women (although I really don’t believe 36 is old) who shit on women who are younger than them and blame others for the way their lives turned out. The narrator was at times insufferable, alongside her other two friends. Aside from this, I liked the overarching theme of love, but it wasn’t a love story, it was a story about how love disappoints us.