Scan barcode
A review by foraging_pages
Tiny Pretty Things by Dhonielle Clayton, Sona Charaipotra
3.0
3.5 Stars!
(TW: eating disorders, mental abuse, mild violence)
Tiny Pretty Things is set in a New York City ballet school and told through multiple perspectives which I enjoyed. Gigi, June, and Bette are very different people, and it shows in their respective chapters. Sometimes I would go into a chapter thinking it was about one girl only for it to be another. I had to backup and redirect the tone from malicious or sweet or indifferent which normally goes hand-in-hand with whichever girl.
The professional ballet world is harsh, competitive, and sometimes unfair. Charaipotra and Clayton really dramatize the realities. The things the ballerinas do to each other, the favors the parents buy, the inappropriate relations between teacher and student, and the limits the dancers are pushed to are extreme and immoral.
At some points, I felt that the relationships were...strange? Both the romantic and platonic - and the ones hovering in between. The teenagers are used to acting professional and growing up quickly. Their relationships are stuck between the pettiness and ignorance of childhood and the discipline and hindsight of adulthood. It’s rough.
(TW: eating disorders, mental abuse, mild violence)
Tiny Pretty Things is set in a New York City ballet school and told through multiple perspectives which I enjoyed. Gigi, June, and Bette are very different people, and it shows in their respective chapters. Sometimes I would go into a chapter thinking it was about one girl only for it to be another. I had to backup and redirect the tone from malicious or sweet or indifferent which normally goes hand-in-hand with whichever girl.
The professional ballet world is harsh, competitive, and sometimes unfair. Charaipotra and Clayton really dramatize the realities. The things the ballerinas do to each other, the favors the parents buy, the inappropriate relations between teacher and student, and the limits the dancers are pushed to are extreme and immoral.
At some points, I felt that the relationships were...strange? Both the romantic and platonic - and the ones hovering in between. The teenagers are used to acting professional and growing up quickly. Their relationships are stuck between the pettiness and ignorance of childhood and the discipline and hindsight of adulthood. It’s rough.