First off, I am always a sucker for a ballet story. The Ballerinas totally delivers on that aspect.
The author perfectly captures the agony, stress, and ambitiousness of the entire ballet world. She also does a great job of illustrating the love/hate relationship that ballerinas often have with each other.
You make friends, and you trust them with your secrets. But the competition is fierce, and they will stab you in the back to get ahead. And you will do the same when it comes to getting a promotion.
Where the author lost me a bit was as Delphine tried to find her new path when she returned to Paris.
Midway through, the tone of the novel changed. The second half felt more like a MeToo indictment on the ballet world. I get her point as it is made quite obvious.
But ballet is an art that relies on men being strong and women looking fragile. That’s the beauty of the dance. Part of the illusion is the fragility because the women have to be just as strong as the men.
I suppose that might have been the author’s point. Life imitates art. Delphine, Margaux, and Lindsay all find their inner strengths in spite of being bullied or degraded by men.
But it feels forced in places. Some of it is heavy-handed. The “twist” mentioned in the blurb came out of nowhere. Frankly, it took the story in a direction it didn’t need to go. Especially so, considering how the victim had helped one of the characters earlier in the story.
I would have preferred the women be victorious without the incident. I think both Lindsay and Delphine could have succeeded without the tragedy. And Delphine’s ballet for the two of them would have been the ultimate victory.
Overall, the build-up was slow and everything happened quickly at the end. It almost felt like the author knew it was going long and needed to wrap up. I
But it was still an engrossing read, and I would recommend it. This review is based on a digital copy of the book from St. Martin’s Press.
Check out Bright Burning Stars, another book set in the ballet world.
