Publisher: Harper
Pages: 304
Format: Arc
ISBN-10: 0062326279
ISBN-13: 9780062326270
Publisher: eBook | Hardcover
In the roiling summer of 1977, eleven-year-old Mira is an aspiring ballerina in the romantic, highly competitive world of New York City ballet. Enduring the mess of her parent’s divorce, she finds escape in dance—the rigorous hours of practice, the exquisite beauty, the precision of movement, the obsessive perfectionism. Ballet offers her control, power, and the promise of glory. It also introduces her to forty-seven-year-old Maurice DuPont, a reclusive, charismatic balletomane who becomes her mentor.
Over the course of three years, Mira is accepted into the prestigious School of American Ballet run by the legendary George Balanchine, and eventually becomes one of “Mr. B’s girls”—a dancer of rare talent chosen for greatness. As she ascends higher in the ballet world, her relationship with Maurice intensifies, touching dark places within herself and sparking unexpected desires that will upend both their lives.
In the present day, Kate, a professor of dance at a Midwestern college, embarks on a risky affair with a student that threatens to obliterate her career and capsizes the new life she has painstakingly created for her reinvented self. When she receives a letter from a man she’s long thought dead, Kate is hurled back into the dramas of a past she thought she had left behind.
This review contains spoilers!!
I loved dancing when I was younger. Ballet, modern dance, ballroom dancing I tried it all. Not that I was any good or able to make a career out of it but it has always been an interest. I loved watching people who could really dance. I often visit the theatre to see various performances and I love stories and movies where dance is involved. It was no question for me I wanted to review this book.
Mira her mindset is how I imagine girls with a lot of talent but also the will to make something out of it are. Going all the way to make a dream come true. Loosing contact with the 'real world'.
The book holds two stories. that of Mira as a child and looking back as an adult. She has such a strong personality that it is clear you are reading about the same person in different years. Though the story of Mira as an adult was intriguing I was hoping for the child chapters all the time. These chapters tell the story of the struggle, the hard work and how much is given to be the best. To fully connect to Mira both views are necessary though. Her decisions now are based on what happened when she was younger. I started watching Flesh and Bones around the same time I started reading this book and it was a nice addition to the whole experience.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon