Books: Bunheads

[pointedancer]

There is a new book out! It's titled Bunheads and it by Sophia Flack a former NYCB corps member. It's pretty good too! There is just a little bad language, but no more then most teen books out there.

[RussianBallerina]

Where can you get the book from?

[10000Lakes]

You can get it from Amazon. Use the link at the bottom of this page to search for it.

[PSB Ballerina]

You can also get it from barnes and noble

[ascballerina]

Or from Chapters for the Canadians. Amazon.ca has it, too. I think I read somewhere on here that if you click on the Amazon link from here, and then go to your country's Amazon site, BalletTalk still gets credit.

[123dancinggirl]

i read this book.! pretty interesting but the narrative seems to have some bitterness...

[pointedancer]

I found that too... It made me wonder.

Edited November 25, 2011 by pointedancer

[Victoria Leigh]

Asc, that is true, and thank you for providing that info! When our readers and members order things through Amazon, we get a little kidckback, which helps us pay for the site. It also means less money that we need from our members each year when we do our fundraiser!!!

[PSB Ballerina]

ohhh okay

[ascballerina]

Ms Leigh, I think you may have confused PSB and me again...if I'm wrong about that, I apologise.

[Victoria Leigh]

Nope, you were right, I did it again. You two are both posting a lot right now, and sometimes on the same topics, which is fine. But for some reason I keep thinking its the wrong one. I will try to be more sure of who I am responding to next time.

[PSB Ballerina]

Thats fine!

[ascballerina]

I finally got my hands on this book. Honestly, I have to say, it didn't impress me much... I'd like to post the book review I had to write on it, but I just want to check if that's ok first? (it's not very long)

[Clara 76]

Yes! Please!

[ascballerina]

Thanks, Clara! I'm warning you...it's a bit harsh; I have no patience for bad writing.

 

 

Bunheads is the first book written by a former ballet dancer, Sophie Flack. It seemed intriguing when I first pulled it off the shelf--but then failed to be so.

 

Like so many other stories about ballet dancers in a company, this story follows a moderately good/great potential dancer called Hannah Ward, who is in the corps. Of course, all the members of the corps are just strange: creative diets, dysfunctional families, ridiculous workout regimes, the whole kit and caboodle. Weight is also a factor; Hannah is told to loose some--now. Then Hannah meets a non-dancer who goes to NYU, and begins to see the life she doesn't seem to have. She begins dating him on and off, and finally makes a decision about whether to stay in the company or begin a "normal" life.

 

The characters were flat, and the fact that this story is told in the present tense didn't help much. I quickly ceased to care for Hannah, and instead ended up liking one of the older corps dancers, who's actually quite well-adjusted and the most real of them, despite her yoga obsession, best instead. The ending was very predictable, too. The status of this book is not recommended.