Gnawing Suspicion
The world of ballet is an ephemeral one. It exists solely in the moment that a dancer flies over the stage. It can be caught on film but it’s meant to be watched not read or listened to because nothing captures its sublime beauty as vision does.
But the author does her level best to bring us into that world. It’s not what’s on the stage that is expressed but the tension that occurs off it. Girls and boys are evaluated, judged, dismissed and critiqued with grinding, soul-crushing harshness. They must achieve perfection, which is impossible, and live up to the ever-changing standards set by the latest star of the stage.
Laurence Mesny’s rabid hunger to succeed as a prima ballerina is driven home from the very first page. Like a stake to the heart, we the reader are drenched in blood and pain as Laurence makes a desperate deal with demonic forces for power. With power, she can’t be denied. With power, she’ll be unstoppable. With power, she’ll sweep all before her…until she’s swept under herself.
It’s a terrifying start to the novel and the fairly bloodless pages that succeed it don’t release us from that horror. Ballet is a grueling profession and it is littered with bitter former danseurs who didn’t quite make it. Laurence is determined not to be one of them but she knows her excellent marks as the top of her class aren’t the only factors that will decide her fate. Laurence is the only black face in a sea of pristine monied white girls and they are quick to remind her when she speaks out of turn. From the very beginning, she knew that her blackness would be an enormous hurdle across which she must leap.
This is lip-biting, teeth-gritting, edgy prose. Ms. Shea warns that there will be triggering subject matter in this book. I can’t wait.
But the author does her level best to bring us into that world. It’s not what’s on the stage that is expressed but the tension that occurs off it. Girls and boys are evaluated, judged, dismissed and critiqued with grinding, soul-crushing harshness. They must achieve perfection, which is impossible, and live up to the ever-changing standards set by the latest star of the stage.
Laurence Mesny’s rabid hunger to succeed as a prima ballerina is driven home from the very first page. Like a stake to the heart, we the reader are drenched in blood and pain as Laurence makes a desperate deal with demonic forces for power. With power, she can’t be denied. With power, she’ll be unstoppable. With power, she’ll sweep all before her…until she’s swept under herself.
It’s a terrifying start to the novel and the fairly bloodless pages that succeed it don’t release us from that horror. Ballet is a grueling profession and it is littered with bitter former danseurs who didn’t quite make it. Laurence is determined not to be one of them but she knows her excellent marks as the top of her class aren’t the only factors that will decide her fate. Laurence is the only black face in a sea of pristine monied white girls and they are quick to remind her when she speaks out of turn. From the very beginning, she knew that her blackness would be an enormous hurdle across which she must leap.
This is lip-biting, teeth-gritting, edgy prose. Ms. Shea warns that there will be triggering subject matter in this book. I can’t wait.