Rachel Kapelke-Dale

Dare Me meets Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive in a captivating, voice-driven debut novel about a trio of ballerinas who meet as students at the Paris Opera Ballet School. Thirteen years ago, Delphine abandoned her prestigious soloist spot at the Paris Opera Ballet for a new life in St. Petersburg––taking with her a secret that could upend the lives of her best friends, fellow dancers Lindsay and Margaux. Now 36 years old, Delphine has returned to her former home and to the legendary Palais Garnier Opera House, to choreograph the ballet that will kickstart the next phase of her career––and, she hopes, finally make things right with her former friends. But Delphine quickly discovers that things have changed while she's been away...and some secrets can't stay buried forever. Moving between the trio's adolescent years and the present day, Rachel Kapelke-Dale's The Ballerinas explores the complexities of female friendship, the dark drive towards physical perfection in the name of artistic expression, the double-edged sword of ambition and passion, and the sublimated rage that so many women hold inside––all culminating in a twist you won't see coming, with magnetic characters you won't soon forget.

A Novel

The Ballerinas

Lucía RG

It was slow to start and took a while to get into it. But I loved it. I resonated with the feminist theme at the end. It was the perfect autumn read. 

Brittnee Coffmen

HanaKyle Moranz

This book was better than I thought it would be at first! It was hard for me to get into, and I felt like the shifts in time were hard to follow. I got used to it as I got to know the characters. A lot of action was packed into the second half! Worth a read if you aren't triggered by messed up ballet culture!

Lacy W

Title: The Ballerinas
Author: Rachel Kapelke-Dale
Genre: Adult Contempary 
Format: library hardback book
Series: N/A
Star Rating: 3 stars

tw: assault, underage drug and alcohol abuse, grooming of a minor, infidelity, cancer, disordered eating, alcoholism, murder, abortion, miscarriage, recording without consent, sexual assault of underage women, revenge porn

If there is anything to know about me, I love the world of ballet. I am not a dancer by any stretch of the imagination but I just love the world. Everything about it to me is just magical. I love dancing and music. Classical music is so soothing to me. Just everything is great to me, so I should have liked this book right? But alas, I didn’t. This book was alright. It was kind of annoying, to be honest. 

The main character was just a mess. Delphine was so selfish and horrible. Lindsay and Margaux, her best friends, were equally terrible. It felt like they didn’t like each other at all. Even when the chapters were of them at school, they still acted like they secretly didn’t like each other. Reminds me of my high school time. I had friends that I’m pretty sure didn’t like me. They often ruined a lot of relationships for me. I almost got beat up once because someone thought I was my friend. Needless to say, I am not friends with them anymore.

This book has been compared to the Black Swan, a movie. Well, at least that’s what I saw on the Goodreads page. That movie was way more grittier and intense than this book. I recommend you all watch that movie. I personally think it’s Mila Kunis’ best performance. Anyway. Sure, there was some tension involving a secret. But honestly, the secret wasn’t even that horrible. It was awful, sure, but not as bad as they made it seem. Once the secret was revealed, the plot kind of lost its way.

Overall, this book was okay. One of the positive things, that I forgot to mention in my annoyance with the main characters, that it had going for it was it certainly is a feminist book. There was an awesome message about how women need to fight back and not put up with men’s crap. Other than that, it was okay. They talked a lot about different music, dances, and performances. I didn’t really know what most of them were. So that was annoying. Overall, just a mediocre book at best.

This is a slow-burn, character-driven story of three young dancers growing up in a school run bu the Paris Opera Ballet. It follows Delphine, Margaux, and Lindsey from adolescence into adulthood, told in alternating chapters.

Once the book hit the mid-point, the pace picked up and the plot moved to a climax with a great twist. The novel explores themes of female friendship, marriage, and ambition. I didn’t agree with the characters choices, but I understood the issues they faced.

Cheri McElroy

This is a slow-burn, character-driven story of three young dancers growing up in a school run bu the Paris Opera Ballet. It follows Delphine, Margaux, and Lindsey from adolescence into adulthood, told in alternating chapters.

Once the book hit the mid-point, the pace picked up and the plot moved to a climax with a great twist. The novel explores themes of female friendship, marriage, and ambition. I didn’t agree with the characters choices, but I understood the issues they faced.

Kristen Claiborn

I’ve always been fascinated by dancers, especially ballerinas. They contort their bodies in ways that should seem grotesque, but instead they are viewed as graceful…beautiful…even breathtaking. Every time there is a movie about the world of ballet, I rush to watch it. As a former little girl, I guess a part of me wanted to grow up to be one of those girls on stage wearing a fluffy tutu and being pranced around by a muscular, leotard-clad gentleman. Alas, I never had the money to take those dance lessons as a kid, and I’m far too short to have even been considered. I’m neither beautiful nor breathtaking (unless I fall…which isn’t NOT often) While I did dance, it was never ballet. I’m not wallowing is self-pity over any of this, I found new dreams, but I’m still fascinated. 
	These three girls devoted their entire lives to dance. Starting at a very young age, they worked their bodies to become elite ballerinas in Paris. Like every other dance-based story, there are years and years of jealousy being built, along with muscles in their bodies. Cruelty, selfishness, and narcissism follow, making the friendship these girls have as shallow as a wading pool (or my daughter’s bathtub…poor girl). 
	Half of this book is building up to the big secret, and I got more and more frustrated with the continued referencing of that secret. It seemed like the end of every chapter alluded to said withheld tidbit, over…and over…and over. Then it was divulged, and the air immediately went out of this balloon. THAT was the life-changing secret that was the cloud over their heads all those years? Damn…even I have better secrets (non that involve harm, I admit). 
	I spent most of this book bored, which is unfortunate. I always feel bad when I don’t love a book. Thankfully, there are many who did love this book, so I’m not too worried my one little opinionated review is going make a difference.

Jasmine

“It’s like discovering that all the women you thought were crazy were actually normal, that their actions were a logical response to the conditions of their lives, and oh yeah-now you’re one of them. You’re the kind of woman that men call crazy, too.”

The Ballerinas is a story of women. This is a book about ballet for sure, but more than that, it’s a story of what it is to be female in a male-dominated world. It’s about the need to be perfect; to adhere to the ideas of perfection or what we should or should not do with our bodies. More than that, it’s a story of taking your power back. 

I think it’s important to state that The Ballerinas is not remotely a thriller. There are several reviews where people thought this would be an entirely different book than what it was (I actually went into it thinking the same thing, but loved it more because the story was so much more complex). This is a character-driven story through and through. 

There’s so much more I want to say about this book, but it just wouldn’t do it justice. I’m honestly pretty sure I highlighted at least 1/4 of the story because a lot of this writing is way too relatable. It hits differently than most novels. I don’t think this book will be for everyone, but it’s going to stay with the ones it belongs with for a long while. 
The Ballerinas is undoubtedly a 5 star read for me. 

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this eARC in exchange for an honest review! This was absolutely one of the best books of the year.

McKenzie McWhorter

I listened to this as audiobook and to find out it was only 304 paged was shocking. There was way too much going on in this book, conflict after conflict with no major climax or resolution. I also thought the ending was absurd. It felt so long and drawn out for what the story really was.

Mariane Ferrantino 

Great mystery with interesting female leads and a lot to say about being a woman in today’s society. All wrapped up in tutus.

*Thank you Netgalley for sending me a copy of this. All opinions are entirely my own*

TW: Cancer, death, death of a parent, violence.
Delphine returns to the ballet company she left with a terrible secret, and now she’s back as a choreographer.

I liked that she recuperates the friendships that she lost with Lindsay and Margaux. It was refreshing to read about adults and not highschool 15 year olds. I didn’t know where to stand with Margaux at first, but she’s cool. The parts when they danced were my absolute favourite

This book deals with some heavy topics, which include basically men taking advantage of the women in every possible way, but I am glad it turns out okay for women and not so much for the men. Honestly, they all sucked, fuck them. 

Men are always trying to get us to pick camp, to declare our allegiance, to reveal what kind of woman we are so that they can judge whether we are doing it right. Why can’t they just let us be people?

cossette

trigger warnings for: abortion, abuse, alcoholism, cancer, death (parental death), eating disorder, gore, grief, infidelity, infertility, miscarriage, murder, sexual harassment, revenge porn (of multiple characters, including minors), weight/body image talk

Heather Harrington

I'm a little thrown by this one. The synopsis made it sound like it was going to be some twisted thriller, but it was more of a literary fiction mixed with some women's drama. It's not to say it was bad; it just wasn't necessarily what I was expecting. I did enjoy the setting and the ballet environment, but that was about it. The characters were okay, but not one of them was likable, except maybe Delphine's elderly neighbor. They all had such huge egos and were incredibly selfish. I do think the author nailed how cutthroat this world can be, but it just wasn't for me. The writing style was also slow, and I found myself skim reading some bits to get through it faster. While this does touch upon some darker topics such as body image, sexual assault, and abuse, it was all very surface-level, and I just wanted something more out of it.

Anna Wilson

** spoiler alert **
           Thank you to NetGalley for this earc of The Ballerinas! 

This year, I’ve really been into dance books. I think it’s fascinating to read about dance and it’s complexity. I think the author did really well in the description of dance especially the choreography of the dance that the main character created.

I had some issues with the book, however I think these are personal to me. I felt like there was too many plot points or things going on that the points she was trying to make fell flat. I think the conflict with Jock could have and should have been explored more. It was mentioned but then we didn’t really get a clear resolution. I also felt like the “murder” came out of no where and didn’t really flow with the story.

One thing I really did enjoy was the female friendships. One of my favorite things in books are strong friendships groups. This group of women had a strong relationship, albeit messy (realistically) 

Overall, I think this author has a lot of potential and I look forward to what she comes out with in the future!

The Ballerinas A Novel

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