Monday, June 9, 2014

Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead

I don't like ballet. And if you don't either and also don't mind the technical jargon of ornate steps and the way the body moves as described even if you have no idea what it means it you probably will still like the book. Maggie Shipstead has written a book about the complications of love and relationships with the art of ballet as the background. It jumps from the 80's to the 70's back to the 80's and then back and then to the 90's. It's not confusing and bit by bit we see what happens to our characters as time goes by. Joan is a ballet dancer and her roommate Elaine is too. They are dancing in company where a famous Russian dude Arslan Rusakov is the star. He has defected from Russia and who helps him escape is Joan. She is in love with him but he moves from dancer to dancer muse to muse. So she goes to her childhood friend Jacob who is in love with her and starts a life with him. She gets pregnant and has a family teaching ballet and the son, Harry grows up into dancing as well. We see Harry and his childhood friend and fellow ballet dancer Chloe bounce back and forth and learn some other family secrets. It's an engaging book but admittedly I set it aside for others in the middle so I can't say I was glued to it or anything. This books asked me to see why we fall in love or think we do. Is it out of proximity, just because you're around the person a lot that we fall in love or is it just beauty or for something the other person does that you fall in love with him or her? is it their fame? I think Joan was mixed up. She was in love with Arslan and he was with her but they chose other lives..or maybe were called to live differently. It also points out how your choices effect other people. I enjoyed Seating Arrangements more but am glad I read this. Definitely have a little more appreciation for the dance and maybe will finally watch the Nutcracker (the ballet shows up a few times during the book)

No comments:

Post a Comment