The story follows Stephanie Lang and Christine Avery, two dancers who become best friends as they encounter grueling workouts and the wild personalities of dance instructors. Actually, pretty much everyone in the ballet world has a larger-than-life personality. The story is full of over-the-top twists as each character pursues his or her goal with single-minded dedication. With a company director obsessed with casting two dancers for one role, without revealing which one is the understudy, it’s easy to get caught up in the dramatic twists of daily life in the ballet company.

Read the rest (No spoilers you can't find on the back cover) here ( )

READ IN ENGLISH

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

I received a free copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.



One of my guilty pleasures is an Australian youth series about a ballet school called 'Dance Academy'. Reading Ballerina brought back all the feels. I know it's promoted as 'the book before there was Black Swan' but I personally think they should have used that card a bit earlier, because the film came out quite some time ago.

I've read in some reviews this is a typical 70's book, with all the themes that are - apparently - present in these books. I don't know if it's right, I haven't read enough 70's books to be able to really say something about it. Ballerina was first published in 1978 but one of the things I found to be most striking when reading it was that it doesn't feel like reading something that's almost 40 years old. OK, they don't use mobile phones and there's a lot of talk about Sovjet Russia, but it never bothered me.



I enjoyed reading it, 450 pages didn't seem too much, and I really liked the story. It may not be the most original story, but it's a very nice read nevertheless. Near the ending I believed the story was getting a bit too dramatical, but it didn't ruin the story for me. I would recommend this as an easy read. ( )

Stephanie and Christine share a dream, to become ballet dancers. After meeting at an audition for a prestigious school, they become fast friends. While Stephanie's mom is overbearing, Christine's parents are distant and uninterested in her career choice. After finishing ballet school, they are accepted into different ballet companies but eventually Stephanie joins the more prestigious company that Christine belongs too.

Overall, this was a very interesting and engaging book. The changing dynamics between Stephanie and Christine were interesting to watch throughout time and conflict. I do think the book was a bit too long, at places it seemed to move slowly, which could have been fixed with more critical editing. Overall, well recommended. ( )

I discovered this book over twenty years ago in the public library. I was in 7th or 8th grade and I had a voracious appetite for reading and had already read through several Stephen Kings, all of the available Christopher Pikes, most of the R.L. Stines... well, you can see the type of book I was reading back then. But I was looking for something different.. something I could really get lost in. I found this hard-cover, largely nondescript book somewhere on one of the back walls. I was with my best friend who was newly obsessed with the Clan of the Cave Bear series, which I couldn't get into. I started reading this and never looked back. I often think of it as the first non-horror book I really enjoyed.

Fast forward about 18 years and I'm feeling particularly nostalgic. I am certain that somewhere in the back of my head the title of "that one book that was SO good" was Ballerina. I start in on Google, amazon, goodreads, biblio, etc. I really searched. I could not find it. Until I thought... you know, maybe it IS that out-of-print one by Edward Stewart. I ordered two copies - just in case.

How pleased I was when it not only WAS that book, but that upon reading it again as a lawyer in her early thirties, I discovered that it was JUST AS GOOD. Such a well done novel that simultaneously makes the ballerina world look enrapturing, exciting, and devastating. It delves into the pain, the politics, the pressure. And it also brings the reader with it into the highs, the accomplishments, the glory.

I highly recommend this book. ( )

This is one of those books that's supposed to be a crappy, popular fiction, not-much-better-than-a-Danielle-Steel kind of book, but actually manages to be very satisfying and good. Stewart delves into the world of New York City ballet from the view of two young girls who audition for a large dance company and ultimately become professional ballerinas. Along with a riveting plot line, the author manages to create a certain melancholic aura that pervades the entire novel. He shows that while the world of ballet can be glamorous and addictive, it can also be filled with disappointment, resentment and pain. ( )