What a phenomenal book. I absolutely loved it. Rose goes to the performing arts high school in Manhattan. Making this decision seperated her from her best friend Daisy (who wasn't really a good friend) and made her feel like having friends was too hard. So she has closed herself off, until the day two girls at school reach out to her and her next door neighbor comes in through her window. The book chronicles Yrena and Rose's night in the city. But it's sooo much more then that. The book takes place during the Cold War and Yrena is from the Soviet Union. It really brings home how people are the same and yet so different. Both girls are ballerina's, the same age and living in the same city, yet they approach things with completely different attittude and points of view. There is a lot of great symbolism here and it's a book that has a story that will really make you think. The characters are interesting and with the current political state of the world I think teens today could really relate to this book. ( )

What a phenomenal book. I absolutely loved it. Rose goes to the performing arts high school in Manhattan. Making this decision seperated her from her best friend Daisy (who wasn't really a good friend) and made her feel like having friends was too hard. So she has closed herself off, until the day two girls at school reach out to her and her next door neighbor comes in through her window. The book chronicles Yrena and Rose's night in the city. But it's sooo much more then that. The book takes place during the Cold War and Yrena is from the Soviet Union. It really brings home how people are the same and yet so different. Both girls are ballerina's, the same age and living in the same city, yet they approach things with completely different attittude and points of view. There is a lot of great symbolism here and it's a book that has a story that will really make you think. The characters are interesting and with the current political state of the world I think teens today could really relate to this book. ( )

What a phenomenal book. I absolutely loved it. Rose goes to the performing arts high school in Manhattan. Making this decision seperated her from her best friend Daisy (who wasn't really a good friend) and made her feel like having friends was too hard. So she has closed herself off, until the day two girls at school reach out to her and her next door neighbor comes in through her window. The book chronicles Yrena and Rose's night in the city. But it's sooo much more then that. The book takes place during the Cold War and Yrena is from the Soviet Union. It really brings home how people are the same and yet so different. Both girls are ballerina's, the same age and living in the same city, yet they approach things with completely different attittude and points of view. There is a lot of great symbolism here and it's a book that has a story that will really make you think. The characters are interesting and with the current political state of the world I think teens today could really relate to this book. ( )

What a phenomenal book. I absolutely loved it. Rose goes to the performing arts high school in Manhattan. Making this decision seperated her from her best friend Daisy (who wasn't really a good friend) and made her feel like having friends was too hard. So she has closed herself off, until the day two girls at school reach out to her and her next door neighbor comes in through her window. The book chronicles Yrena and Rose's night in the city. But it's sooo much more then that. The book takes place during the Cold War and Yrena is from the Soviet Union. It really brings home how people are the same and yet so different. Both girls are ballerina's, the same age and living in the same city, yet they approach things with completely different attittude and points of view. There is a lot of great symbolism here and it's a book that has a story that will really make you think. The characters are interesting and with the current political state of the world I think teens today could really relate to this book. ( )

I like Castellucci's style. Her writing is succinct, no frills yet full of character and depth. Super quick read but she still manages to paint a realistic Cold War New York in such short work. She also makes artsy, emo type teens real and not obnoxious. I appreciate that she never writes in tropes and is incredibly original. ( )