Review: "Bunheads" by Sophie Flack

When I was in third grade, my teacher, pretty, willowy Mrs. Eaton, would say,

'Dance each step as if it were your last.' ... It was another ten years before I

understood what Mrs. Eaton had been saying. What she meant was:

 Time is precious.  And it speeds up.

Nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward is a dancer with the prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company. Her world consists solely of hours of intense rehearsals, soaring performances in front of crowds both critical and awe-struck, and backstage friendships that are by turns fiercely protective and fiercely competitive. But when Hannah meets Jacob, an endearing college student and aspiring musician, she begins to realize that there are new and exciting possibilities outside of ballet. As Hannah struggles to build a relationship with Jacob and advance out of the corps, she must reevaluate what she wants most out of life.

I am not a dancer, but I have a deep and abiding adoration for movies and books that revolve around the world of dance. This book was no exception. I loved Bunheads. I loved how real Hannah and her world felt. Flack's obvious knowledge of the ballet community shines through beautifully and gives Bunheads that extra oomph other dance books lack. Flack isn’t afraid to move past the glitzy, perfect exterior and expose the gritty, harsh reality of ballet. I was afraid the use of the technical terms would detract from my ability, as a non-dancer, to enjoy the book but, fortunately, the opposite was true. The ballet jargon felt real and natural, and didn’t hamper my understanding in the slightest. I may not have known what specific move Hannah was doing, but the novel would have felt unrealistic if everything was written in layman’s terms.

What I most appreciated in this novel was how Hannah's struggle to decide her future is universal. Everyone goes through this struggle at least once in life, sometimes revisiting decisions later on. It doesn't matter if you are a dancer or not, because the emotions and the upheaval and the stress are the same in every situation. Hannah's struggle was familiar to me and the turmoil she experienced resonated with thoughts and feeling I have had. As a consequence, I empathized with her, could relate to her life, and appreciated the book more for its universal themes.

More than just a simple dance book, Bunheads is a multi-layered story about loving something so much, devoting your entire life to that one thing, and then realizing that there might be something even better waiting in the wings.

Book Source: My local library
Reviewer: Kimberly

Recommended Ages: 14+ for mild language, underage drinking, mild discussion of eating disorders

Recommended to Readers of:

Review: 'Right Behind You' by Gail Giles

“On the afternoon of his seventh birthday, I set Bobby Clarke on fire.  I was nine.”

These are the first lines of a journal that chronicles Kip McFarland’s journey from normal little boy, to incarcerated youth, to star swimmer and, ultimately, to the young man he will become.  In one horrible instant Kip’s life changes into a nightmare from which he can’t escape.

Written in simple, straight-forward language, ‘Right Behind You’ hits all the right notes and creates a poignant blend of honesty, hurt, anger and healing.  Kip spends years in a mental hospital for the dangerous juvenile offenders where he is surrounded by true monsters.  Readers may have trouble accepting the Kip (a.k.a. Wade) whose P.O.V. they share to the monster the outside world sees.  But that very dichotomy is part of what makes this book so potent; nothing is as black and white as it may seem and readers must conclude for themselves whether Kip is worthy of redemption.  Or forgiveness.

The fundamental difference between Kip and his fellow patients is subtle but obvious to the reader.  However, for Kip it is an elusive truth that takes many years and hours of therapy for to accept.  Readers will cringe with Kip when he self-destructs and share his sense of peace when he finally begins to accept himself and his past.  They will also sympathize with secondary characters in this novel and their reactions to Kip; reactions that are ripe for starting class discussion.  Ultimately readers learn, as does Kip, that forgetting the past isn’t the key to moving forward, the trick is living with the past.

Discussion Questions:

• Is Wade’s third therapist correct?  Was there more than one victim of Kip’s crime?
• Was Kip’s punishment enough?  How does intent affect a criminal’s sentencing? 
• Discuss why proving intent is so important in criminal cases. 
• The Buddhist idea of “feeding hungry ghosts” is used several times throughout the novel.  Is this an appropriate allegory?
• Sam says “you can’t just stop when you have an addictive personality”.  How does this impact reader’s perception of Sam as a character?

Book Source: Local Library
Review by: Rebecca

Recommended Ages: 16+ underage drinking and drug use, incarcerated youth, psychological issues/illness, murder, mild foul language

Recommended for Readers of: