First off--goodreads lists this book as a mystery/thriller--it is absolutely NOT a mystery or thriller. If you go into this book expecting that, you will be disappointed. Which would be sad, because this is an excellent read! I would consider the genre more literary fiction or drama.

I grew up taking ballet and all kinds of dance, so I absolutely LOVED that the book was set at the Paris Opera Ballet. The author clearly knew her subject and I loved reading about the ballet world and the relationship between the three dancers. It accurately portrayed the struggles a dancer faces. It was very much a character driven novel that jumped between the past and present. If you love ballet, I definitely recommend this book!

3.5, rounded up.
The comparisons to Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive aren’t doing this book any favors, because they’re setting unrealistic expectations— not in quality, but in tone, content, and genre. This is Women’s Fiction. It’s a character piece, about complex women and their even more complicated relationships. It’s a piece that explores institutional inequality and oppression, and the dark, grimy side of glamor. It is *not* a thriller. The first half is sloooooow— and feels even slower because you’ve been set up to expect something completely different. But the characters are beautifully constructed, the cutthroat environment in which they exist comes alive off the page. I’m not a dancer, but I could understand and feel the tension within the POB and the women’s relationships as if I were there. I think that’s the real strength of the book; it transports you. Even through the specifics are so different from my own, the feelings— of walking (or dancing) on eggshells so as not to disturb the institution or compromise your place within it, while simultaneously wanting to expose the injustice and hypocrisy— are painfully relatable. I think this would actually be a better movie than book, because there’s so much visual fodder, and the pacing could be helped by not having to spend so much time conveying those details in words.

The Ballerinas is a master class on the life of an elite ballerina. The story centers around Delphine's return to the Paris Opera Ballet as a choreographer. The story is told through two timelines--Delphine's arrival back to Paris and her upbringing from student to soloist, leading up to her return.

I was captivated by how author Rachel Kapelke-Dale immerses you in the ballet world, from Paris to St. Petersburg. I think she really captured the personalities and complexities of these three friends, who are also competitors.

I do think I headed into this with different expectations. It wasn't super thriller-y, which I thought it might be from the comparisons. It was enjoyable and twisty in a different way, more of a slow burn with a big moment.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an advanced copy of this and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you’re a fan of character driven stories, I would absolutely recommend THE BALLERINAS for you to read. For me, it moved a little too slowly and I didn’t feel very engaged. It was really interesting, however, to learn about ballet dancers and how much of their time and life (all of it) is put into their craft.

3.25 stars

This, I believe ultimately, is a story about friendship. Meeting new friends when you’re younger and you latch onto them at a time when you’re just coming into your own and so are they… then what it takes to continue those friendships through your life, through each person’s various changes and growth… and how even in hard times friendships can outlast the bad and flourish. I really loved that about this book. While, in an industry as evidently cutthroat as ballet, this group of friends dealt with their ups and downs, their secrets, their betrayals…

This is told in a jumping back and forth sort of way through present day and back through different stages of Delphine’s life. Growing up in Paris and being a part of the enchanting ballet circuit, she and her best friend Margaux meet Lindsay and the three form a friendship. Now, Delphine has aged out of dancing ballet and is choreographing. She longs to give the part to her friend Lindsey and attempts to in order to calm her guilt from something she did years ago.

Through these pages, we see so much. We see how secrets and the sins of our past can eat us up. We see that darker side of the ballet world. How brutal it can be. And we watch these three girls grow up alongside one another and how it affects their lives, especially that of Delphine, our narrator.

This was a thrilling and somewhat psychological fictional piece that I really enjoyed.

I think this book will have a specific audience, and I was not that. Well written with good settings but overall I didn't enjoy it as I should have

This book is very character driven, its not thriller, because that was what I was expecting, which was ok, the thriller aspect came out of nowhere, and from two people that I for sure didn't expect. This book is so immersed in the life of a Ballerina, and what they go through as they go about becoming stars in that world, we focus on three friends, and I loved that. But it was so hard for me to really like these characters they were very dry, they are older now and they all act like children, maybe its because of the culture?

The book is a slow burn, and you feel like you are going nowhere but then it picks up towards the end. But one thing I will say this book was very informative especially using Delphine to tell us about the life of a ballerina, and their struggles. You have to keep an open mind when it comes to reading this book though, gotta give it a chance.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Entertaining read with a bit of mystery and realistic female friendships that are defined by the competitive world of ballet. This got me out of a reading rut, and I enjoyed the story from start to finish.

The blurb oversold this as a mystery or a thriller, but it’s neither. It’s a long slow story of 3 dancers where nothing much happens other than hinting at some terrible event from earlier in their lives. The event was oversold, an additional “shock” was added, but none of it ever really came together. There is a thread of #metoo, and the male characters are mostly absolute monsters, but they ultimately drive the story. There is very little female agency. It was all very meh. That said, the writing is good, hence the 2 stars.

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

PUBLICATION DAY: December 7, 2021

SUMMARY:
This story centres on the lives of three ballerinas in Paris - Delphine, Margaux and Lindsay. Rivals and friends, nothing can tear them apart...until something does. Delphine goes off on her own only to return years later...can she mend the broken relationships? What really happened all those years ago and can their friendship survive?

PROS and CONS:
If you love ballet and complex stories about friendship, you’ll love this one. It’s actually quite a deep book, tackling a number of important issues (maybe too many???) I liked the switch in perspective between the adolescent girls and the grown up ones.

READ IT?
It’s not a genre I generally read, but I enjoyed learning about the world of ballet. But underneath it all, it’s a story of female friendship and the difficulties of succeeding in a complex world - and many readers will be able to relate to that.

4 Stars

The premise of The Ballerinas intrigued me; it was a pallet cleanser from all of the academic things I'd been reading lately. It had several moving parts but I think the main story arc was one many people would relate to: the longing for something that once was and trying to reconcile that with where you are now. In the case of The Ballerinas, Delphine leads us through her story of best friendship with Lindsay and Margaux, her failed love affairs, and her unbreakable connection to ballet all with Paris and Russia as the backdrop to these important years. The story takes place over the course of more than a decade with alternating chapters of present and past which helps us contextualize how she got here and why she felt the way she did.



Rather than focus on the twists and turns of this novel, I'd rather mull over what Kapelke-Dale shows us in the evolution of Delphine and her friendships. As strange as it may sound, I really enjoyed the honest pain and loneliness that often came through on the page; it felt real and raw--and not something I come across every day. I also really enjoyed how these friends worked through some of their challenges (in their adulthood) and called each other out on their crap, when needed. But the thing that I wasn't really expecting and was such a nice surprise what Delphine's evolution into a strong women's advocate. Her contemplations on women and men and how our society works were interesting and powerful in their full throated support for all things woman.



All in all, The Ballerinas was a really pleasant surprise. The blend of childhood and adulthood friendship and the messy ways it can evolve was thoughtful and honest and interesting

The Ballerinas is a fantastic character-driven novel that does a deep dive into the world of ballet in Paris. It takes you through all the excruciating practices, disciplines, and politics of the company that the three dancers are involved in.

The book is a bit slow-moving during the first half of the book, but if you like ballet, you will find yourself immersed in the story, however, the last half of the book does move quickly and in the end, it is well worth the read.

I love the ballet and I was so excited about this book but I was disappointed in it. It is very well written and the characters are well developed, but it just did not hold my interest.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

SO SO much better than The Turnout!

I was a dancer, and fiction loves to portray ballet dancers especially as a little bit (or a lot) crazy. This was written by someone who actually understands the desires and love and intensity that dancers have for their art at the expense of everything else.

I loved that it was culturally relevant to the MeToo moment that the ballet world is experiencing right now. This book didn’t shy away from the messy parts, or from the fact that an art form that pushes you to stretch your brain and your body also wants to keep you docile and obedient. So much more complex than most ballet fiction, and so much better for it. This is one book that will stay with me, and that will be well worth a re-read.

I found this story thought-provoking. I appreciated the fact that the story was told from Delphine’s point of view.

I really enjoyed this one. The characters were well developed and the subject matter ....ballet was well researched. It shows the "ugly" side of such a seemingly beautiful thing. The characters were flawed but very likeable and although this was a slow burn it is worth a read.

I had a very difficult time starting this novel and I didn’t finish it. It unfortunately just didn’t suck me in. The characters were definitely well-written, and the paragraphs about ballet were beautiful- but it was quite slow paced.

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

As a lover of ballet, I was really looking forward to The Ballerinas, but it fell flat for me. I'm still trying to figure out why I didn't connect with it, but I do highly appreciate how character driven it was.

Well, this rarely ever happens but this one is going to be a DNF for me. I made it to 38% of this one and just can't pick it up again. This one was labeled as a mystery/thriller read but the only mystery I've found so far is how to motivate myself to keep reading. The characters aren't particularly likable and the story hasn't really gone anywhere so this one just isn't my cup of tea but others do seem to enjoy it.

I ultimately found this book a bit disappointing--I think I had initially believed it would fall closer to something like either Astonish Me or something by Megan Abbott, but ultimately it fell somewhere between the two and became mostly forgettable. Tried to tackle too many issues and, as a result, handled almost none of them well.