Astonish Me
A novel
by Maggie Shipstead
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date Apr 08 2014 | Archive Date Apr 08 2014
Description
Astonish Me is the irresistible story of Joan, a young American dancer who helps a Soviet ballet star, the great Arslan Rusakov, defect in 1975. A flash of fame and a passionate love affair follow, but Joan knows that, onstage and off, she is destined to remain in the background. She will never possess Arslan, and she will never be a prima ballerina. She will rise no higher than the corps, one dancer among many.
After her relationship with Arslan sours, Joan plots to make a new life for herself. She quits ballet, marries a good man, and settles in California with him and their son, Harry. But as the years pass, Joan comes to understand that ballet isn't finished with her yet, for there is no mistaking that Harry is a prodigy. Through Harry, Joan is pulled back into a world she thought she'd left behind—back into dangerous secrets, and back, inevitably, to Arslan.
Combining a sweeping, operatic plot with subtly observed characters, Maggie Shipstead gives us a novel of stunning intensity and deft psychological nuance. Gripping, dramatic, and brilliantly conjured, Astonish Me confirms Shipstead's range and ability and raises provocative questions about the nature of talent, the choices we must make in search of fulfillment, and how we square the yearning for comfort with the demands of art.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780307962904 |
| PRICE | $25.95 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Susan R, Bookseller
I finished Astonish Me quickly; it’s one of those books unfolds perfectly, and also one of those where the characters keep returning to you after you’ve finished reading.
If you’ve ever danced, or admired the innate talent and beauty, or fierce dedication of a professional dancer, this book will captivate you. Early in the book Jacob, one of the key non-dancer characters, remarks of his wife’s retirement from dancing, “He will miss seeing her onstage, displayed so beautifully at the front of all that darkness, and he will miss the mystery of her hours of class and rehearsal…” And indeed this sentence describes many of the characters: they study and create beauty, they exist outside of the lines of “normal” lives, and they sink into darkness frequently.
The story weaves in and out of the lives of the characters at different periods in their lives---like a dance, the patterns emerge gradually but pleasingly, and the writing is fluid (one of those books where you read a phrase, and think, “I should write that down—it’s profound, or just lovely.”)
Readers will love seeing Harry and Chloe’s relationship echo the earlier relationship of Arlsan and Joan, and will enjoy the quirkiness and unique flourishes of Elaine and Mr. K, and many of the supporting characters. Every character in the book is deeply touched by dance, and every one sacrifices something vital to dance as well.
The ending is a bit neat, but by the time I reached that point, I was so engaged in the characters and the stories—in rooting them on---that it was only a slight indulgence.
This book is an April Indie Next selection (as one of the best books published in April, selected by independent booksellers), and was included in the most recent edition of the Publishers Lunch Buzz Book (a compilation of the best upcoming books of the season). It deserves both honors, and I can’t wait to see how it is received by a wider audience.
PS. What a simple, but fabulous title name.
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