Hello everyone!
I am back with another review, today it is Pointe, Claw by Amber J. Keyser. Thanks so much to Thomas Allen Books for sending me a copy of this book for an honest review, as always, all opinions are my own.
This story follows two main POVs and characters, Jessie, a pre-professional ballerina who is fighting for a position in the ballet company, and Dawn, her childhood best friend who she hasn't seen in years but faces her own issues coming to terms with her life. I think this is one of those books that is kind of hard to summarize and actually better if you go in not knowing or expecting too much, so I won't say any more in terms of plot.
When I first started this book, I was a little confused by the writing style, in Dawn's POV, at least, because it was so unlike other books I've read. But once I got a little further in, I knew that this was a book that I was going to savour and really enjoy reading if nothing else, in terms of style. As I mentioned earlier, the writing is seductive and alluring - once the story sinks its claws in (no pun intended), it won't let you go until the very end.
I've only read a handful of books about ballerinas, but they always really intrigue me, both in fiction and reality. The author herself is a former ballerina and you can see that in the technicality of the performance of the characters. Nothing is too advanced that it goes over the head of someone (like me) who isn't a ballerina and has very little knowledge, but she includes details that let you know that she knows what she is talking about.
Keyser also writes in this beautifully descriptive way that tells a story you can visualize - something that I've been more aware of as lacking in a lot of the books I've been reading. I felt like I really connected to the story and could see what was happening, even if I didn't relate to the characters on a personal level (i.e. as a ballerina). That isn't to say that the characters weren't relatable, on the contrary, both Dawn and Jessie struggle with what it means to make the most of this one crazy life we are given.
I will just briefly touch on the situation with Dawn because I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that I think, in the end, the conclusion we got was the best one we were going to get. Part of me wanted to see more of what and why, but the majority of me recognizes that stylistically, this conclusion makes the most amount of sense, in a backwards kind of way. Either that or I didn't understand anything.
I was worried that because this book was so short (in my books, anything under 300 pages is hit-or-miss), it wouldn't be able to tell a story in the way that it did. Like I said earlier, I savoured every page and was completely engrossed in the story. I can already tell that this is going to be one of those books that stays with me for a long time.
Overall, a truly seductive and intoxicating read!