By Cathy Marie Buchanan (357 pages)
Published by Riverhead
Bookish rating: 4
A satisfying historical read set in Paris in 1878. The van Goethem sisters find themselves nearly penniless after their father's death, and their mother spends what little they have on absinthe. Marie is sent to the Paris Opera to make a bit of money getting trained for its ballet company while her sister toils, works in the theater, and falls for a less-than-stellar guy.
As Marie works her way through the classes, she catches the eye of Degas, eventually becoming a model for him. She's none too thrilled with his depictions of dancers in their less pretty, less idealized states, but hey, he pays well. Finally, she becomes the subject for his famous statuette, Little Dancer, which I had the joy of seeing in person once, at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. I believe it's temporarily at the National Gallery now, and the Kennedy Center has staged a musical of the stautette, starring New York City Ballet's beloved Tiler Peck. I was DYING to see the musical, but you know. KIDS.
I loved reading about the inner-workings of the historical ballet company, and the slummy side of 19th-century Paris is very realistically rendered. I also liked the accidental coincidence of reading of Marie's ballet class as I sat in the waiting area of at Charlotte's ballet academy, listening to plunking piano music for the advanced class's barre. A tad trippy, but fun.
My only criticism is that Buchanan devotes waaaaaaay too much story to an actual criminal case that occurred in Paris at this time. I didn't care much about it, and I felt it slowed Marie and her sister's stories down far too much and was overall a distraction.
Still, this is a book worth reading for those who love their historical fiction.
No comments:
Post a Comment