Review: Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Bunheads by Sophie Flack

My rating: 4 of 5 teacups


I didn't really think I'd like this book, I have to admit. I was curious about it after reading Tatiana's review, but this novel has been described as all the things that usually bore me to death: gentle, subtle, subdued, quiet... I've read these kinds of stories before that are meant to be all about the realism with little excitement, sadness or anything particularly noteworthy - I have always found them dull. Until now.

The realism in Bunheads really works to its advantage and makes the story more meaningful. This isn't an over-dramatised tale of death and romance, there's no blood and no gore, it's just a novel about ballet dancing in its barest form and I was surprised to find that this was more than enough. The characters were more real because of it and I found myself totally immersed in the obsessive and ridiculously competitive world of ballet.

I think it must be to some extent semi-autobiographical - or parts of it at least - because the author herself spent many years training and working as a ballet dancer. I'm glad I read this beforehand as it helped me believe in what I was reading about. I think the author's ultimate goal with her choice to write a rather quiet, understated story about real life in the ballet world, was not to draw the reader's mind away from some of the horrors that are part of every ballet dancer's life.

If this novel had been written about murder, sex and backstabbing it would no doubt appeal to a wider audience and sell far more copies, but it would also have made the small details about the rigourous dieting and exercising take a back seat. Things like the way the dancers are constantly being weighed, the way it is practically forbidden to grow breasts, the long, exhausting hours they have to put in when there's no guarantee they'll ever make the big parts... these would all have gone unnoticed. I, for one, am glad the author wrote this story the way she did and I will be on the look out for her future works.