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A review by inthelunaseas
Ballet Shoes for Anna by Noel Streatfeild
2.0
I was disappointed with this book. I thought it would have been more about Anna's struggle to convince her uncle that she should take ballet lessons, but instead it was about two brothers scrounging up money. That was the only thing on the brothers' minds- how to get money for Anna's classes. They had no interests of their own. Gussie started to, towards the end when he joined the school's gang, but even then his primary focus was to get money for classes.
Anna had no personality of her own. She appeared to know that going en pointe at eight was too young, but that was it. Why didn't she want to actually dance- not do repeated exercises? Even center exercises seems to cause her anguish. I felt like telling her- Anna, ballet is dancing. Yes, exercises are vitally important, but each exercise you do is the equivalent to a movement on the stage. That whole aspect of the story puzzled me. And it didn't even seem as though it was because she was bashful or thought her dancing wasn't too good. It just seemed to be that Anna didn't want to dance at all.
This book lacked any kind of character depth, or even basic character motivation. It seemed to be:
1. Get money for Anna.
2. Find a way to get money for Anna.
3. ???
4.Profit! Ballet lessons for Anna.
Not to mention Anna never seemed to be grateful for all the trouble her brothers went through. Like Gussie said, it was one thing after another- ballet lessons, then ballet shoes, then a ballet tunic and finally another ballet teacher. Geez, Anna, give it a rest.
And finally the ending. And that was that.
Thanks for the lack of conclusion, there, Streatfeild.
Anna had no personality of her own. She appeared to know that going en pointe at eight was too young, but that was it. Why didn't she want to actually dance- not do repeated exercises? Even center exercises seems to cause her anguish. I felt like telling her- Anna, ballet is dancing. Yes, exercises are vitally important, but each exercise you do is the equivalent to a movement on the stage. That whole aspect of the story puzzled me. And it didn't even seem as though it was because she was bashful or thought her dancing wasn't too good. It just seemed to be that Anna didn't want to dance at all.
This book lacked any kind of character depth, or even basic character motivation. It seemed to be:
1. Get money for Anna.
2. Find a way to get money for Anna.
3. ???
4.
Not to mention Anna never seemed to be grateful for all the trouble her brothers went through. Like Gussie said, it was one thing after another- ballet lessons, then ballet shoes, then a ballet tunic and finally another ballet teacher. Geez, Anna, give it a rest.
And finally the ending. And that was that.
Thanks for the lack of conclusion, there, Streatfeild.