A review by reyes_sf
Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead
2.0
I'm giving this 2 stars, but it's more like 1.5 annoyed stars. I actually finished this yesterday, but I needed some time to calm down to write a coherent review because I was so, so pissed off >_<
I picked up this book because it was about ballet, and I love ballet. Not a single cell in my body can dance, but there's something just so pretty, so astonishing (the title is the only thing this book got right) about ballet... Instead I got a bad soap opera. All the characters are so self-centred, so selfish that there was absolutely no one I liked in this book, let alone connect with them at any level. It didn't help that as the story went on the plot got more and more ridiculous, so much that by end I just wanted to be done with it.
Which takes me to actual end of the story. It was an open end. Not a cliffhanger (which I may not love, but I do understand the value of a good cliffhanger) but a think-whatever-you-want-to-think end. I so hate those. I like my ends neat and tied up with a nice ribbon, thank you very much. Seriously, I feel like open ends are a cheap way out when the story has become so ludicrous that not even the author knows what to do with it anymore, which is exactly what I think happened in this case. I'm only giving this two stars because the bits about ballet, about the sacrifice and the pain and love and mostly the passion about ballet were awesome. I just wish the rest of the story would had been that good.
I picked up this book because it was about ballet, and I love ballet. Not a single cell in my body can dance, but there's something just so pretty, so astonishing (the title is the only thing this book got right) about ballet... Instead I got a bad soap opera. All the characters are so self-centred, so selfish that there was absolutely no one I liked in this book, let alone connect with them at any level. It didn't help that as the story went on the plot got more and more ridiculous, so much that by end I just wanted to be done with it.
Which takes me to actual end of the story. It was an open end. Not a cliffhanger (which I may not love, but I do understand the value of a good cliffhanger) but a think-whatever-you-want-to-think end. I so hate those. I like my ends neat and tied up with a nice ribbon, thank you very much. Seriously, I feel like open ends are a cheap way out when the story has become so ludicrous that not even the author knows what to do with it anymore, which is exactly what I think happened in this case. I'm only giving this two stars because the bits about ballet, about the sacrifice and the pain and love and mostly the passion about ballet were awesome. I just wish the rest of the story would had been that good.