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frankiecully's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book but it did remind me of the film The Black Swan.
I felt the start was a bit slow but towards the end I could not put it down.
The main character seemed like a shy wallflower type girl. Under pressure from a new ballet school and also some family troubles plus understanding her sexual frustrations.
I felt bad for her in the sense her mum was totally depressed and her dad emotionally absent. I wish the story of her mum and dad getting together was rounded off as I never learned what the situation was with those too being student/teachers aswell although you are left with a good idea.
I felt pain for her when her friend Sixty was over for dinner too. The awkwardness.
I mostly sympathasied with the girl throughout the book...bitchy friends/boys/school but I was annoyed at the end when she didn't tell the truth right away. She just shut it all out. Shes 14 and not stupid she knows the seriousness of student/teacher relationships and underage sex. She could have seriously messed up Roderick's life.
As for Roderick himself I thought he was brutally honest as a dance teacher but what did he expect to happen to poor Chantal when he said those things infront of the class? If it had happened before then it was more than likely to happen again and he did say things like this have happened before.
The ending....Altogether i found it a bit cheesy the way it worked out but that was merely the last chapter. The one or two chapters before the last were pretty fast paced compared to the rest of the book. But if it had been me, I would have went crazy at my friend and my sister that both betrayed me albeit they had best interests at heart.
Overall 4 stars :)
I felt the start was a bit slow but towards the end I could not put it down.
The main character seemed like a shy wallflower type girl. Under pressure from a new ballet school and also some family troubles plus understanding her sexual frustrations.
I felt bad for her in the sense her mum was totally depressed and her dad emotionally absent. I wish the story of her mum and dad getting together was rounded off as I never learned what the situation was with those too being student/teachers aswell although you are left with a good idea.
I felt pain for her when her friend Sixty was over for dinner too. The awkwardness.
I mostly sympathasied with the girl throughout the book...bitchy friends/boys/school but I was annoyed at the end when she didn't tell the truth right away. She just shut it all out. Shes 14 and not stupid she knows the seriousness of student/teacher relationships and underage sex. She could have seriously messed up Roderick's life.
As for Roderick himself I thought he was brutally honest as a dance teacher but what did he expect to happen to poor Chantal when he said those things infront of the class? If it had happened before then it was more than likely to happen again and he did say things like this have happened before.
The ending....Altogether i found it a bit cheesy the way it worked out but that was merely the last chapter. The one or two chapters before the last were pretty fast paced compared to the rest of the book. But if it had been me, I would have went crazy at my friend and my sister that both betrayed me albeit they had best interests at heart.
Overall 4 stars :)
rachelini's review
3.0
The book is about a grade 9 student starting an intensive ballet school, and the obsessive relationship she develops with the head teacher. It was much odder and creepier than I anticipated.
shelby_7664's review
3.0
Being a dancer, I could appreciate much of what the main character went through during the course of this book. Dancers tend to have a different perspective on life, and this book portrayed that. It reminded me of the movie "Black Swan."
However, this book was awkward to get through. The way it was written made it seem as though it were meant for a younger audience, although the contents show that that is clearly not the case.
I liked this book, but I will not be reading it again.
However, this book was awkward to get through. The way it was written made it seem as though it were meant for a younger audience, although the contents show that that is clearly not the case.
I liked this book, but I will not be reading it again.
operasara's review
1.0
Various Positions by Martha Schabas follows fourteen year old Georgia as she starts the Royal Ballet Academy. Georgia's classes are run by Rodrick a cruel man whom Georgia develops a sexual obsession with which overwhelms her life. Georgia has a confusing home life and does not know how to ask for help.
This book was horrifying. I finished it, however only because I was so horrified that I couldn't stop reading. The entire thing reads like an explanation as to why statutory rape isn't wrong because it's normal and natural for girls to be enamored and try to seduce much older men. That it can't be the man's fault because the girl really wants it. The main plot of the book is Georgia's sexual obsession with her teacher. She doesn't just obsess over him but obsesses over men that she sees on the subway and the relationship between her father and her mother (as she finds out that her mother started dating her father when she was a student). She looks up information on the internet on teen-adult relationships and becomes fascinated with an internet pornstar.
As for this being a dance book. It's isn't. She's in class and talks about putting her shoes on and doing singular dance moves occasionally but there are no scenes to put the reader into the dance or the lifestyle of a real dancer. Her dance teacher is mean and cruel to his students putting them all up for ridicule on a regular basis. Her classmates are just as screwed up as she is (which is not like ballet students at all) and are into partying, boys and extreme bullying (to the point where they told a girl that she had to go perform a sexual act on a group of strange boys). In response to her teachers critique of her friends weight Georgia encourages her friend to diet and develop an eating disorder (and never acknowledges that it was a problem even commenting several times how much better her friend looked).
Appropriateness: This is not a young adult book even though it seems to be marketed as such and it's not a book that I would give to a teen. It did not read like a young adult book and the content is certainly not what teens would be comfortable with. I could see readers of literary fiction enjoying the weird character study but it's not what readers of YA fiction will enjoy. As for adult content we've got a teen-adult relationship, alcohol, teen bullying, eating disorders (and not presented in a way to teach) and unprotected casual sex. All of the relationships in the book are unhealthy and destructive.
This book was horrifying. I finished it, however only because I was so horrified that I couldn't stop reading. The entire thing reads like an explanation as to why statutory rape isn't wrong because it's normal and natural for girls to be enamored and try to seduce much older men. That it can't be the man's fault because the girl really wants it. The main plot of the book is Georgia's sexual obsession with her teacher. She doesn't just obsess over him but obsesses over men that she sees on the subway and the relationship between her father and her mother (as she finds out that her mother started dating her father when she was a student). She looks up information on the internet on teen-adult relationships and becomes fascinated with an internet pornstar.
As for this being a dance book. It's isn't. She's in class and talks about putting her shoes on and doing singular dance moves occasionally but there are no scenes to put the reader into the dance or the lifestyle of a real dancer. Her dance teacher is mean and cruel to his students putting them all up for ridicule on a regular basis. Her classmates are just as screwed up as she is (which is not like ballet students at all) and are into partying, boys and extreme bullying (to the point where they told a girl that she had to go perform a sexual act on a group of strange boys). In response to her teachers critique of her friends weight Georgia encourages her friend to diet and develop an eating disorder (and never acknowledges that it was a problem even commenting several times how much better her friend looked).
Appropriateness: This is not a young adult book even though it seems to be marketed as such and it's not a book that I would give to a teen. It did not read like a young adult book and the content is certainly not what teens would be comfortable with. I could see readers of literary fiction enjoying the weird character study but it's not what readers of YA fiction will enjoy. As for adult content we've got a teen-adult relationship, alcohol, teen bullying, eating disorders (and not presented in a way to teach) and unprotected casual sex. All of the relationships in the book are unhealthy and destructive.
heykellyjensen's review
2.0
This one didn't work for me much. All of the problems I had in reading it sort of play into one another, making them harder to pull apart. First, maybe, is the age issue. Georgia's in grade 8 at the beginning of the story, when she tries out for the ballet academy. At the end of the book, she's trying out for grade 10. Maybe the middle is a year of time, but it's not clear what the passage of time is. For me, it felt like this all took place over the course of a month or two, given there aren't any actual ballet performances and the bulk of what happens in ballet classes is limited. I needed more indication of time and passage of time to make sense of the scope of the story.
That said, Georgia was uneven and hard to buy either as an 8th or 9th grader. Her voice feels very mature, but her actions are entirely immature. There was a real disconnect for me as a reader, and I likewise felt disconnected from her story because I didn't get to know who she was.
There were a lot of wonky messages about sexuality and male/female power in the story, too, and while it can be attributed to Georgia being immature, I'm not going to buy that argument easily. I think she's spot on age wise in her curiosity about sex and her own body, especially given the demand to have that physical awareness which comes with ballet, but the way she used it seemed evil and honestly didn't serve a real purpose.
I feel like the flap copy is a little misleading, since there's really not that much focus on ballet nor the intense practicing in a one-on-one environment between Roderick and Georgia. Likewise, I don't think Georgia's friends are all that sex obsessed. SHE certainly is, though. To be perfectly honest
The mixed messages, the underdeveloped main character, and the inconsistency of pacing and passage of time made this a slow and ultimately disappointing read.
That said, Georgia was uneven and hard to buy either as an 8th or 9th grader. Her voice feels very mature, but her actions are entirely immature. There was a real disconnect for me as a reader, and I likewise felt disconnected from her story because I didn't get to know who she was.
There were a lot of wonky messages about sexuality and male/female power in the story, too, and while it can be attributed to Georgia being immature, I'm not going to buy that argument easily. I think she's spot on age wise in her curiosity about sex and her own body, especially given the demand to have that physical awareness which comes with ballet, but the way she used it seemed evil and honestly didn't serve a real purpose.
Spoiler
So she's got it in her head that Roderick, her instructor, has a thing for her. He's given her some special treatment, but nothing in his actions, outside the rumors of other girls, suggests he's a predator. But not only does Georgia decide she wants to research sexual poses and practice them (again, not unbelievable in the least!), she decides to photograph them and give them to Roderick? She traps him. His actions in kissing her were wrong, and while I cannot blame the victim here, it's impossible not to acknowledge that had Georgia not led him on (because SHE DOES), it wouldn't have happened at all. Then there's the unnecessary rape scene with Kareem. It felt like the purpose of it was to build reader sympathy for Georgia, but she'd already lost enough of my interest by this point. I felt bad for this happening, but it didn't change the fact she'd already made me angry with her.I feel like the flap copy is a little misleading, since there's really not that much focus on ballet nor the intense practicing in a one-on-one environment between Roderick and Georgia. Likewise, I don't think Georgia's friends are all that sex obsessed. SHE certainly is, though. To be perfectly honest
Spoiler
I think Georgia has a mental disorder she needs to deal with, and it goes back to the really sad family situation she's been dealt. I think had the story focused more on THAT, rather than on this illicit relationship, it could have been a lot stronger a book. I mean, Georgia learns her mother married her father after her father cheated on his wife with her. That's huge.The mixed messages, the underdeveloped main character, and the inconsistency of pacing and passage of time made this a slow and ultimately disappointing read.
marsbarsx's review
1.0
This book was disturbing to read and gave me an icky feeling. I spent most of the book cringing at Georgia's actions. I did not enjoy it.
titania86's review
1.0
Georgia is a teenage ballet dancer who is largely unhappy with her life outside of ballet. She doesn't have any true friends and her dysfunctional family grates on her nerves. After being accepted to the Royal Ballet Academy, her world is thrown into turmoil. Roderick, the unforgiving and harsh ballet instructor, expects absolute perfection and isn't afraid to point out the harsh realities to his students. He singles out Georgia as a star and someone to emulate for the other students. As a result, Georgia starts to interpret attraction from his actions and she fantasizes constantly about what their relationship would be like in her head. Is Georgia's fantasy real or is she completely delusional? How will the repercussions of her actions effect her future?
The description for Various Positions read kind of like a Black Swan for teens, but it was actually a lot different. I had a lot of problems with the book, but there were some things I liked. The writing was engaging and kept me reading despite the problems I had with the novel. Georgia was an interesting character with very little connection to others in her life. I really felt for her in the first half of the novel because of her abusive, horrible friends and her constantly fighting parents. The way she thought about her sexuality and the way she explored it is something I haven't seen before in teen fiction. Typically, girls in YA novels don't seem to be interested in their own sexuality outside of a relationship, which I don't find very realistic. As in Black Swan, Georgia viewed sexuality as horrible and thought ballet was ideal without it until she met her ballet teacher. She believed he wanted her to be completely virginal while dancing and outside of dance he wanted the opposite extreme. This aspect never really developed into anything meaningful, which was disappointing.
The rest of the book was a disappointment. Ballet wasn't featured in the book very much despite the marketing and back cover description. In the latter half of the novel, Georgia was simply an unapologetically horrible person. She put a girl with body image issues on a very strict diet, contributing to and worsening the girl's anorexia. Afterwards, Georgia's only concern was for people finding out her own part in it instead of having concern for the girl who became practically skeletal with her help. Her imagined relationship with her teacher was horribly damaging to everyone involved in the end. She tried to seduce him and left suggestive pictures in his desk. Roderick was a harsh and blunt teacher, but not a sexual predator and never gave her any indication that he was sexually interested in her. Her actions and the photos that were found of her made everyone assume that the teacher had raped her or traded better ballet roles for sexual favors. Even if the situation was cleared in the end, irreparable damage was done to his reputation and career that wasn't deserved. Georgia only really cared that she was rejected by the man she was interested in and nothing more. She also was never really punished for her horrible actions and didn't seem to learn much from the experiences at all. By the end of the book, I was really angry.
Various Positions was a strange read with some interesting concepts and good narrative, but was overall disappointing and maddening.
The description for Various Positions read kind of like a Black Swan for teens, but it was actually a lot different. I had a lot of problems with the book, but there were some things I liked. The writing was engaging and kept me reading despite the problems I had with the novel. Georgia was an interesting character with very little connection to others in her life. I really felt for her in the first half of the novel because of her abusive, horrible friends and her constantly fighting parents. The way she thought about her sexuality and the way she explored it is something I haven't seen before in teen fiction. Typically, girls in YA novels don't seem to be interested in their own sexuality outside of a relationship, which I don't find very realistic. As in Black Swan, Georgia viewed sexuality as horrible and thought ballet was ideal without it until she met her ballet teacher. She believed he wanted her to be completely virginal while dancing and outside of dance he wanted the opposite extreme. This aspect never really developed into anything meaningful, which was disappointing.
The rest of the book was a disappointment. Ballet wasn't featured in the book very much despite the marketing and back cover description. In the latter half of the novel, Georgia was simply an unapologetically horrible person. She put a girl with body image issues on a very strict diet, contributing to and worsening the girl's anorexia. Afterwards, Georgia's only concern was for people finding out her own part in it instead of having concern for the girl who became practically skeletal with her help. Her imagined relationship with her teacher was horribly damaging to everyone involved in the end. She tried to seduce him and left suggestive pictures in his desk. Roderick was a harsh and blunt teacher, but not a sexual predator and never gave her any indication that he was sexually interested in her. Her actions and the photos that were found of her made everyone assume that the teacher had raped her or traded better ballet roles for sexual favors. Even if the situation was cleared in the end, irreparable damage was done to his reputation and career that wasn't deserved. Georgia only really cared that she was rejected by the man she was interested in and nothing more. She also was never really punished for her horrible actions and didn't seem to learn much from the experiences at all. By the end of the book, I was really angry.
Various Positions was a strange read with some interesting concepts and good narrative, but was overall disappointing and maddening.
kchin's review
3.0
3.5 stars. Well that was unexpected, but in a good, weird way. This book is not about dancing, but about a very sexually-repressed 14-year old girl who doesn't know how to deal with growing pains (sexually). This a fine example of what comes out of a society where sex is a taboo and not talked about openly. The result is a bunch of hormone-driven, sex-oozed, confused teenagers.
It's hard to say whether she knowingly seduced her instructor because she doesn't seem to understand body language (as most 14 years olds are). She justifies her actions by claiming self defense ("if I know what he would do next then I can better protect myself") and it slowly turns into a sexual fantasy when interpretation gets all twisted up in her head. Then she ends up confused and embarrassed when it all blew up in her face. Anyways, bitched be crazy.
Though the ending was a bit sloppy, it was an interesting book and a quick read. I recommend this book.
It's hard to say whether she knowingly seduced her instructor because she doesn't seem to understand body language (as most 14 years olds are). She justifies her actions by claiming self defense ("if I know what he would do next then I can better protect myself") and it slowly turns into a sexual fantasy when interpretation gets all twisted up in her head. Then she ends up confused and embarrassed when it all blew up in her face. Anyways, bitched be crazy.
Though the ending was a bit sloppy, it was an interesting book and a quick read. I recommend this book.
nicolet2018's review
4.0
This is certainly an unusual type of novel that is not common in YA fiction. Firstly, I must command the author, Martha Schabas for taking the plunge and writing about two subjects that are quite controversial. Ballet with all it's tough pressure and the themes of sexuality, the coming into awareness of it and all.
Georgia is a fourteen year old ballet dancer who is immersely talented but comes from a dysfunctional family. For starters, she has a sister, Isabel from another mother and her parents are very tense now.
She is accepted into the pretigious Royal Toronto Ballet Accademy. There she meets a medley of girls who are aspiring to be professional ballet dancers. Her artistic director, Roderick Allen is harsh and challenging on his students. At times perhaps even seeming to be cruel and as Georgia sees her friends being very interested in boys and the topic of sex. She herself begins to make assumptions based on what she learns about her parents and various observations. She is a hard working student but becomes obssessed with this topic and begins to see things that may not be what she thinks. She starts to think Roderick may be interested in her and the lines get blurry.
Long story short, she does some very foolish things which she realizes much too late and has to deal with it. I love how the author captured the toughness and rigorousness of life as a student at a ballet school. It really is not that easy and it takes tons of passion and determination. She also touched on a topic that adolescents will be naturally curious about and some may even be able to relate to Georgia's confusion as she is introduces to all this.
I love how the author made this book very real and honest. No sugarcoating but clean cut scenes and dialougues. Tense and intriguing, Various Positions is a definite read for all young adults.
Georgia is a fourteen year old ballet dancer who is immersely talented but comes from a dysfunctional family. For starters, she has a sister, Isabel from another mother and her parents are very tense now.
She is accepted into the pretigious Royal Toronto Ballet Accademy. There she meets a medley of girls who are aspiring to be professional ballet dancers. Her artistic director, Roderick Allen is harsh and challenging on his students. At times perhaps even seeming to be cruel and as Georgia sees her friends being very interested in boys and the topic of sex. She herself begins to make assumptions based on what she learns about her parents and various observations. She is a hard working student but becomes obssessed with this topic and begins to see things that may not be what she thinks. She starts to think Roderick may be interested in her and the lines get blurry.
Long story short, she does some very foolish things which she realizes much too late and has to deal with it. I love how the author captured the toughness and rigorousness of life as a student at a ballet school. It really is not that easy and it takes tons of passion and determination. She also touched on a topic that adolescents will be naturally curious about and some may even be able to relate to Georgia's confusion as she is introduces to all this.
I love how the author made this book very real and honest. No sugarcoating but clean cut scenes and dialougues. Tense and intriguing, Various Positions is a definite read for all young adults.
folklaureate's review
1.0
More reviews at Rondo of a Possible World: YA Book Reviews
Out of all the things that put me off it was the description of this novel. Absolutely misleading. When I asked to review this novel I was excited to read about ballet, seeing as I used to dance around the same age as Georgina, the protagonist of Various Positions. I can say that the only time you truly get that ballet experience is in the first chapter. Her audition. And after she's entered into the Ballet Academy, well, everything takes a turn for the worst on a downhill slope.
In the controversial issue of was YA really is, I can say from reading this novel, that Various Positions is nowhere near YA standards. I understand that the morals and sexual activities of the younger teens has risen over the years (I see and hear about it at school all the time) but the actions and thoughts of Georgina were extremely out of line! I always kept forgetting that this CHILD was a 14 year old girl! Looking at porn, taking naked picture of herself, having sexual fantasies and forcing herself onto her 40 year old TEACHER were extremely out of line and horribly revolting.
Not only that but the dialogue between the girls that Georgina hung out with were all about sex! The obsession that repeated time and time again was nauseating beyond belief. I could not stand Georgina at all past the first chapter. The flatness to each character was horrid. The only one that I really liked was "Sixty" as Georgina called her (that annoyed me as well, she had a name but the whole novel she was referred to as a number).
Read this at your own risk and I definitely do not recommend this to young teens due to the high amounts of inappropriate descriptions and actions of the characters.
Out of all the things that put me off it was the description of this novel. Absolutely misleading. When I asked to review this novel I was excited to read about ballet, seeing as I used to dance around the same age as Georgina, the protagonist of Various Positions. I can say that the only time you truly get that ballet experience is in the first chapter. Her audition. And after she's entered into the Ballet Academy, well, everything takes a turn for the worst on a downhill slope.
In the controversial issue of was YA really is, I can say from reading this novel, that Various Positions is nowhere near YA standards. I understand that the morals and sexual activities of the younger teens has risen over the years (I see and hear about it at school all the time) but the actions and thoughts of Georgina were extremely out of line! I always kept forgetting that this CHILD was a 14 year old girl! Looking at porn, taking naked picture of herself, having sexual fantasies and forcing herself onto her 40 year old TEACHER were extremely out of line and horribly revolting.
Not only that but the dialogue between the girls that Georgina hung out with were all about sex! The obsession that repeated time and time again was nauseating beyond belief. I could not stand Georgina at all past the first chapter. The flatness to each character was horrid. The only one that I really liked was "Sixty" as Georgina called her (that annoyed me as well, she had a name but the whole novel she was referred to as a number).
Read this at your own risk and I definitely do not recommend this to young teens due to the high amounts of inappropriate descriptions and actions of the characters.