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clgreads's review
1.0
I really wanted to like this. Made it to page 114 (wasn't even the end of a chapter) and put it down. Nothing happened and I'm 99% sure I know where the book was going and I still wasn't interested. Total lack of connection with the characters and some of the descriptions were super awkward and seemed written only for shock value (the scene where Mira walks in on Robin changing and Kate/Mira and the student together for the first time.) Hard pass.
gm111111's review
2.0
Honestly, I just read it to finish it. Not my style, and not a book I enjoyed.
brooke_review's review
4.0
This isn't your typical dance school. The elite ballet world that Sari Wilson evokes in her first novel, Girl Through Glass, is one that tells aspiring professional dancers that it's not enough to be thin, you have to be small. It’s one where puberty is not a rite of passage, but a career-ender, and where girls too easily fall onto the treacherous path. Such is the fate of eleven year old Mira Able, a dancing prodigy with a promising future, who pushes herself to the limit.
It's the late 1970s, and Manhattan is completely obsessed with ballet. In fact, ballet dancers are the modern day celebrities, and tutus and pointe shoes are being sold on every corner. It is here that we meet young Mira, an aspiring professional ballet dancer, in the summer of 1977 as she tries to balance her two lives - the one that she lives day in and day out at her ballet school, The Little Kirov (which, as she puts it, is just a feeding pond for the more prestigious School of American Ballet), and that which she lives with her unconventional, free-spirited mother (an unpredictable life full of disarray and strange men). Amid the chaos of her home life, Mira tries to make sense & order of that which she can control - her dancing. The exclusive world that Mira dances through thrives on competition and control. From the things that money can buy, like Capezio ballet shoes on your feet instead of cheap Selbas, to that which can only come with good genes - legs that aren't too short and a head that isn't too big – the young girls in this elite New York City ballet circle are pressured to have the best and to be the best. Mira exercises extreme discipline and control as she works toward her dream - becoming one of "Mr. B's girls" at the School of American Ballet- by pushing herself to the limit both mentally and physically. As Mira's talent as a promising dancer becomes more evident, the young, austere ballerina catches the eye of a much older balletomane - 47 year old Maurice DuPont. Embarking on a relationship that can only be compared to that of Beauty and the Beast, Mira soon finds herself dancing with darkness.
Girl Through Glass is quite well-written and is sprinkled with intriguing details, which can be credited to Wilson’s former work as a ballerina herself. The world of highly-competitive ballet is revealed to the reader through Wilson's telling descriptions of what it is like to be a young girl trying to make it big. Readers won't envy these young dancers as they are pressured and picked over, too often for things not in their power. The novel turns frightening as Maurice enters the picture, eventually taking things with Mira to a dastardly end. The novel switches back and forth from the past to present day, and readers will get a glimpse into adult Mira’s life, as she tries to put together the pieces of the puzzle of her tragic youth. Mira, a college professor of dance, teeters on the edge of destruction with a female student, as she sorts through the mixed-up feelings and deep scars of her past.
Love It: I thoroughly enjoyed the trip Wilson took us on through the world of competitive ballet. I found the passages from Mira’s youth to be well-written and engaging. There’s a strong psychological aspect to this novel that I enjoyed, and I found it interesting to get in the head of a young female athlete, especially with the Summer Olympics approaching.
Leave It: While not touched upon too much, I felt that the relationship that the adult Mira has with her student is superfluous to the rest of the novel, and was perhaps added as a shock factor.
The Verdict: Read it if you have even the remotest interest in ballet, or if you enjoy psychological coming of age stories. 4 stars
Girl Through Glass Novelist Appeals
CHARACTER: Flawed
STORYLINE: Character-driven; Nonlinear
TONE: Suspenseful
WRITING STYLE: Compelling; Lyrical
It's the late 1970s, and Manhattan is completely obsessed with ballet. In fact, ballet dancers are the modern day celebrities, and tutus and pointe shoes are being sold on every corner. It is here that we meet young Mira, an aspiring professional ballet dancer, in the summer of 1977 as she tries to balance her two lives - the one that she lives day in and day out at her ballet school, The Little Kirov (which, as she puts it, is just a feeding pond for the more prestigious School of American Ballet), and that which she lives with her unconventional, free-spirited mother (an unpredictable life full of disarray and strange men). Amid the chaos of her home life, Mira tries to make sense & order of that which she can control - her dancing. The exclusive world that Mira dances through thrives on competition and control. From the things that money can buy, like Capezio ballet shoes on your feet instead of cheap Selbas, to that which can only come with good genes - legs that aren't too short and a head that isn't too big – the young girls in this elite New York City ballet circle are pressured to have the best and to be the best. Mira exercises extreme discipline and control as she works toward her dream - becoming one of "Mr. B's girls" at the School of American Ballet- by pushing herself to the limit both mentally and physically. As Mira's talent as a promising dancer becomes more evident, the young, austere ballerina catches the eye of a much older balletomane - 47 year old Maurice DuPont. Embarking on a relationship that can only be compared to that of Beauty and the Beast, Mira soon finds herself dancing with darkness.
Girl Through Glass is quite well-written and is sprinkled with intriguing details, which can be credited to Wilson’s former work as a ballerina herself. The world of highly-competitive ballet is revealed to the reader through Wilson's telling descriptions of what it is like to be a young girl trying to make it big. Readers won't envy these young dancers as they are pressured and picked over, too often for things not in their power. The novel turns frightening as Maurice enters the picture, eventually taking things with Mira to a dastardly end. The novel switches back and forth from the past to present day, and readers will get a glimpse into adult Mira’s life, as she tries to put together the pieces of the puzzle of her tragic youth. Mira, a college professor of dance, teeters on the edge of destruction with a female student, as she sorts through the mixed-up feelings and deep scars of her past.
Love It: I thoroughly enjoyed the trip Wilson took us on through the world of competitive ballet. I found the passages from Mira’s youth to be well-written and engaging. There’s a strong psychological aspect to this novel that I enjoyed, and I found it interesting to get in the head of a young female athlete, especially with the Summer Olympics approaching.
Leave It: While not touched upon too much, I felt that the relationship that the adult Mira has with her student is superfluous to the rest of the novel, and was perhaps added as a shock factor.
The Verdict: Read it if you have even the remotest interest in ballet, or if you enjoy psychological coming of age stories. 4 stars
Girl Through Glass Novelist Appeals
CHARACTER: Flawed
STORYLINE: Character-driven; Nonlinear
TONE: Suspenseful
WRITING STYLE: Compelling; Lyrical
mindfullibrarian's review
4.0
This book..... 1 star for being so horribly disturbing that I kept wanting to throw it away and erase it from my mind and 7 stars for being so well-written that I couldn't put it down. And can't erase it from my mind!
kimberly_b's review
2.0
I feel a little bad for rating this 2 stars, but it truly was just "OK" for me. I didn't connect with any of the characters, including the main one. It's hard to become immersed in a novel when there isn't at least one character who you're really rooting for. I must say that I did enjoy the epilogue.
limdz's review
4.0
A solid debut novel. The switch between third/first person is both contrived and forgivable, along with other missteps along the way, but overall the rawness and intensity of the narrative is what draws me to it. I forgive the compounded similes in the third-person past storyline, because this is a story about the danger of beauty for its own sake, and so I understand them.
Maybe it will be hard for some readers to relate to and sympathize with Mira and her art form as a young girl, but the portrayal of a girl lost in her art and her desire has the ring of truth to it that makes great stories. "Girl Through Glass" looks boldly into a face of humanity that many would like to avoid acknowledging.
Maybe it will be hard for some readers to relate to and sympathize with Mira and her art form as a young girl, but the portrayal of a girl lost in her art and her desire has the ring of truth to it that makes great stories. "Girl Through Glass" looks boldly into a face of humanity that many would like to avoid acknowledging.
kimatron's review
3.0
This felt creepy and had my skin crawling. The story was interesting and even though I felt gross, I continued reading, so 2 1/2-3 stars.
I was intrigued by Mira/Kate and also enraged, frustrated, and disappointed in her actions most of the time. I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes of a young ballerina, but their lives were (are) so obsessive.
I was intrigued by Mira/Kate and also enraged, frustrated, and disappointed in her actions most of the time. I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes of a young ballerina, but their lives were (are) so obsessive.
ashalucienne's review
4.0
a really wonderful and complex book about the ballet world. one who strives for thinness and maturity. the way the author weaves the two story lines together is masterful, and the way she writes about “inappropriate” relationships and r@pe is powerful. the only reason this book did not receive 5 stars is because the beginning was kind of hard to follow and a little dull, so i put it down and came back to it a few months later. when i picked it up again (about 100 pages in) I was tied to the book!!
etakloknok's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0