Bunheads by Sophie Flack
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have always wanted to be a ballerina. Actually, that’s a complete lie. When I was five, after much persuasion, my mum took me to a local ballet class for 5-8 year olds. Nevertheless, I sat in the car and I wouldn’t budge. So my possibly successful career went out like a light. (I joke; I can barely keep my focus on school, never mind dancing.)
I have always admired ballet, and this January I went to see Swan Lake – a truly magnificent experience. I picked up this book as it is about a girl who has to make a choice, ballet or real life, and after watching dozens of ballet documentaries on YouTube, I read it.

Hannah is 19 years old, and has barely stepped out side of the Manhattan Ballet Company theatre in five years. However, after a serendipitous meeting with college student Jacob, she begins to question her life choice.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the feeling that for the majority of the book we were behind the ‘closed doors’ of the theatre – the stuff that the audience doesn’t see. I liked Hannah as a character, I found her very relatable, and although she was pretty selfish and confused. She was a normal teenage girl. I found the tensions in the dressing room to be fascinating, all the secret bitchy-ness that went on behind closed doors.

I personally really liked the relationship in this book. Yes, it was a love triangle – something which I usually hate- but I could see why the two guys found Hannah attractive both for different reasons. I found Matt insufferable but Jacob was a favourite. Certainly he’s one of the best ‘book boys’ I’ve read recently. He isn’t a ‘nothing’ character, he has character. Both Hannah and Jacob ignore each other and have arguments, well done Ms Flack I found this pleasantly realistic. I really appreciated that Jacob cared for Hannah, not like some slimy ‘perfect’ boys you read about.

I would definitely give Bunheads a read, I loved it, and it was light and easy to read but I liked Ms Flack’s characterisation in the novel.



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