The Cranes Dance Paperback – May 15, 2012

I really loved, loved, loved this book, but I will say as a caveat that I used to dance, so the insanity and Kate's conflicts and inner torment all interested me very much and made sense to me. I can't say if it would resonate as strongly with someone who hasn't danced and been in that culture, but I will only say it knocked me on my butt, it was so realistic.Aside from that, I really liked the protagonist Kate. I related to her and I sympathized with her. She was very human, down to earth, self critical, and wonderfully, very whimsical at times. I loved hearing this story through her first person voice. A lot of times first person doesn't work in a story but in this case her voice was very strong and engaging.The author's writing was also very skillful. I'm an author myself and there were several times a broad smile spread across my face because she killed something so completely, expressed something so perfectly. Almost to the point where I hated her a little. I kept finding these little moments in the book and I wished I could high five the author and been like, you ROCK!So I guess as a former dancer, and an author, I felt a lot of engagement and joy with this book. I don't know if it would be a five star read for everyone, but for me, this is going on my keeper shelf of books I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to read.

Kate Crane is a soloist in a famed New York ballet company. She's never quite achieved true fame, but she is well-respected and has the opportunity to dance many featured roles in a number of ballets. Her younger sister, Gwen, also a ballet dancer in the same company, quickly eclipsed Kate in terms of talent and stardom, but after injuring herself and suffering a bit of a breakdown, Gwen has returned to their childhood home in Michigan. Gwen's absence gives Kate the opportunity to dance outside of her sister's shadow, but it also leaves her alone with her own thoughts of guilt, for recognizing Gwen's symptoms long ago but not getting her the help she needed, as well as her own obsessions of perfection. "At some point you did something perfectly and now your whole life is a search to re-create that," Kate said at one point in the book.The Cranes Dance follows Kate as she starts getting the chance to play a more prominent role in the ballet company as she struggles with an injury of her own, as well as questioning about her talent and her own mental toughness. Her relationships with her friends and mentors are fraught with unspoken tension caused by one issue or another, and she finds herself torn between wanting Gwen to recover and return to New York City, and not wanting to have to be her sister's keeper any longer. This book gives a warts-and-all glimpse into the ballet world, the different personalities that occupy it, and the passions that drive it. (Meg Howrey was once a professional dancer, so her authenticity rings true.)I really enjoyed this book because it was more than just a story about a ballet company--it is a story about relationships, a story about battling your demons and coming to terms with your own strengths and weaknesses, and a story about how you can find yourself simultaneously needing and resenting the same person. Kate's voice is at times humorous, sarcastic, needy, sad, hopeful, and passionate, and Howrey juggles all of those emotions quite well. Kate and Gwen's relationship is a very complex one, and Howrey straddles a fine line between who did the hurting and who wound up hurt. It's a very enjoyable and compelling read, and I'd highly recommend Howrey's first book, Blind Sight, which I loved last year, and included it on my list of the best books I read in 2011.

The Cranes Dance is a book I hold very close to my heart, as a young girl who has been studying ballet for the past 15 years there isn't much out there in this world that you can relate to. Ballet makes sure of that. But Meg finds a way to completely embody a professional dancer, someone tired from the wear and tear, and she makes the character honest, funny, likable. If you do or have done ballet seriously this is a must read, and if you looking for the honest truth about what it's really like to be a dancer this by far the best that I've found. Kate is a masterpiece of a character and her development will make you reflect on yourself immensely. I've read it over 20 times, and it never ceases to take my breathe away.

Maybe if I was a dancer I would have understood more about the inner world of the main characters. I have no idea why Kate was contemplating suicide, or how she danced so well when she was drugged senseless. I was bored most of the time, with her inner world, maybe if I was a performer of some kind I would have understood more?

Great

Ein Einblick in ein Tänzerleben in New York - mit allen Höhen und Tiefen die es in diesem Soziotop zu erleben gibt. Man spürt richtig die Theaterluft - beim Lesen meint man fast, das Knistern der Tüll Röcke zu hören

This is the first book centred around ballet that I have read. It is perhaps the only one I ever will read. The style is more gritty and somewhat loose than a more poetic prose one might expect. The strength is in the humour, emotional richness, and human details. I feel that Gwen and her illness could have been followed up further. I would have liked maybe some structure to the drama and a plot to speak of so that as to not remain in surface level. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in dance even if they do not like ballet as such.

This novel lacks story , setting.Narration is like news reading, or watsup gossiping, lacks style giving a boring taste.Loads of character names are dropped, but they are described shallowly, unclear, including protagonist's sisterDialogues are trivial not giving a any insight about people talking.I couldn't take it more after 300 pages.Although story is a lot around Bale world, one can understand it.There were some strong casual psychological reflections.Here is one. " 'You were amazing' I kept saying, hating myself and her."And I liked some of the comparative ordinary descriptions.Here is one. " A ballet dancer at his equivalent level of success might eke out a hundred grand a year, a bit more if they do a lot of guest performanceswith different companies. In New York City that means you might be able to rent a small one-bedroom and still be able to buy Bumble and Bumble shamphoo. "