The Cranes Dance

by Meg Howrey

I threw my neck out in the middle of Swan Lake last night.

So begins the tale of Kate Crane, a soloist in a celebrated New York City ballet company who is struggling to keep her place in a very demanding world. At every turn she is haunted by her close relationship with her younger sister, Gwen, a fellow company dancer whose career quickly surpassed Kate’s, but who has recently suffered a breakdown and returned home.

Alone for the first time in her life, Kate is anxious and full of guilt about the role she may have played in her sister’s collapse.  As we follow her on an insider tour of rehearsals, performances, and partners onstage and off, she confronts the tangle of love, jealousy, pride, and obsession that are beginning to fracture her own sanity. Funny, dark, intimate, and unflinchingly honest, The Cranes Dance is a book that pulls back the curtains to reveal the private lives of dancers and explores the complicated bond between sisters.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Mental Health, Adult Fiction, Audiobook, Adult

373 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2012

About the author

Meg Howrey is the author of the novel They're Going to Love You, and the novels The Wanderers, The Cranes Dance, and Blind Sight. She is also the coauthor, writing under the pen-name Magnus Flyte, of the New York Times Bestseller City of Dark Magic and City of Lost Dreams. Her non-fiction has appeared in Vogue and The Los Angeles Review of Books. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

Meg was a professional dancer who performed with the Joffrey Ballet and City Ballet of Los Angeles, among others. She made her theatrical debut in James Lapine's Twelve Dreams at Lincoln Center, and received the 2001 Ovation Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her role in the Broadway National Tour of Contact.

Reviews

[Helene Jeppesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was perfection! If you have any interest in ballet, which I do, there's a pretty good chance that you'll like this novel. It was written by a former ballet dancer, and it gives you a rare insight into the ups and downs of being part of this world.
Kate and her sister Gwen are both professional ballet dancers in NYC, but Gwen has been ordered home to her parents because of psychological issues, and Kate - out protagonist - is left alone in NYC, right in the middle of a ballet season.
I loved getting an insight into this world as well as the techniques of praticing this dance, but most of all I loved reading about the tension between the two sisters. It felt real and honest, and it was fascinating to hear about it from Kate's point of view while being witness to her career, doubts and thoughts.
This book was beautifully crafted and I definitely recommend it to everyone. It's one of the best books I've read for some time, and it's definitely the best book I've read about ballet.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is perfect example of how bore a reader right from the get-go ......
.......we get a quick-synopsis sloppy-sarcastic detail descriptions of "Swan Lake".
Example:
"You're gonna want to scoot down and get that program for the explanatory notes on this action, because otherwise you might think that the Queen is telling her son that he needs a manicure and that Siegfried is responding by trying to hail a cab, or test current wind conditions."
"Siegfried cheers up when the Queen presents him with a nifty-looking crossbow as a birthday present. Siegfried really loves his crossbow. He runs around stage with it, showing it to everybody Stage Left, and Stage Right, and the Stage Left again, just in case anybody had their eyes closed. Basically eating up some music. Siegfried indicates to Ivor that he wants to go hunting RIGHT NOW, and Ivor indicates that night is falling and now' not a great time for him. Siegfried impulsively decides to go anyway, and Ivor reluctantly follows him.
End of Act I".

There are 'more' details to ACT 1 in 'Swan Lake'. I shared a tidbit.
Next is "Act 11"........'details' of "Swan Lake" with added sarcasm.
It was grating to me..... however, others might enjoy it.
ME: If I wanted to read the specific details of the 'dance' "Swan Lake"... then I'd have reached for that book.

However.... 'FINALLY' .... the CORE STORY moves forward -- things improved....a little. The author gives us an inside look into the world of Ballet - by taking us on a journey with two ballet dancers who are sisters. ...... with the prime focus being on sister, Kate Crane. We learn early on that her sister Gwen had a mental breakdown. Kate is the narrator- for both she and her sister .....making her an unreliable character. We get a lot of 'hear say' from Kate ...( flashback commentary about her sister Gwen), but mostly Kate is interested in telling us about herself.

We 'do' learn about the sisters individual accomplishments- their breakdowns, injuries, : we hear a LOT ABOUT KATE'S SORE NECK ...VERY LITTLE ABOUT GWEN'S MENTAL BREAKDOWN, their professional and personal lives -- ( friends within the dance world - and friends who are not) -- competition --perfectionism -- and depression.
What we don't feel is the 'magic' of the ballet!

The author might have been passionate about dancing herself at one point in her life - but I'm left wondering if her memories are shadowed by darkness. I really don't know....
However, I compared this book with another 'Ballet Story...inside world for dancers' theme:
"Astonish Me", by Maggie Shipstead. Maggie Shipstead is a a more skilled writer.... a gorgeous writer. I enjoyed "Astonish Me" much better.

I didn't care much for the style of Meg Howrey's writing. There was a 'smug' tone throughout which I just didn't care for.

My FAVORITE BOOK ABOUT THE INSIDE WORLD OF BALLET.... a FANTASTIC book is:
"DANCER", by Colum McCann.

This book... 2.7 maybe ....almost 3 stars.

[Jennifer (Insert Lit Pun) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still one of my favorite books - this one is very, very dear to me.

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel manages to keep the glamorous mystique of professional ballet alive while still providing a backstage pass into an elite dancer's world. Kate Crane has almost - but not quite - reached the peak of her life's dream. She's an extremely talented soloist at a prestigious New York ballet company, but she's forever in the shadow of her younger, more naturally gifted and technically perfect sister, Gwen. In the wake of Gwen's nervous breakdown (which we find out more about as the novel moves forward, but it's not really a mystery), Kate takes over her role in A Midsummer Night's Dream and has to deal with the guilt of replacing her sister, as well as her internal struggle about whether or not she could have better protected Gwen from her mental issues.

It sounds fairly dire, but The Cranes Dance has almost a gossipy tone - Kate makes witty observations about every facet of the ballet world, while also supplying some very helpful - and frequently hilarious - commentary on classic ballets. (For example, I've heard about Swan Lake a million times and never really knew what it was about. And how stupid am I to not realize that The Swan Princess - one of my favourite animated movies as a child - was based off of it?!)

Howrey manages to portray so well the way sisters can feel so much love but also so many other complex feelings (jealousy, fear, admiration, frustration - especially sisters who dance in the exact same ballet company, for Pete's sake!) It's especially impressive considering Gwen never really shows up in the present-day narrative - we meet her only in Kate's thoughts and recollections.

Probably the best book yet in my current roster of ballet fiction, which I've been inexplicably obsessed with lately - it's hard not to admire the exquisite care and self-control that goes into a dancer's life (a life so different from my own!)

[Emily M · Rating 5 out of 5]

You shouldn't ask for forgiveness. Because of you ask someone to forgive you, and they do, then that's twice that you've taken something from them. First the betrayal, then the absolution.

I did not want this book to end

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cranes Dance follows Kate Crane, a soloist in a professional ballet company in New York, where she dances alongside her younger and more talented sister Gwen. But Gwen has recently suffered a nervous breakdown and returned home, and now alone for the first time, Kate feels unmoored and on the verge of some kind of collapse herself, even though her sister's absence could allow for advancement in Kate's own career.

I already forgot that I finished this book last night which I think speaks to how anticlimactic I found the ending, but otherwise, I just loved this. I don't know the first second or third thing about ballet so I'm afraid I can't comment on how accurate of a portrayal this was, but I'm inclined to believe that former professional ballet dancer Meg Howrey knows her stuff. The ballet scenes were electrifying to read at any rate.

But the best thing about this book for me was its protagonist Kate - I probably went into this expecting to be more intrigued by Kate's sister Gwen, talented and tortured, who remains a sort of shadowy figure in the background throughout Kate's story, but it was actually Kate herself that was the heart and soul of this novel. Her narration is snarky, hard-edged, honest, and surprisingly vulnerable, and I found myself rationing my reading of this so I could spend more time with her. The pacing could have used a lot of work - about 100 pages could have been cut easily and never at any point could I figure out how much time was passing between chapters - but ultimately, for a character-driven novel it got the job done, because I was so invested in this character and in Howrey's candid portrayal of mental illness and its many manifestations.

[Ferdy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took a while to get into this. I almost gave up after the first chapter, which was more or less a massive info dump about some random ballet, it was like reading a text book. It did start to get engrossing after a few chapters, mostly the focus on the odd relationship between Kate (the MC) and her sister, Gwen.

Kate was quite the irritating character, but in a gripping kind of way, particularly when her sanity started to crumble. She was too obsessive and in her own head, it was too much.
The parallels between Kate and Gwen was interesting albeit a touch cliche: where Gwen was going insane and Kate had to be the sane, responsible one.. And then Gwen was getting better, and Kate was becoming more and more unstable and disturbed.

Gwen was a fascinating character in a totally horrible, manipulative, bitchy, sly kind of way. She knew what she was putting Kate through but didn't care. She put all her problems on Kate and made her feel like crap about herself pretty much all the time. I don't know why Kate put up with all her rubbish, she would have been better all round from self, work to relationships if Gwen hadn't dragged her down with her issues.

Enjoyed the ballet talk (apart from the first chapter), I had nothing but the most superficial insight into ballet so it was all quite unique and peculiar to me. Most interesting was the distinctive atmosphere and world of ballet and the competitive/claustrophobic nature of it.

One thing that was beyond irritating was Kate banging on about her bloody neck and how much it hurt, it was even more irritating because she did nothing about it apart from take drugs and ignore medical advice.

[Annabel Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 ass, it was so realistic.

Aside from that, I 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.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very human novel, both witty and sad, about the intensity of being devoted to an art, and the insidious devastation wrought by mental illness. The Cranes, two sisters, are ballet dancers: Kate, the narrator, is successful and accomplished, yet permanently in the shadow of the phenomenally talented but volatile Gwen. Her chatty, conversational narrative follows the events of one season, shortly after Kate has split with her boyfriend and Gwen has had a breakdown. The story is almost like a transcript of a spoken diary, and reading Kate's account is like having a long conversation with a good friend - funny, sarcastic, never pausing for breath, and full of unexpected laugh-out-loud moments, which are often just everyday observations related in a particularly amusing manner. Although I wasn't sure where the story was going or even whether I should care, I was riveted from the beginning simply because Kate was instantly so real to me. There are some moments of awkwardness when the book tries to delve into more serious issues, and at times I felt the author was taking a rather lazy approach to writing about mental illness - making the narrative nonsensical rather than actually instigating any real discussion about what's actually wrong with the characters. That aside, I was captivated by this book and absolutely raced through it. When you step back from the narrative, you realise it actually has a lot to say, but it says it all in such an engaging manner that you don't even realise you've been told, or learnt, anything until you reach the very end. It also swerves away from obvious, easy conclusions: there's no happy ending romantically, and Kate doesn't inherit all of her benefactor's money, despite what you might expect. If you are looking for a grown-up version of Bunheads or a lighter version of the film Black Swan, this book is it. If you're not, well, I'd recommend it anyway.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What fresh hell is this? Although I laughed out loud in several places, and loved every second of this book. I'm just going to say, that the thought of ever being in the same ballet company as my sister brought the shivers to my spine. My sister may very well read this, so I should say, this has nothing to do with her, in any way, since the thought of having to compete in any way with anyone I love in the complicated way sisters sometimes love each other would give me the crazies.

And that brings us to the concept of 'unreliable narrator.' for which this book is the poster child.

Many people on goodreads have disliked the opening chapter, but I loved it. I always feel like that when I am watching the market/festival/party scene in any ballet, which let me just say here, is never the shortest act in any ballet.

I believe I'll be tracking down more Meg Howrey books now.

[Larry H · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book several days ago, and I am still thinking about it…mulling over passages in my head. The characters and tragically beautiful writing continue to haunt me; the writing is both funny and heartbreaking, and I highlighted dozens of passages while I read. The writer, Meg Howrey, made so many astute observations about life that made me think, “I wish I had written that.” This is one of those rare books that is both witty and profound.

The Cranes Dance is primarily a book about relationships, mental illness, and other messy stuff, but it is also a book about the ballet world. But don’t be fooled, this is no tender love-letter to the arts; instead, the author has given us an honest and often irreverent survival story about ballet as bitch-goddess. I was hooked from the very first chapter, which describes the plot of Swan Lake in great detail. I know other reviewers thought this summary to be a bit too long, but the play-by-play technique was an excellent way to introduce readers to the narrator, Kate Crane, as well as the many-faceted world of dance she inhabits. I laughed out loud when Kate talks about the ridiculous pantomiming dancers do while in the background, since they are bereft of stage props or dialogue: “…then one person will indicate Center Stage like, ‘Hey, did you see? There are people dancing! Isn’t that neat!’ And the other person will make a gesture like ‘Yes! Dancing. It is happening there!’” I could totally relate to the absurdity of extreme gesturing, since I spent many years in plum roles like “3rd Tree Stump” and “2nd Village Woman” planted way, way upstage.

Kate as narrator provides many other wry and humorous observations about life and dance (I loved her complaints about dance movie clichés), but she also gifts the reader with heartfelt gems like, “The love we have is never as desirable as the love we want.” This novel isn’t plot-driven and focuses most on the internal thoughts of the main character, Kate, a soloist in a New York ballet company. Kate struggles to maintain her demanding career while she is consumed with anguish and guilt in the aftermath of her younger sister‘s, and fellow company member, nervous breakdown. Most of the external action comes from the day-to-day descriptions of Kate’s life, but the thick tension created by the uncertainty of what really happened with Kate and her sister makes this book a page-turner.

I loved this book for being so real and unflinchingly honest. I highly recommend this book and think you’ll love it if you’ve ever loved ballet, had a sister, or are simply intrigued by the relationship between madness and genius. I am looking forward to reading more by this incredibly gifted writer.

[Liviania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Crane is a soloist in a ballet company in New York City. Her younger sister is a principal in that same company. (For those who know nothing about ballet, principal is better than soloist.) But her younger sister is now at home recovering from a nervous breakdown. And Kate just threw out her neck.

I wanted to read THE CRANES DANCE because I love reading about ballet, but I was afraid it was going to be one of those books that earns its literary cred by being unrelentingly sad. I was definitely satisfied on the ballet side. Meg Howrey writes about the sport/the art with confidence and knowledge. The ballets are also summarized perfectly. Kate mocks the plots and the motions, but she does it with love and familiarity. As for sadness, there were many sad parts. There were times I was afraid that Kate would give into her worst self-destructive impulses.

But THE CRANES DANCE balances everything out by being funny. Kate's voice, always conversational, is full of dry, black humor. I would quote my favorite part, but it's inappropriate for this blog. Many characters make it clear that she's often distant and intimidating, and it's interesting to separate the things she actually does and says from her inner monologue. I will quote what is possibly my second favorite set of lines. It's an old sentiment well said.

"Just tell me what you want," said Klaus. "I don't know what you want."
Ah, we had come to this. Since the dawn of time has man said thus to woman.
- p. 191, ARC

Sisterly rivalry isn't a new topic either, but Howrey addresses the theme with emotional authenticity. Kate both wants the best for her sister and hates that she never got a chance to shine on her own. And shining is extremely important to people who spend their lives onstage.

THE CRANES DANCE is a powerful tale of ambition and rivalry told with sarcasm and verve. Meg Howrey can exit the stage to a standing ovation.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things I love:

1. Ballet.

2. People who are crazier than I am.

This book has both of those things. After reading a review of the novel in Entertainment Weekly last year, I immediately bought a copy. Of course, it took me six months to actually get around to reading it. Once I started, I was hooked. Kate Crane is a fascinating character and I feel as though I went on this very strange and enlightening journey with her.

I think I have more quotes from this book highlighted than any other book on my Kindle. Some of my favorites...

"I should think people would be disappointed if they watched that kind of movie and then came to see us dance and none of us slit our wrists onstage or made ourselves vomit or got on the backs of motorcycles while wearing tutus and started fucking each other." (OK, I forgive the author for making an obvious dig at "Center Stage", my all-time favorite movie.)

"Sometimes it’s just better to suck up the fact that you are an asshole and decide that tomorrow is the day you will start being the person you intend to be."

"...the overture began. God! Strings! Oboes! Timpani! Are you fucking kidding me? Why, when we know what human beings are capable of doing, do we not turn our collective heads in shame at the sight of rich housewives screaming at each other on television?"

"I cannot bear this love. Nor the loss of it."

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This must be my favourite ballet-related book I have ever read. It was so honest, open and just utterly gripping.

What I loved the most about this book is how different it is from all other ballet books I have read. This book does not limit itself to the stereotypical topics of competition, catfights, eating disorders and the dancers' unconditional love for dancing - all of which are legitimate topics to be discussed, but I've just read these stories SO MANY TIMES before. I loved that this book delved deeper and questioned this alleged adoration for a sport that demands so many sacrifices from those who pursue it. It also talks a lot about mental health issues that have nothing to do with body image and eating disorders, which was, frankly, refreshing. This book just stands out from the crowd.

I also adored Meg Howrey's writing style, and how real her characters became for me. I wish this book would never have ended, but since it did I will now have to read her other books to hopefully find something that even remotely compares to this. Absolutely wonderful.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

It definitely relied on ALL CAPS a bit too much, which demonstrated a lack of confidence in the writing and the writer's ability to express intense emotion. However, The Cranes Dance is an interesting character study that I could relate to in a lot of ways, and found it compulsively readable. I also enjoyed the not-so-low-key shade thrown at Black Swan.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved this. If I have any complaints, it's that it wasn't longer (the ending was a bit rushed), but the positives - the writing, the characters, BALLET!, SISTERS! - definitely outweigh that.

[CS · Rating 4 out of 5]

"No one makes a ballet or a symphony or a painting that expresses dating or looking for an apartment or switching to decaf...it's all on this elevated and unrealistic level."

Kate Crane and her sister, Gwen, are both ballet dancers in the same New York ballet company. As the story opens, Kate has severely injured her neck, and Gwen was taken home to recuperate. Kate is trying to come to terms with this, but the pain in her neck, the strain of ballet dancing, the pressure of perfection, and her twisted feelings for her sister (love, jealousy, competition and more) begin to eat at her.

NOTE: Provided by the Amazon Vine Program.

When I was a young girl, I thought being a ballet dancer would be awesome. My mother was a smart woman, though, and refused to give me lessons. (Given how clumsy I am, that was a good move--I'd probably have broken every bone in my body had she capitulated.) But one thing that has carried on is a fascination with ballet dancing. I'm not an avid fan of ballet dancing and couldn't given you a description of what a plie is, but I love watching and reading about the determination these ladies (and gents) have. This book reminds me of a combination of the movie, Black Swan, and a book I read last year, The Mistress's Revenge.

The book opens with a pretty intense description of Swan Lake. I've never seen the ballet (other than in Black Swan) so some of the analysis was helpful. However, at one point, the description goes on far too long. And with as little time as the actual ballet takes up in the novel, it's a little silly to have so many pages focused on it. However, this is probably the biggest, most in-depth, most "Ballet Technical" part of the novel. The rest of it doesn't require more than a very basic knowledge of ballet. Which is great, for someone like me.

The characters were intense and gritty. Kate makes a very interesting journey, as she attempts to medicate away her pain but then struggles with her feelings to Gwen, her frustrations, her unraveling life. I am an older sister who dearly loves her younger sister; I can understand Kate's desire to protect Gwen, but also how Kate is jealous of Gwen's performance, how Kate is frustrated with her parents' treatment of Gwen's condition.

For some of the background characters, I tended to forget who they were and their shtick. Did Nina do the "deedle-deedle" thing or was it Claudette? What about Gareth? But others became quite vivid. Mara was a great friend; I loved how she stuck by Kate's side, even when Kate selfishly kept things to herself and refused to talk about anything but herself. Roger was funny and light-hearted. David, Klaus, Marius...all these characters did gradually get to be more real and interesting as the story progressed. There was a bit of racism in how Yumi, the Asian talked (calling Lawrence "Rawlence"), but I didn't interpret it to be insulting or demeaning to the character.

Howrey wrote in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, which worked perfectly for her novel. Kate slipped in an out of the present, filling the audience in on how she joined the company, the first signs of Gwen's problems and more as we also see her struggle day-to-day. And in the end, everything comes together quite nicely. I do think that the last chapter should have been labeled "Epilogue" as it wrapped things up one year after the "present day" events in the novel, and I think it was a bit too tidy. However, I did think the conclusion was good (not TOO optimistic and cheery).

I really had a good time reading this. It kept me quite engaged until the end, and there were more than a few parts that I tore through to see how they would end. It's nice to read a book about a girl that isn't all about death and cancer and dark things nor one that is all falling in love with guys. This was a beautiful novel about two sisters, their relationship to each other and to the world. If you liked Black Swan, I encourage you to check this out.

[Riley Dawson Hushak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more of a 3.5 for me, but I knocked it down because I feel like the book could be kind of inaccessible for people who don't have any interest in dance. I'm not a dancer myself, but I'm interested in ballet, so I wasn't bothered by the huge amount of dance talk, but I feel like some people might be.

I definitely saw the similarity to Black Swan in this book, but I don't think that it's too similar (and really, one can only make so many stories based around the struggle of dance, so the similar angle didn't bother me much). I initially didn't like Kate's narration, I thought it was a little snarky, but she grew on me by the time I was about a third of the way through and I didn't have any problems with her after that. I think the slow release of information about Gwen was really well-done; I was kept wanting to know more but never so much that I had to flip forward to see what happened.

This was a Goodreads win for me and I'm really glad I entered the giveaway! It was a great summer read.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of this book is a description of the ballet Swan Lake and quite frankly I could have done without it, but I persevered and was so glad I did. Kate and her sister Gwen are young ballet dancers taken on by a prestigious New York ballet company. I have always had a fascination with the ballet world and this novel full of descriptive ballets, the pressure the dancers are under, the classes they are always taking, and the fierce competition between the dancers, where few ever make it out of the corp, more than fed my curiosity. This is a well written first novel about ballet, but about so much more. It is about sisters, their love and their individual talents as well as the responsibility the older always feels for the younger. It is a bout ambition and mental illness and the individual steps a person takes to thrive in less than ideal situations. I really enjoyed this book. ARC from NetGalley.

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not a good book. The sentences were poorly constructed, the characters poorly developed, and it was mind-numbingly repetitive. For the ending, the author forced a rapid descent into madness for the main character that was contrived and came out of nowhere. Somehow this madness was resolved and the book ends with a candy sweet message about being optimistic regardless of the circumstances, which is contrary to any previous personality traits of the main character, who spent the entire novel complaining and being a negative, surly person.

[Erin Healy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This to me was like My Year of Rest and Relaxation if I didn't want to hit the protagonist with my car... if that makes sense.
This is a hard book to read if you have a sister and you both grew up doing ballet and now one of you lives in New York and the other lives in Michigan. I cried a lot and I miss my sister!!
I'm bad at reviews but I really liked this! I think it lost its momentum sometimes and it's not a plot-heavy book by any means but it worked for me. I really want to go see a ballet now.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this. I was feeling a bit slumpy in my reading and felt like everything I was reading was the same so I randomly picked something from my ebook library that was 5+ years old. It ended up being this fantastic novel.

[Masteatro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado mucho aunque reconozco que no es perfecto ni mucho menos. Aún así me sorprende que no sea más conocido y no se haya publicitado más en redes. Creo que gustará mucho a todos aquellos a los que les gusta saber más acerca de cómo es la vida de los artistas y qué pasa entre bambalinas en el mundo de la danza. La autora fue bailarina solista profesional y sabe de lo que habla.

De todas formas, no sólo se habla de eso, la salud mental es un tema también importante. Hay escenas que me han desconcertado un poco pero en general lo he disfrutado mucho.

[Patrick Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so real, honest, and unique; how could I not give it 5 stars or ramble with a long review? I received an advanced readers copy of this book but haven't had much time with writing et al to read it until now. Meg's use of placed simple words for effect, free-flow dialogue, and descriptions allowed me to picture every dance step, stretch, and emotion. Her use of sarcastic humor, internal dialogue, and honesty to the character make the reader feel like a voyeur in her head, sharing her innermost thoughts and secrets. She even toys with the reader as a part of her "invisible audience" and tells us to keep our opinions to ourselves as we listen in. Being an architect by education, a composer, a singer, and now an author in my own life, the struggles within a creative mind ring true in the thoughts Meg shares. Being creative means extreme vulnerability and as if you are nude before God and country, and the desire to be the best for the audience and patrons is always on the tip of the mind while some blast you personally for your art. It is this fear of being discovered as a fraud, of not measuring up to the talented people around you, being so vulnerable, and the hard work to make it that are the common thread of anybody in the arts. But I would dare to say it really describes every human: someone in love, a mother who tries to be a good mother, a good wife, and holds a 'career' at home or in the office; the husband trying to be a good provider, husband, and father; a teen girl who tries to fit in and belong in a society where girls and women are harder on each other for their looks, their outfits, their popularity, their thoughts, and their fears; or a teen boy in the same boat with less drama but as many of the same thoughts. Meg captures all of this in the young girl, Bryce, and in the times Kate was a young girl with her sister Gwen. The thoughts never go away; they just morph with age and time. She captures the struggles of siblings and the oldest feeling somehow the role of protector and the jealousy of the younger siblings who seem to outshine them in their own mind. She captures the heartache of mental disorders that affect more Americans than those who want to admit it and address the commonality of needing some medical help. She captures parents-their idioms and quarks-as they try to protect their children and deny reality. And she captures the essence of all of us wondering how we can make it like a bike racer pedaling up hill to the finish line with nothing left to give and pondering whether to just bag it and give up on life. Life is not easy and the grass always looks greener...or in this case the barre on the other side of the room always looks better. Like life, it's tragic; it's funny; it's real! - Patrick, author Lessons in the Journey

[kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm standing in my dressing room now. I am here. I am in the present tense. I'm not always here, and sometimes here is a difficult place. Sometimes it is a labyrinth, or a Minotaur, or a rope I can neither let go of nor follow. It's hard to find the right words, but I guess I would say that it's something like feeling the floor.

God, I am attempting to marshal my thoughts because this book was very intense.

My first reaction to Kate's POV and the subsequent unreliable-ness was trepidation (due mostly, I think, to the reaction I had to the unreliable narrator of French's In the Woods). I didn't quite know if I should be worried--was she going to reveal skeletons, in her closet?--or wary--just how unreliable was she?

But then Kate is her own person! She is suffering and human and vengeful and loving and hurting and it's a mess of feelings and uncertainties and I understood her, even while I worried about her and for her and for those around her. Because her descent into depression and addiction and pain was so thorough and dark and real, that I just--

And her relationship with Gwen! God, how it tied me in knots because Gwen is ill; she needs support and love and yet I found myself so enraged with her because of how much she took and how little it seemed to matter to her. Which is horrible of me, yes, absolutely--but isn't that the hallmark of a story well told? That it illuminates the facets of yourself you never thought to shine a light on?

What is there to say when a book makes you both cherish and despise such a relationship? (That penultimate chapter! When Kate returns to Michigan and Gwen is worried about the bad times coming back! LIFE IS COMPLICATED AND SO IS THIS.)

This book and its contrasts, really; take for example Marius, who struck me as someone who realizes Kate's potential as a coach (her internal comments! The things she could have said to change trajectories!) and keeps an eye on her, even as he is a complete and total ass and telling her he has no plans to promote her.

It's those dualities that make The Cranes Dance so fascinating and realistic and haunting because nothing is black or white: everything is grey and interwoven and impossible to separate.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

To the average reader, this novel is probably quite boring: there is very little action and a large amount of personal, narrator-driven analysis... about depression. However, as someone who has experience perception-crippling depression herself, this book hit home. Of all the books I have read and the few people I've talked with who have also experienced depression, this insight into Kate's life and decline into depression -and her sister's- was scarily spot-on with my own experiences. After work today, I just had to completely shut down and finish reading the remaining 200 pages. I haven't done that in a long while; it felt so good to be totally immersed in the story and not distracted by this ever-looming and ever-present internet-thing.

When I was depressed in high school, the only coping mechanism I had was to read voraciously. I escaped the despair and self-loathing and out-of-control feeling by falling into the protagonist's struggles, which were always solved by the end of the story, unlike my own, which seemed to never end. In college, I "coped" by immersing myself 200% in my homework. Reading The Cranes Dance had an interesting effect on me: I digressed back to that mindset -desperate need to cut off the over-analysis sprinting through my mind- by combining both of these coping mechanisms: rapidly finishing the book and analyzing Howrey's syntax, metaphors, and pathos. As such, my marginalia is quite overt (and in red pen (subconscious bleeding (from cutting, from my mental deprecation, from the loss of optimism?? lol))), but enjoyable for this English nerd.

While I enjoyed The Cranes Dance very much (being able to look at your own actions in a dual fly-on-the-wall yet personal level (due to the first person narration and her over-analysis (which seriously is a side effect of depression)) is humbling, humiliating, and educational), I am glad that the masochism is over, and I can move onward and away from that depression that I work so hard to keep at bay.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

There's nothing inherently wrong with a novel concentrating on the minutiae of one particular industry or type of job, and in fact sometimes this is what novels do best -- think of Moby Dick or The Jungle, for example -- but it does mean that you're risking turning off big portions of your potential audience if they end up not really caring that much about the specific topic that book is discussing, and if you don't give them enough reason to be fascinated by the topic anyway. And here, unfortunately, Meg Howrey's look at being a young, full-time professional dancer in New York City is just too full of meaningless details and bereft of larger conclusions to have had much of an impact on me, certainly beautiful and entertaining at many moments but with those moments too few and far between. Containing a level of detail about the mundanities of a typical dancer's day that I myself found really intolerable at times, it'll be a wet dream for anyone who specifically wants to read about such a subject; and its charming anecdotes about gaggles of brave yet scared teenage roommates having the biggest adventures of their lives in a magically romantic midtown Manhattan absolutely bodes well for Howrey's long-term career, and shows that she has a real winner in her in the future when she weds this attention to detail with a stronger story premise. A limited recommendation, only to those interested in reading a genteel take on the daily life of a working ballerina, but those people should go fairly crazy over this enjoyable sleeper.

Out of 10: 8.2, or 9.2 for ballet fans

[Valentina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the best book I’ve read so far this year. I received an advanced copy from NetGalley and I am counting the days until its release date so that I can buy a copy for myself.
It is about two sisters, two ballerinas, focusing mainly on their relationships and the way that dance affects both their lives. It’s hard to put into words the beauty of this book. It is not only the plot, which is intricate, with twisting veins leading the reader back and forth through time. It is the writing that is absolutely astounding. At first, I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy the narrator’s voice, since it’s abrasive, sarcastic, sometimes self-pitying, but the more I read, the more I came to enjoy the way she looked at her world, the things she felt. She is a fantastic unreliable narrator.
I can’t say enough about the intelligence in every line of this book. It is the kind of writing that makes you want to reread every sentence and suck it dry for meaning. It is such a lyrical novel, yet so human and real. I cannot recommend this book enough. You NEED to read it, so put it’s release date on your calendar and run to buy a copy.

[cissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow this book was very powerful! I loved it, I learned so much about ballet and this book was just so beautifully written and the characters were so complex and fucked up but I could see myself in them in both Kate and Gwen It was magical to read about ballet and this toxic relationship betweet these sisters. Amazing.