Customer Reviews

On Pointe

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4 star:		(4)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book for my daughter and after skimming through it I sat down and read it myself. Although the book is somewhat about ballet - anyone who has ever had a dream, a family, and some rough times growing up will relate. What I loved most is the author writes with such clarity from each character's perspective. She voices opinions that real teenagers have as well as letting you know how the adult characters feel. Worth every penny.

In her second novel, ON POINTE, Lorie Ann Grover appears to follow the philosophy that less is more; and quite brilliantly. The brevity of her prose punctuates each idea that she very carefully sculpts for her reader. While wordiness may appeal to some, Grover is skilled at painting sketches in vivid, powerful colors getting right to the heart of the matter.

Her books are in the young novel category, but her publishers might find it interesting that many of her readers are grown women. Grover writes about hard hitting issues that many contemporary women have grown up with. Her characters are young women on the threshold of adulthood, but their thoughts are reminiscent of the tape that has played through every grown woman's mind at various points in time with themes that our society pounds into the female psyche.

As an avid reader of non-fiction, Grover's works are the first fiction I've read in years -- again quite by accident as my daughter encouraged me to read both ON POINTE and LOOSE THREADS.In turn, I encourage other women to read her work.

In loose terms, Grover could be a modern day Emily Dickinson. The only recommendation is that Simon & Schuster change marketing plans to reach Grover's widest potential audience.

On Pointe is a novel-in-verse book written long poem form. This book is for the most part an easy read. You wont want to put it down. This book shows the life of a girl named Clare and her dream of becoming a member of the City Ballet Company.

Clare is faced with different problems between her parents, and the kids fighting for the same spot she is. This book is for anyone who enjoys dance or just reading about a girl who is trying to live out her dream.

Clare has a dream: to dance professionally. In the summer before her senior year in high school, she moves to her grandfather's home to train more seriously and try for the City Ballet:

There are only

sixteen positions

in City Ballet.

Sixteen positions

make the company.

How many in my class?

How many in the conservatory?

How many in western Washington

dream

like me

to be

one

in sixteen?

Clare trains hard and loves to dance. (I especially appreciate Lorie Ann Grover's descriptions of the pain and the beauty of dancing on pointe.) But Clare has a problem--one that escalates while living at her grandfather's--she's becoming too tall. And there's not much she can do about that.

Clare's not alone in her struggles. Her "best friend" in Madame's serious class is Rosella and Rosella has been throwing up to maintain her weight. Dia has grown too big and needs "a big bra" and her hips "are huge." But with the stakes as high as they are no one does much talking. When Dia is called in for "the talk" with Madame, for example, Dia disappears without a word. And no one mentions her absence.

Add to Clare's stress her mother's constant mention of "our dream" when they talk on the phone. (Note to moms: don't do this!) Oh, and grandfather--a wonderful, kind, prune juice drinking man six days of the week--becomes a little passive aggressive on the whole Sunday church-going issue.

In writing "On Pointe" as a novel in verse, Grover has chosen wisely from an aesthetic point of view. Clare's personality--straightforward, hardworking, serious--comes through in Grover's spare free verse. "On Pointe" is for anyone who has ever thought, "Even though I'm trying hard,/failure/could be/my future."

"On Pointe" is highly recommended for children as young as ten and as old as eighteen. I'd also recommend this book to the moms of the world (even the most well-meaning of us can make some big mistakes).

A hopeful ballerina named Claire discovers that she may be considered too tall to pursue her dream. This book details grief, eating disorders, and family matters, all realistically explained. Most importantly, it is all conveyed with a sense of hope.

The novel is written in verse and flows as eloquently as the classical music Claire dances to, with a steady rhythm and pacing. All of the scenes that take place in a rehearsal studio and on stage feel incredibly real. The author herself was a dancer for years, and you can tell.

I recommend On Pointe by Lorie Ann Grover to fans of A Dance of Sisters by Tracey Porter, Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian Cirrone, and A Time for Dancing by Davida Wills Hurwin. Younger readers might also like The Sisters Impossible by J.D. Landis.

If you enjoy reading ballet books and stories about teens who go after their dreams, then On Pointe by Lorie Ann Grover is a great book for you. This book is for ages 8-12 to read and is written in the style of a long poem. Claire dreams to be a dancer in the city ballet company. She must move in with her grandpa because her family lives too far from the ballet company. Besides practicing all the time, she must give up her friends and watch what she eats. Does Claire have what it takes to make it into the company?

The prose-ish style this book is written in works amazingly well: Grover finds a way to say so much in so few words.

While the family crisis that occurs later in the book is a little too convenient,I didn't find that it took away from the book as a whole.

As a dancer I think I appreciated this book more than the average reader. However, you definetely don't have to be a dancer to enjoy this book.

The characters' problems were a tad cliche (overbearing mother, anorexia, body issues, etc.), but Grover was able to find a happy medium and so all the characters feel very real.

Overall, a unique, short read.

Clare is a dancer. She wants to join the City Ballet, but she's taller than most professional dancers. Can she make it? If she can't, what will she do? On Pointe examines what happens when our dreams change. Clare begins the summer auditioning for the City Ballet, living with her grandfather, and chatting with her friend Rosella, who says negative things about their peers that make Clare uncomfortable. By the end of summer, Clare's perspective and priorities have undergone a dramatic shift.

Lorie Ann Grover's verse beautifully conveys the work, pain, and pride that come with being a dancer, as well as the self-consciousness and alienation we feel as our bodies change us from children to adults. Clare learns that our passions don't have to be our professions. This is a valuable lesson for anyone, but it is especially valuable for readers who are passionate about one art or another.

I would recommend On Pointe to fans of dance, poetry, or readers struggling to define themselves.

Clare wants to get into the City Ballet. That's what all her life has been about. In the beginning of the story, you see her struggle with ballet, because she is too tall, her feet too big, she isn't flexible, her body not dainty and balletic enough.You see how much she's risked for ballet, how her whole life revolves around it. She lives with her grandpa, just because he lives near a good ballet studio, instead of living near her parents. He has different points of view, including that she IS a dancer, that dancing takes too much out of you, and church. Her mom is pushing her to get into City Ballet, so much that Clare sees a problem. Just like many other moms, when her mom sees that Clare can do something great, she says that they (meaning her and Clare) could do something great---when actually it's Clare who bleeds, sweats, cries over ballet. And when her grandpa has a stroke, everything changes. And then the audition comes and goes, and Clare realizes that being a dancer doesn't mean being accepted by the ballet world by a company necessarily because she IS a dancer, just like her grandpa said, and dance is her life. But it is no longer her enemy too, with the blood and sweat and tears. The story, written in free verse poem form, is a raw account of the joy and the tears of ballet, while showing insight in family matters, and friendships Clare never could have because of ballet. You see all the things dancers sacrifice for dance, like life, friends, school, family, love, and beauty normally found by so many, that they don't have because all they want is to dance. It has a peek into a dancer's reasoning for eating disorders, but clare isn't the one who wrenches your heart because of it. It shows what a dancer really is, and it really inspires the reader to go and put your heart into your dance, even if it isn't ballet. I loved this book, and especially if you love ballet, but even if you just love dance, you will feel the strong connections and her heartbreak will become your heartbreak, her triumphs will become your triumphs, and the end comes way too quickly.

' Lizzy

This book is about Clare, a young ballerina with hopes of getting into City Ballet. This book does a great job to show the diffucult training that dancers go through. I could relate to it, being a dancer myself. This book is a realistic look at what it truly means to be a "prima ballerina". It shows the things dancers do to get their dream to come true, while adding a little reality of family affairs.