The Ballet Lover

by Barbara L. Baer

The Ballet Lover exposes the beauty and cruelty of ballet, the performances, the back stage moments, and the personal dramas of the famous ballet dancers Rudolf Nureyev and Natalia Makarova as seen through the eyes of an American female journalist.

Paris, 1970s: the orchestra plays the first ominous note of Swan Lake. In the audience sits Geneva, an American journalist and ballet lover, waiting for the heart-stopping beauty and seduction of the romantic duet to start, but instead she witnesses Rudolf Nureyev failing to catch his Russian partner Natalia Makarova, allowing her to fall with a crash upon the stage.

Geneva interprets the fall as an act of cruelty, a man with all the fame and power in the world brutally letting fall his delicate, wraith-like artistic partner. When other critics defend Nureyev and accuse Makarova of causing her own tumble, Geneva vows revenge on the page, creating havoc in her own career and discovering surprising parallels between herself and the fallen ballerina.

The Ballet Lover is a refined, mesmerizing, fictional account of two of the most celebrated dancers in the dance world, how one compromised the other, and how the drama on the stage often mirrors those played out in real life.

162 pages, Paperback

Published September 20, 2017

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A truly interesting story that left me wanting to know more.


SUMMARY
An American journalist who loves the ballet gets caught up in the drama of the Rudolf Nureyev and Natalia Makarova partnership, in the early 1970’s. The journalist, Geneva, was a first hand witness to the tension during a rehearsal that escalated to the ultimate insult when Nureyev let Makarova fall on a Paris stage. Geneva quickly pours her outrage into a story and ships it to her publisher. Her friend and publisher, Connor refuses to print the story, and dramatically tears the pages into pieces. Despite pictures and interviews that documented the fall, Connor, fearing libel, would not budge, calling it instead a missed cue, an unfortunate accident. Geneva quits her position with the magazine over the disagreement and tries to move on.


REVIEW
One perhaps may need to be a ballet master in order to truly appreciate The Ballet Lover. I admit my knowledge of ballet history is somewhat limited, but I so wanted to love this book but instead found it to be a struggle. The plot left me with many unanswered questions. Geneva’s character development, and those of her aunt, boyfriend, and publisher were somewhat thin. I never felt like I knew or understood them well enough to appreciate their role in the story. Overall, the writing and order was confusing, but I really appreciate the main idea of the story. Thanks to LibraryThing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Haley The Caffeinated Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geneva's dedication to her writing is great and I love that this turn into a grand love story, her focus is writing about dancing. She holds fast to her opinion even when others disagree and I think that the ending of the story was perfect for her considering the bond she has with her Aunt. Baer mixes in tidbits of historical ballet facts with a novella that focuses on two ballet dancers in particular. Nureyev and Makarova.

The MC is the journalist who captures the feeling of the dancers on stage, watching the progress of the two dancers throughout their careers. At the beginning of each chapter Baer gives us a snippet of performance and though it doesn't seem to add to the story itself as far as plot I feel it helps set the stage each time and those little snippets were my favorite part!

This is novella and not a fully fleshed-out book, so that expectation could be kept in mind before diving in. It can easily be read in one or two sittings and if you enjoy ballet history I would recommend this. 

Thank you to Open Books for a chance to read a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Ballet Lover is a very well-researched historical fiction about 1970s ballet dancers. The main character is a journalist whose sole occupation is to follow these dancers and what they do. It was a very easy read. However, the quality and expertise in the writing of this novel were sub-par and ultimately disappointing.

Each chapter began with a long paragraph about the ballet covered in that chapter. Way too long, and not directly connected with the text. Although there are only twelve chapters, each chapter included multiple (3 or usually more) breaks. The lapse of time between the breaks seemed irregular and unpredictable. It was hard to tell how one thing led to another with that sort of inconsistency in the timeline of the piece.

There were a couple conversations in other languages that were left completely untranslated. I don't speak French fluently enough for this in an English novel!

There was no character development, really. I was unable to connect to the story in any way.

Although Baer used a lot of big words and debatably unnecessary accent marks, The Ballet Lover lacks passion. It reads as if it were a short story assigned for a High School English class that the author was forced to put together for a grade - not pleasurable in the least. I'll be reading another of Baer's books soon, and hoping this second chance proves that not all her work is so lackluster.

I received this book a free ebook from BookGlow in exchange for an honest review.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from LibraryThing in return for an honest review.

Geneva Robbins is a journalist sent to cover the new partnership between Rudolf Nureyev and Natalia Makarova in the 1970's. This new partnership is full of drama and tension. After Rudolf lets Natalia fall on stage Geneva writes a scathing op ed about the incident. Her publisher, Connor, refuses to publish the piece leading Genevea to re-evaluate her life and career choices. This story is full of details about ballet and some of the history of it.

Overall this book is full of beautiful details and descriptions. That being said I found the plot to be slow and even after finishing the book I am still not one hundred percent sure about what the purpose of it was. I would recommended this book for readers who know about the history of ballet.

[Rusty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love reading books focusing on the arts which is why I chose to read The Ballet Lover by& ;Barbara L. Baer by. The key character is a reporter who loves ballet, attends ballet programs and writes about the performances and the dancers she interviews. She is entranced with the dancer, Natalia Makarova, and tries to attend any performance she can featuring the dancer. In Paris when Makarova was dancing with Rudolf Nureyev in Swan Lake, she saw the entire performance. Some readers may remember that this was the show where Nureyev failed to catch his ballet partner, Makarova. Apparently, there was some unpleasant history between the two. According to the author, he just stood and looked at her with his hands on his hips when she crumpled to the floor. He is portrayed as a rather inconsiderate individual. An interesting sidelight is the friendship between the reporter and her editor. She felt that Nureyev's failure to catch Makarova was intentional and wanted to include it in her report. Due to Nureyev's popularity the editor said no as he wanted to avoid any legal battles. The confrontation led to the reporter changing positions but maintaining her friendship with the editor. Nice little read.

[Anne Ruff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book about one of the most beautiful art forms. The descriptions of the ballet performances, the dancers, and the emotional impact of ballets are elegant and delicious. The story blends intriguing minor plot lines about the supporting characters' WWII era experiences in Russia, and the heady counterculture of California in the 1970s. This quick and poetic read opened up a whole world I knew nothing about. A pleasure to read this homage to the incredible Natalia Makarova, whether you are a ballet lover or not.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book left me confused. The descriptions of the ballet performances and the off stage interactions were interesting. Then came the relationship between Geneva and Albert. Their interaction was also intriguing. Somehow everything did not fir together just right. Too many loose ends with Connor, Ruth and Celia