• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Challenges
  • Reviews
  • Contact
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Books of Amber

Latest Posts

Book Review: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

Debut Author Interview: Sam Taylor, We Are the Fire

Book Review: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton

05/05/2015      1 Comment

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle ClaytonTiny Pretty Things by Dhonielle Clayton, Sona Charaipotra
Release Date: 26th May 2015
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: three-stars

Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars in this soapy, drama-packed novel featuring diverse characters who will do anything to be the prima at their elite ballet school.

Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance—but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette's desire to escape the shadow of her ballet star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever. When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.

I was initially intrigued by the premise of this book because of Bunheads, another novel about the ballet that I absolutely loved. Tiny Pretty Things is in many ways a pretty similar story but whereas Bunheads is told from a single POV, Tiny Pretty Things opts for multiple narration by a host of different characters. Both books, I thought, were really good at lifting the veil on a very closed off world and showing the life behind the curtains.

So this novel has several characters telling their own stories that all feed into a main storyline. Gigi, one of the first characters we’re introduced to, is an incredibly talented ballerina who almost immediately lands the lead roles despite being a black girl in a largely white oriented culture. June, a long time student at the ballet school where the story is set, has bulimia that emerged from her efforts to push herself into becoming a better ballerina. She is also Korean and experiences the same racism that Gigi faces. Bette, who quickly became my favourite out of the three girls, is the younger sister of a brilliant ballerina and finds herself displaced when Gigi’s talent outshines her own. Although these three girls can be considered the main characters, there are even more characters who don’t have POVs but have their own stories going on in the background which are all pretty interesting.

So I want to just mention the depictions of racism and eating disorders in this book. The former is discussed with a kind of shocking frankness – black and Asian ballerinas are often passed over for lead roles simply because they lack the pure white skin that is considered the ‘ideal’ for lead ballerinas in prestigious ballets. The book even mentions a Russian saying about ‘snowy white skin (paraphrased)’ that has bled into ballet culture because of the enormous influence of Russia in the ballet. It was repellent to read about but nevertheless absolutely fascinating. On the depiction of eating disorders – the descriptions are graphic to show the limits these girls go to in order to survive in such a cutthroat world. There are scenes in which the girls are weighed, with 100 pounds being the acceptable weight and how, for many of the girls, that is simply too heavy to be acceptable in a world in which your performance depends on being able to carry your own weight. June is at the extremes with her bulimia but she is by no means the only girl with a complex about food – every character we see in this book has an aversion to food, be it skipping meals or throwing up everything they’ve eaten in order to stay ‘light’. Bette also takes pills that are meant for sufferers of ADHD in order to narrow her focus when she’s dancing, and this is pretty much the norm for just about every student at the ballet school. It is honestly frightening. And how the book points out that all of this is mostly because there are so many female ballerinas competing amongst themselves to be the best, while male ballet dancers don’t feel the same pressure simply because there aren’t as many of them to compete with – the undeniable undercurrent of sexism is felt, at times very heavily, in this book.

Tiny Pretty Things is an intriguing read as well as being a good example of characters being interesting while not being likeable. I especially enjoyed the conflict between the girls that escalated from the petty to the downright murderous because you know, I do enjoy stories about teenage girls being dangerous and wild. My only real criticisms lie with the character Gigi and the ending of the book. Gigi, for me, was entirely too cutesy and sweet for a story like this one – it was too much like a good girl/bad girl vibe and I don’t care about that at all. Girls are layered and do terrible things to each other all the time, largely because of the dichotomy between the ‘ideal’ girl and how girls view themselves as being unable to live up to that ideal despite the immense pressure upon them to do so. In a story with such excellent depictions of female characters, Gigi felt like a constant step backward. I don’t mind stories in which innocent, naive girls are thrown in with the wolves if it means that they evolve but Gigi remains stagnant and boring for the entire story. LESS BELLA SWAN, MORE CLARKE GRIFFIN is what I’m saying here. And that ending? What was that? It was the poorest cliffhanger I’ve read in a while, and so sudden that I turned the remainder of pages, convinced that something was missing. It was honestly so rushed and felt lazy, as though the authors had just stopped caring by that point. But other than these two points, I do feel like this was a pretty good book that is just different enough to stand out.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Maddy E says

    07/05/2015 at 9:11 pm

    This book sounds fascinating. All of these issues become huge problems in the world of ballet and aren’t written about a lot, let alone discussed. Pointe by Brandy Colbert tackles some of the same issues, namely eating disorders and racism, but also with themes about rape and child abuse. This book sounds like it might have the same issue as Pointe: it’s trying to tackle too many issues at the same time. Did it do a good job of addressing each one while still having a cohesive storyline?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe via Email

Join 4,587 other subscribers

Current Giveaways

None

Currently Reading

Currently Reading

Upcoming Reviews

    Blogroll

    • All About Books
    • Artsy Musings of a Bibliophile
    • I Should Read That
    • Lisa is Busy Nerding
    • My Friends Are Fiction
    • Recaptains
    • The Daily Prophecy
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

    Hello!

    Hello!

    My name is Amber, I'm 27 years old, and I've been a book blogger, reviewer, and Tuber for ten years. When I'm not reading, I love gaming, exercising, cinema trips, hiking, and exploring.

    Welcome to my blog!

    Subscribe!

    Blog Archive

    Categories

    Follow us on Instagram

    (This book was sent to me by the author as a gift) (This book was sent to me by the author as a gift)

Happy release day to The Effort! I'm so excited to read this apocalyptic story about people coming together to prevent a global crisis. Like I said the other day, I'm really into disaster stories lately 😊

#books #booktube #smallyoutuber #smallyoutubercommunity #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookworm #bookish #debutauthors #21ders #debutbooks #debutshowcase #dac21 #the21ders #reading #igbooks #booksofig #igreads #book
    * ad - book provided by publisher for free in exch * ad - book provided by publisher for free in exchange for an honest review *

I'm smashing through my physical ARCs this week, which means it's almost time for me to read This is Not the Jess Show! I'm excited for this one, if a little cautious about how similar to The Truman Show it's going to be.

#books #booktube #smallyoutuber #smallyoutubercommunity #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookworm #yabooks #bookish #youngadultbooks #booksofig #igreads #currentlyreading #igbooks #bookstagramuk #bookstagrammer
    The first week back at work put me in an unfortuna The first week back at work put me in an unfortunate reading slump, but I'm hoping Hold Back the Stars will get me out of it! I'm going to be reading this one today and hopefully forgetting about real life.

#books #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookworm #bookish #sff #sffbooks #holdbackthestars #bookstoread #currentlyreading #reading #igbooks #booksofig #igreads #bookstagramuk #booksbooksbooks #bookgram
    * ad - book provided by publisher for free in exch * ad - book provided by publisher for free in exchange for an honest review*

I absolutely blasted through The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe this week! I was worried I was getting slumpy from too much sff so I switched to a YA thriller and WHEW, it was excellent. 

The Girls I've Been is about a girl called Nora who is the daughter of a con artist (and also bi!). She's living her own life now away from her mother, and then someone tries to rob a bank while she's inside it.

This was so fast paced and I love that it was told in a non linear format. Trigger warnings for lots of things, though. You can find the full list on the author's website but the main one for me was domestic violence.

#books #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookworm #yabooks #thegirlsivebeen #yathrillers #yathriller #thrillerbooks #booktube #smallyoutuber #smallyoutubercommunity #reading
    Because I like to read about other apocalypses dur Because I like to read about other apocalypses during pandemics, apparently.

 I've just started The Lightest Object in the Universe and I'm intrigued! Have you read it?

#books #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookworm #bookstagramuk #currentlyreading #dystopia #dystopianbooks #apocalypse #sff #sffbooks #bookish #booktube #smallbookstagrammer #booksbooksbooks
    *AD - book gifted by publisher in exchange for an *AD - book gifted by publisher in exchange for an honest review* 

Siri, Who Am I? was my final read of 2020 and it was a fun one. While I didn't love how the main character treated others, particularly her attitude towards sex workers, I did like how fast paced this one was and the slight mystery element mixed with Rich People Drama kept me reading. Will I reread it? No. But I enjoyed my time with it well enough.

#books #booktube #smallyoutuber #smallyoutubercommunity #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookworm #bookreview #smallbookstagrammer #booksbooksbooks #siriwhoami #romcom #reading
    I'm supposed to be starting The Bear and the Night I'm supposed to be starting The Bear and the Nightingale on Tuesday for my weekly buddy read, but I want to read it now! I should probably finish some of the books I've already started though.

#books #booktube #smallyoutuber #smallyoutubercommunity #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #bookstoread #tbr #tbrpile #toread #readingpile #reading #bookaddict #igbooks #booksofig #igreads #thebearandthenightingale #winternighttrilogy
    Yes, I'm still reading this 😂 I'm trying to fin Yes, I'm still reading this 😂 I'm trying to finish it by the end of the year but who knows if that'll happen? I'm enjoying buddy reading it with @ishouldreadthat though, and I'm sure she's appreciating my rants and fangirling.

#books #booktube #smallyoutuber #smallyoutubercommunity #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookworm #wordsofradiance #thewayofkings #Stormlight #stormlightarchive #brandonSanderson #fantasybooks #sff
    I am so unbelievably excited to try this YA thrill I am so unbelievably excited to try this YA thriller this month. I am tempted to drop everything and pick it up right now but, ya know, commitments.

#books #booktube #smallyoutuber #smallyoutubercommunity #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookworm #yabooks #youngadultbooks #thrillerbooks #smallbookstagrammer #booksbooksbooks #tbr #toberead #tbrpile #agoodgirlsguidetomurder
    I just HAD to feature one of my favourite books of I just HAD to feature one of my favourite books of the year, and the start of one of my all time favourite series before the end of 2020. I adore The City of Brass so much, and I recommend it to everyone I come across. I've reread it three times now, and in 2021 I plan to make it four!

What's your favourite fantasy series?

#books #booktube #smallyoutuber #smallyoutubercommunity #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookworm #daevabad #daevabadtrilogy #thecityofbrass #fantasybooks #fantasyreader #fantasy #reading #booksbooksbooks #booksofig #igreads #favoritebooks #christmasbooks #vlogmas #bookmas

    Copyright © 2021 ·