Hello guys!
This week's Saturday Pages comes a lil later than usual because I finished this book so late last night that I was too tired to write the review upon finishing it and I needed to let the whole book sink in a bit.
It is February's Alyssa Recommends book and since that is one of the categories in my 105 Challenge, it is counted towards it, as well as my 2015 Debut Author Challenge, since it was a 2014 debut.
Pointe by Brandy Colbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pointe was one of my Alyssa Recommends books, and this month I felt like reading it, because I've been more drawn to anything and everything with ballet references as of late.
Theo is a normal teenager on the surface, dedicate to her love for ballet and doing well enough at school, going out to parties with her friends, and with one or two not so unhealthy habits. But very soon we see there's so much more in the past that we don't know, and the façade of Theo doing well starts crumbling once a ground-shaking event happens, her best friend Dononvan who was abducted/kidnapped 4 years ago, when they both were 13, has been found and returned home.
With Donovan's return and the revelation of who his captor was, Theo has her world shaken to the foundation, and she finds herself slipping to an already known spiral for her, the same one she fell into 4 years ago, when her then boyfriend left without a trace and her best friend disappeared.
This book deals with a lot of tough subjects and doesn't pull any punches when it comes to bad language, eating disorders, sexual relationships, drug usage, rape and abuse. It also has positive relationships with friends and parents, safe environments and a main character that undergoes a lot of growth all through the book.
Theo is not a perfect character by any means, she has many unresolved issues and the one that requires more work is the fact that she doesn't see herself as a victim, even if her eating disorder was a desperate bid for control when she felt she had none, she always kept her secret and she refused to think that there was anything wrong with it, and once it really sinked in for me what had been going on between her and her "boyfriend"... I felt like I had been punched!
This book is definitely gritty and shows us a face that might one to ignore, the fact that teenagers do have sex, that even regular good teenagers that do have a drive and love for something so demanding like ballet can still do drugs occasionally, can be at risk in ways their parents can't suspect no matter how they try to protect them, and one of the best lessons from this book is how Theo's parents may not know what is going on, but they do take action, they are there for her daughter and remind her of that, they're not oblivious, but if you don't feel like you need help or if you don't know if you deserve the help... you are the one that will need to take the first step and you need to confide in someone at some point.
Despite what a tough book this is, it ends with a lot of hope, with Theo being the one to ask for help once she realizes she needs it, Theo learning to be strong enough on her own and not expecting someone else's appreciation to make her special. She decides that no one can heal her unless she does it herself, and that is a wonderful message of hope.
A brilliant debut, so tough, beautiful and poignant, very well deserved of 4 to 4.5 stars for sure! I'll be looking forward for more books from this author!
View all my reviews
This week's Saturday Pages comes a lil later than usual because I finished this book so late last night that I was too tired to write the review upon finishing it and I needed to let the whole book sink in a bit.
It is February's Alyssa Recommends book and since that is one of the categories in my 105 Challenge, it is counted towards it, as well as my 2015 Debut Author Challenge, since it was a 2014 debut.
Pointe by Brandy ColbertMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pointe was one of my Alyssa Recommends books, and this month I felt like reading it, because I've been more drawn to anything and everything with ballet references as of late.
Theo is a normal teenager on the surface, dedicate to her love for ballet and doing well enough at school, going out to parties with her friends, and with one or two not so unhealthy habits. But very soon we see there's so much more in the past that we don't know, and the façade of Theo doing well starts crumbling once a ground-shaking event happens, her best friend Dononvan who was abducted/kidnapped 4 years ago, when they both were 13, has been found and returned home.
With Donovan's return and the revelation of who his captor was, Theo has her world shaken to the foundation, and she finds herself slipping to an already known spiral for her, the same one she fell into 4 years ago, when her then boyfriend left without a trace and her best friend disappeared.
This book deals with a lot of tough subjects and doesn't pull any punches when it comes to bad language, eating disorders, sexual relationships, drug usage, rape and abuse. It also has positive relationships with friends and parents, safe environments and a main character that undergoes a lot of growth all through the book.
Theo is not a perfect character by any means, she has many unresolved issues and the one that requires more work is the fact that she doesn't see herself as a victim, even if her eating disorder was a desperate bid for control when she felt she had none, she always kept her secret and she refused to think that there was anything wrong with it, and once it really sinked in for me what had been going on between her and her "boyfriend"... I felt like I had been punched!
This book is definitely gritty and shows us a face that might one to ignore, the fact that teenagers do have sex, that even regular good teenagers that do have a drive and love for something so demanding like ballet can still do drugs occasionally, can be at risk in ways their parents can't suspect no matter how they try to protect them, and one of the best lessons from this book is how Theo's parents may not know what is going on, but they do take action, they are there for her daughter and remind her of that, they're not oblivious, but if you don't feel like you need help or if you don't know if you deserve the help... you are the one that will need to take the first step and you need to confide in someone at some point.
Despite what a tough book this is, it ends with a lot of hope, with Theo being the one to ask for help once she realizes she needs it, Theo learning to be strong enough on her own and not expecting someone else's appreciation to make her special. She decides that no one can heal her unless she does it herself, and that is a wonderful message of hope.
A brilliant debut, so tough, beautiful and poignant, very well deserved of 4 to 4.5 stars for sure! I'll be looking forward for more books from this author!
View all my reviews
This cover looks so so pretty. <3 I like it, lol :) Not sure if I want to read this book.. but maybe one day :D But anyway. Your review is amazing Pili. <3 I'm so glad you ended up loving this book :D It do seem a bit dark and awesome. Maybe I'll want to read it someday :D Thank you for sharing sweetie. <3
ReplyDeleteThe cover is such a stunner, Carina!! Really really gorgeous!
DeleteIt's a tough book and I'm not sure how you'd like it, but it was really a book worth reading!
Thank you sweetie!
I've seen this book around a couple of times, and I wonder why it's not as popular as it should be. It sounds like one of those books that have layers of depth and talk about issues many others shy away from but still need to be heard nonetheless. Edgy and gritty is how I like my contemporaries to be! Thanks for the review, Pili :)
ReplyDeleteFaye at The Social Potato
Then this is one book you really need to give a try, Faye! I'm sure you'll love it!
DeleteI love this cover, it always catches my eyes when I see it around. I think I am going to have to go find this one. It sounds amazing! Great review Pili <3
ReplyDeleteI do hope you'll give it a try, Amber! And the cover is soooo gorgeous!!
DeleteI recently read this one too and really liked it. It is a maddening book to read because her worldview is so warped by what she's been through that she's making bad choices all over the place.
ReplyDeleteYep, it was hard to read when you can so clearly see what she cannot!
DeleteMy goodness you made this book sound interesting. My college housemate was a ballerina, so I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of this art first hand and this story sounds like it is right on pointe. Ha ha. That was really cheesy, I know. :)
ReplyDeleteA bit of a cheesy pun, but not too bad!
DeleteAnd the book is really interesting, La! I do hope that you'll check this one out!
YAY! Pili, I'm so glad this one worked out for you! It was a "tough" read, in terms of all the gritty and heartbreaking issues, but totally worth every page. And oooo, I'm curious about your ballet interest ;D
ReplyDeleteExcellent review, lady!
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
P.S. I missed February. I haven't missed a month since we started this almost a year ago, and I'm disappointed that I missed this month's recommendation. However, I'll definitely be reading two recommendations in March :D
As far as my ballet interest is all Winterspell and Claire Legrand's fault! She talked about the Nutcracker ballet, I went to see it and it reignited by love for it again! I did ballet for a pair of years as a preteen/teen but stopped when I was 14, I chose regular academia to the demanding schedules of ballet.
DeleteAnd yay for reading two books in March! You've been so busy as of late that I'm not surprised you missed this one, I nearly miss it myself! *hugs*
I'm glad this book doesn't shy away from the heavy stuff. Sometimes I feel like books tend to be too elusive, they like to hide things because they don't think we can handle it. We can! We can! It's a bit realistic this way. Some books paint life to be all flowers and bunnies, it's not though. Whoa I'm getting depressing. Sorry hun. I love this review though! I am captivated by anything with ballet too :) Lovely review hun, so glad you enjoyed this!
ReplyDeleteI agree Rachel! I can understand that not all books have to be as gritty and realistic as this one, because there are many different realities, as many as people are out there, but everything needs to be represented! We need to see and experiments the good, the bad and the ugly, and seeing it in a book is the safest way possible to do so!
DeleteI am someone who loves reading ballet books too, so this one has caught my eye before and is currently on my TBR. I love the cover to it, but it seems like it has more of a nitty gritty subject matter and that it isn't watered down at all. But that is something I like to see in my books :D
ReplyDeleteI do hope you'll get to it soon and enjoy it as much as I did, Olivia!
DeleteThank you so very much!