Pointe

Just after I read Pointe I had a family emergency that took me away from home for a few weeks. As a result, this particular review got left by the wayside. I normally write my reviews within a few days of finishing a book, and since several weeks have now passed, this will be a little different from most of my reviews.

First of all, I LOVED Pointe. I am usually drawn to books that feature the darker side of ballet (a sort of gritty, behind the scenes look) and that is what I was hoping for in Pointe. It is not what I got, but I wasn't actually disappointed. Our main character, Theo is terribly broken. She has suffered an eating disorder, the disappearance of her best friend and horrible guilt over her involvement. She creates falsities that she convinces herself are true and makes terrible decisions. When Donovan suddenly reappears, she is forced to confront her role in his disappearance and the awful circumstances that led to it. There is a great deal of internal struggle as Theo tries to decide not only whether she will tell her side of the story but also come to terms with what happened to her as a child. Looking back through more mature eyes, she is able to see things she never realized as a young girl and finally confront the past that has haunted her.

Pointe covers A LOT of ground. We have a ballet competition, an eating disorder, a missing friend, rape, drugs, and a cheating boyfriend. In the beginning, things are a little slow as the plot appears to concentrate mainly on Theo's burgeoning love interest, which is pretty boring. Things pick up once we get into the meat of the story and we learn more and more about what happened to Theo and Donovan. Through flashbacks we learn more about the circumstances of the disappearance. Theo doesn't seem to have any idea how horrific this thing that happened to her is and we watch in silent horror and pity ans she self destructs under the weight of her story. The plot continues at a slow burn until the climax.

Bottom Line: I loved the pacing and character development in Pointe and will definitely be picking up Brandy Colbert's next book.

What I Liked
Theo, short for Theodora, makes a lot of really bad choices. She’s definitely riding on the hot mess express for most of Pointe. Despite her intense passion for ballet and dreams of having a professional ballet career, Theo drinks more than is good for her, smokes occasionally, and does drugs. She lost her virginity when she was 13 to an 18 year old, who left her without any explanation. Following his desertion and the disappearance of her best friend, Donovan, Theo developed an eating disorder, as an attempt at feeling in control. Though she’s been sent to Juniper Hills for rehab, she continues to avoid eating as much as possible.

As you can probably tell, Theo’s not a healthy girl mentally or physically. Reading Pointe hurts, because you want so badly to intervene but you can’t. If I could climb inside the book and give her a talking to, I would. The thing is that you can’t. It’s actually a lot like real life, because, no matter how much you want to help someone like Theo, you really can’t; even if you’re close, they can’t be helped until they are ready to be, just like Juniper Hills was ineffective.

To use some comparison marketing here, Pointe is a bit like Wintergirls meets Center Stage, though with much more of the Laurie Halse Anderson side of things. The ballet aspects are amazing. I love the way that ballet is clearly the only thing keeping Theo going. It’s the only thing in her life that’s stable and that she can count on. It’s the one thing that keeps her eating, albeit minimally.

On Goodreads, you’ll see Pointe classified, among other things, as a romance. While there is kissing and even sexing, Pointe is not a romance. This is a novel about acknowledging and dealing with your problems. This is not the sort of issues book where a tragic past is fixed by the discovery of a new love. THIS is the reason that Pointe worked for me. The emotional arc is well done and entirely believable.

What Left Me Wanting More:
Obviously, I struggled at the beginning with Theo’s drug use (I just can’t with this) and with Theo’s narrative voice. For whatever reason, Theo’s first person narrative voice didn’t really work for me. I never fell into the character and became entirely enraptured. I felt a bit removed and was aware of the fact that I was just reading a character, rather than becoming absorbed in a person.

Final Verdict:
I recommend Pointe for readers of dark contemporary novels, particularly fans of Laurie Halse Anderson. It’s a thought-provoking, painful read with a good message.