Author: Martha Schabas
Publisher: FSG
Publish Date: February 14, 2012
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Pages: 336
Source: Publisher
Trapped between the hormone-driven world of her friends and the discontent of her dysfunctional family, fourteen-year-old Georgia is only completely at ease when she's dancing. When she is accepted into Canada's preeminent ballet school, Georgia thinks it is the perfect escape.Artistic Director Roderick Allen singles her out as a star, subjecting her to increasingly intensive training, and Georgia obsesses about becoming the perfect, disciplined student. But as she spends more and more time with Roderick, it's not so clear exactly what their relationship means. Is he her teacher and mentor, or is there something more? These blurred lines will threaten both Roderick's future at the academy and Georgia's ambitions as a ballerina.
Georgia has a God-given talent at ballet, and she has the opportunity of a lifetime dancing in a a prestigious ballet academy where she can live her dream. It's her escape from a crazy family and circle of friends she struggles to understand. It's the perfect chance for her to stand out and rise above it all, but something begins to creep into her focus. Roderick, her dance instructor, seems to find her a star, and there's something there. She can't quite put her finger on it, but it feels tangible and electric, and it could very well kill her career before it ever begins...as well as Roderick's future.
Guys, I have a confession to make. I'm addicted to ballerina books. I danced for about 12 years, but let me tell you; I'm built like a swimmer, not a dancer. So, I think I live vicariously through the actors in films and the characters in books. Needless to say, my veritable obsession made reading Various Positions by newcomer on the YA scene, Martha Schabas, a no-brainer. Written from the complex mind of a 14-year-old girl, this book is a no-holds-barred account of the bizarre hidden world of students and mentors, smothered by a mask of dancing, pointe shoes and competition. Written with a deftly unique hand, it's an insider's perspective on dysfunction, disorder and, frankly, chaos.
I can tell you right now that I've struggled with writing this review, but I feel that I need to put it up to almost wrap my head around what I just read. Various Positions is hyper-sexualized, extremely uncomfortable and disturbing. We're given a main character who, as a young teen, is painted as being very naive. Yet, somehow in her naivety, Georgia has stumbled across the allure of sex, and it seems to be the only thing that crosses the young girl's mind. Ever. She researches relationships between older men and young girls. She manipulates and deceives to get what she wants. She becomes nearly infatuated with an internet pornstar. The level of dysfunction in the novel was utterly appalling, and I have to admit I was rather horrified at the content within the pages. I was expecting a dance novel, and instead got a how-to book on disordered eating, inappropriate statutory relationships and near pedophilia, shrouded in a very thin veil of dance. Perhaps I missed the mark with this book, but I was hoping to see a development of relationships through the dysfunction, but only managed to watch Georgia and her classmates become more haggard and vulgar as the story progressed. If I'm being extraordinarily blunt, I don't really know what the theme or plot of the novel was because it felt so messy (in more ways than one).
I absolutely hate giving bad reviews because I know what authors put into their books, but I have be honest and say that Various Positions simply did not work for me. I'll even go so far as to say it is marketed towards the wrong audience, as I do not think the content is appropriate for the YA market. I give it a 1 out of 5, and I recommend it only to adult audiences who like issue-driven and disturbing contemporary novels.
I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.
