Bunheads by Sophie Flack

This week, in continuing the book Bunheads, by Sophie Falck, I noticed that you can always find a new quality within yourself, that can only be brought out through the presence of others.  Through meeting Jacob, and having a relationship with someone outside of her dance school, Hannah discovers that she can have normal conversations, and feel comfortable around bos who are not dancers.  Through the most recent chapter, Hannah was nervous to be alone with him, so she invited him over along with her best friend, and as the night went on, her comfort zone was stretched, and she discovered some wonderful qualities, other than her dancing.  This showed me how, surrounding yourself with different people can be really good for you, and you can learn new things about yourself and your friends through experiencing new things.  Change can be good, and bring out the best in people.

This book, for the first few chapters was showing Hannah's routine, and how she lived her life as a dancer, and little by little throughout the following chapters, changes have been dropped on the reader.  As Hannah's life is changing, her character i developing, and it is showing me that routine can be good, but sometimes, change is necessary.

Bunheads by Sophie Flack

I started the novel, Bunheads by Sophie Flack this weekend and the very first page had me intrigued.  The narration is done by a girl who does ballet, but hates the term "ballerina." This book is something I can relate to already through the very first sentence because, as a dancer, I also hate the stereotype given as perfect and pink.  As Hannah Ward, the main character, describes the life behind the scenes of ballet, I find it even more beautiful than the description of on-stage.  Beat up dance wear is what describes dancers who are dancing for themselves, and for strength rather than for the pleasures of an audience.

The first page is ended with a quote from one of Hannah's ballet teachers and it says, "Throw yourself into your dancing now, because the lifespan of a dancer can be as short as a fruit fly's." This can either be taken to the literal level of the fact that a dancing career lasts only as log as your prime, and can end extremely quickly as you lose your young-tallent, but I prefer looking at this quote in the less literal way.

To me this quote is showing that every class, every show, every second that we are dancing should be lived as your last, because each and every movement of your dancing should tall a story in itself, and show the inner beauty of the person delivering each movement.  Dance is an art, and can tell you more about a person than words, so each dance should be a person, and not a stereotype.  I'm excited to see where Bunheads goes, and how the author will portray this 19 year old ballet dancer's life.

Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan

This week the main character found out that she was adopted and had a twin sister.  Because of the way the plot unfolded, in that she found out for herself, it shows an underlying message of how important it is to tell the truth.  When Laurie realizes this information, it takes her interests away from the family, because when you keep a secret, there's always a reason you're keeping it.  Laurie uses this against her parents claiming that if they loved her equally as much as her siblings, they wouldn't struggle to tell her that she was adopted, because it wouldn't be something they would need to hide.  When someone finds out the truth without hearing it from you, it take the exact opposite effect of what keeping that secret was intended to do.

Telling the truth is really important because it saves relationships, even if at the time it hurts, it's worth it in the long run.  However, this book not only teaches how valuable the truth is in this section, it also shows that if there is true love present, like between Laurie and her family, it can overcome even the toughest situations.

Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan

"I felt the way you do when you are moving through a dream and the most impossible things are happening and you are accepting them as normal."

Sometimes things in your life come on as impossible or damagingly ridiculous in the sense that if you believe them, consequence after consequence would follow.  Sometimes these impossible things however, are what keep us living, moving, breathing.  Relating to Laurie, the main character, in this way of problems building up makes it refreshing to read this quote.  If life went on perfectly, normal would be boring, and there would be no trust in the world.  But being able to accept the impossible is how humans, or maybe just I, have learned to live. 

In Laurie's case, her impossible is literally impossible, what with her dead sister coming back into her life, but everyone has their own mini-impossible scenarios that continue to cause this harm, these consequences and problems in our lives. 

This line in this instance was super literal, but for me, it's poetic-ness stood out.  We accept what we want to believe, what we think we deserve.  I want to believe the impossible.

Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan

In this chapter that I just finished reading, a new character gets introduced to try and help her solve her "popularity" problem.  The book does a really good job trying to show the difficulties in, Jeff, the new character's life that brought him to point where he can hate just enough, yet still have the brilliant insight to provide Laurie, the main character, with an easy way out.

It is interesting to see the relationship between the two of them, almost an unspoken understanding, yet you can tell they never hang out.  It's at a point where she was never good enough for him when he was popular, but now, with his half burnt face you can tell she's trying to understand him.

The way their conversation is conducted makes it seem very formal and non-judging, but you can tell that both characters are in fact judging one another.  It is also relevant that they both require something from one another, and are talking to each other solely for that purpose.  I believe that Laurie gets what she wants, or more likely, needs, however I think that Jeff is still longing for more.

This chapter really shows build of plot through these two characters, and is a great lead into the rest of the conflict of the story.

Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan

In the book, Stranger With My Face, there is a huge lack of trust between the two characters, Laurie and Gordon, where they both make assumptions in which they hurt one another.  This just proves that communication, and trust, are extremely important in a relationship.

After spending an entire summer together dating, one mis-communication leaves Laurie without friends, and accused of wrongdoing for the entire next school year.  Laurie was being a completely honest and honorable person, while Gordon was 100% in the wrong.  First, he was cheating on Laurie at a party while she was sick, and second, he didn't believe her at all when she told him that, in actuality, she was not lying about being sick.

This shows how lying, and jumping to conclusions can shut down a persons life in just one day, if things are all taken the wrong way.  Honesty is vital to all friendships, relationships, and families, and this chapter does an excellent job of showing it.

Sonnet One

Keep the beat in time with crashing visions

Footsteps on cold sand with inches between

Done for the better, all wrong decisions

Pain as second nature, with love unseen

Separation comes after words blind meaning

Connection seems so far away with you

Above my head, no point intervening

Between the three, closed out, my voice withdrew 

I'll miss the days of family that last

Box of pictures show smiles, hand in hand

Trying to remember pleasant days past

The world is spinning, it's so hard to stand

With loss comes pain, losing you both hurt most

Family stays, for me, as ends draw close