Audition (ARC)

Audition

Author: Stasia Ward Kehoe

Publisher: Viking Books

Pages: 464

Read Time: Two Sittings

Tag Words: Ballerina, sexual relationship with teacher, dreams, sacrifice, novels in verse, 2011 Debut Author

My Summary:

Audition is a novel told in verse about Sara, a budding ballerina who dreams of being a star, and the choreographer who teaches her how to be a muse.

My Review:

I must be blind to the words, “Told in Verse,” I swear. That, or publishing companies don’t really like to advertise that part of the deal because- they know. What do they know? Well, if you don’t know then you’ve never read a novel in verse you assumed to be a narrative. Le sigh. Not the authors fault, just wanted to say, le sigh.

I did not understand Sara. I still do not understand Sara. She seemed really happy with her small town life, the simplicity of it, the comfort of it. She also seemed full of disdain for the dance industry from nearly page one. She seems pretty aware of the horrors that go on beyond the barre and yet it takes her over 400 pages in verse to arrive at the conclusion that this big-bad-ballerina-business is not for her. I could have told her that on page one. In fact I did. She didn’t listen.

Because the novel is told entirely in verse Sara is pretty much all you have. You will see brief snippets of other characters told primarily through Sarah’s selective filter. You won’t necessarily see the action, or the other characters in your own mind because you are so enveloped in Sara’s, given the verse format. This can be a good thing... If you like Sara. I, however, found it hard to. On the one hand she seemed so childish, more like a twelve or thirteen year old than a sixteen year old, until Remington comes along and whammo, she’s a secret sex monger. I kid you not, some of the descriptions of how she wanted him made my eyes bulge because I didn’t expect that to come from Mary Sue, I mean Sara.

I actually liked Sara when she was in Remington’s bed, I liked her as his muse, except for when she got whiny, as she did upon deciding that her parents allowing her to fulfill her dreams meant they didn’t love her/didn’t want her/were glad to be rid of her. Gag me with a spoon.

Obviously Rem is not the man Sara hopes he would be...something you can see from the first encounter. No attempt on Kehoe’s part to make him the least bit redeemable, except that he redeems Sara enough to make reading to the end bearable. Thanks Remington, for the way you pillow talk dance.

Notes on the Names:

I cannot wait to see what Stastia Ward Kehoe has to tell me about her character names and how she named her potential stars. They seemed like quite the motley crew to me.

Thoughts on the Cover:

I think the models are very good. This is Sara and Rem, first encounter, before the sex fire is lit under her. If the cover had been made post implosion... I don't even want to think about that cover. Mary Jane slides and a corset, perhaps?

Parental Book Review *spoilers*

Sexual Content:

Heavy/ Very Heavy

Language:

Mild

S- 1
D*ck- 1

Violence:

None.

Other Notables:

Ballerina who starves herself.

Bess gets an illegal tattoo.