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Meg Howrey is a Los Angeles-based writer of fiction and non-fiction. She was a ballet dancer herself with Joffrey Ballet and the City Ballet of Los Angeles. Drawing on her insider experience, in her novel THEY’RE GOING TO LOVE YOU we learn about the ballet world, class and rehearsal and the interconnectedness of the dance world.
THEY’RE GOING TO L.OVE YOU is of small to medium size and not too thick. It is divided into mostly short chapters, each with a title.
The plot is as follows : THEY’RE GOING TO LOVE YOU opens in New York , where Carlisle Martin aspires to become a professional ballet dancer like her mother Isabel. She only gets to see her father Robert, and his afflicted, distinguished partner James, for a few treasured weeks a year when she visits their seemingly charmed apartment in Bank Street, Greenwich Village.
Isobel and Robert’s messy divorce and Robert’s rather awkward relationship with James and Isabel and how Carlisle is viewed by them are crucial, with all the conflicting emotions of strained family dynamics.
Robert remains rather aloof – eventually we learn of his past with the La Grange Ballet and the big schism between Robert and La Grange. Meanwhile, James acts as her mentor, introducing her to his arty passions – music, books and especially dance. (James performed with various companies but has now turned to teaching ballet which he excels in and is a source of inspiration for his students.
Howrey jumps clearly but swiftly between locations and chronology – we time travel from New York in the 1980s when Carlisle is growing up , to London , Europe and Los Angeles in the present day.
An explosive, unexpected passionate love affair creates a major rift between Robert, James and Carlisle, with calamitous consequences that affect their relationship for decades to come. Just under twenty years later, Carlisle receives an unexpected phone call from James. James informs Carlisle that Robert doesn’t have much longer to live.
The call ends up resolving the secrets and events of that momentous summer, and Carlisle observes with fresh eyes how that, and her younger self, have influenced the woman she has become. She has a rather awkward, somewhat distant relationship now with her mother Isabel and her half-brother – can things be resolved?
While having been estranged for so long, Carlisle feels obliged to visit their Bank Street apartment in Greenwich Village to say goodbye. The apartment in Bank Street, where Robert, James, and her mother were fixtures in the ballet world of the 1950s and ’60s, plays a major part in Carlisle’s imagination as she loved staying there too, and is haunted by memories and, in some ways, regards her life as a series of fragments.
The inside world of ballet and dance is terrifically caught. Being mostly set in Los Angeles and New York, Balanchine looms throughout.The various characters are terrifically written. The book explores hidden secrets, fractured and strained family relationships, loss, love and grief as well as big successes.
The AIDS crisis of the 1980’s is included and how this affected not just her parents, James and Carlisle, but the arts world in general. Covid , 9/11 and for instance the use of mobiles and current technology are also subjects.
There is also the way ballet is codified and you have to have the right body – it turns out that Carlisle is ‘too tall ‘ for ballet, particularly in pointe shoes.
Carlisle gives a feminist slant to the way women are depicted in ‘traditional ‘ballets (eg Swan Lake, Giselle), and reflects on the lack of female choreographers (how she morphs into becoming one and her work processes are described) . Carlisle also reflects on ‘The Male Gaze’. Throughout the book there is the running theme of The Firebird (yes, Stravinsky and in this case particularly the Balanchine version). How will Carlisle set the work which she has been commissioned to create? Does it have a feminist twist?
THEY’RE GOING TO LOVE YOU asks what sacrifices does one have to make to become an artist? and what price you pay for passion , dispensation and attempting to reach your goals?!
Dance lovers will be captivated by this book.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/theyre-going-to-love-you-9781526655813/
Product details
| Published | 01 Nov 2022 |
| Format | Paperback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 288 |
| ISBN | 9781526655813 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Dimensions | 234 x 153 mm |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |