Only The Brave Try Ballet is an emotional story of two damaged people trying to rebuild their lives and overcoming their fears to let each other in. It's deep, poignant and soul-baring.
When I picked this book to read I wanted something light and fun. I did not get light and fun with this book. Instead I got something deeply emotional with two very damaged people trying to find their way in life again.
"They were both damaged goods, victims of broken hearts, and casualties of laying yourself bare to another human being. He’d promised himself he would never go there again, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore the way she awakened him. She stirred the old Grant—the one who loved without fear. He felt a spark of his former self... Now he pushed people away as a default. But she made him want to reach out again. She made him want to crawl out of his cave."
Since I wasn't in the mood for something quite so emotional, I confess I probably did not do this book justice. It's well-written and holds a surprising amount of depth despite what the blurb tells you. Aside from Jasmine and Grant's journey, I was also hoping for more ballet references and dance, but given Jasmine's circumstances and how she and Grant come together, it's understandable that there is not a lot of focus on the ballet.
Jasmine frustrated me right from the get go. She was so stubborn and so reluctant to listen to advice about her situation that instead she settled into a pattern of feeling sorry for herself and wallowing in it. It also didn't help that everyone around her tiptoed around her rather than telling her the truth, that she needed to get over herself and try to do something else rather than live in the past. It took Grant who was almost a complete stranger to see through her excuses and push her with his directness to be braver than she was being.Watching Jasmine flounder in fear and living in the past was a test of my patience.
Grant surprised me. He had a hidden depth to him which pushed him beyond being a cocky, celebrity football player. True he has his share of infamy for which he's still recovering from, but there's a directness and forthrightness to him that I really liked. It also takes Jasmine a while to see past his facade to get to know the man.
"On their first ballet lesson she’d seen a beef-head football player who thought he was a god. Now she saw a complex, intelligent, misunderstood man. No god, just a man."
My heart broke for Grant as to how alone he was, partially by choice, partially because of people using him and alienating him.
Grant and Jasmine are two lost souls who find comfort and understanding in each other. And eventually, when Jasmine realises what she's lost and her error, it was good to see her making amends.
This is my first time reading a book by Ms London and I've enjoyed her writing. I will probably be less likely to be misled by a fluffy title and a cute book cover the next time I read one of her books and remember that she packs an emotional punch.
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2014
