Maggie Shipstead’s novel, “ Astonish Me,” is the literary equivalent of that movie.Īnd just as the right cast can multi-dimensionalize characters which might be considered stereotypical (as in “The Turning Point” with the Academy Award winning actors Bancroft and MacLaine), so too does exceptional prose bring to life a story that might be too well-known to be exciting.

“The Turning Point” was brilliant and beautiful and heartbreaking, soapy and sappy and sentimental, and it felt genuine and honest to the world of ballet. Photo by the Testoricci Family, courtesy of and discovered thanks to Steve Ha at You Dance Funny (read his film review). These are all wonderful showcases for dance and the dancers in them are terrific and talented.īut for lovers of ballet, there really is only one definitive movie: “The Turning Point,” a 1977 film starring Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft and introducing the inimitable Mikhail Baryshnikov to the wider world.

You might be a fan of the ballroom competition in “Dancing With the Stars” or the more contemporary “So You Think You Can Dance.” Perhaps you enjoyed the “Step Up” series of movies or the classic musicals starring Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. There are so many movies and television shows that appeal to lovers of dance. Full disclosure: Random House provided a free advance copy of this novel for review.įuller disclosure: I am a published novelist and filmmaker as well as a ballet instructor.įullest disclosure: I have always wanted to write a fictional novel set in the world of ballet.

Astonish me