The Cranes Dance by Meg Howrey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I admit, I’m a little torn about what I think of this book. Overall, I loved the dance theme and the exploration of the (very small) difference between madness and sanity – a fantastic theme. I loved the characters, especially Wendy, the extremely private well-to-do woman who shares her home with Kate during her first year as a ballet student in New York. I loved Kate’s ability to travel back in time and reveal stories from a year ago, a day ago, or ages ago without confusing the reader. Where I hesitate to give this book a rave comes from two things. Kate’s casual voice almost sounds too young for her sometimes. Perhaps this is on purpose – maybe she isn’t as grown or mature as other women her age might be, but it was occasionally off-putting to me. I also found the tension in the story to have begin so early on that there wasn’t such a dramatic build-and-climax kind of pattern. One more love, though, and perhaps my favorite thing about The Cranes Dance, was Kate’s sense of an “audience” watching her through her whole life. What would “they” think of what she had for lunch, if she danced well in rehearsal, how she spoke to her mother, the way she handled her sister’s illness? I think this “performing through life” sense is very realistic and was well written into the story. If you like books that really get into women’s heads, or if you like dance (there’s a lot of it in this book and that was fun for me!) then pick this one up.

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