Friday, December 09, 2011

Review: Dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman

From Goodreads: A friend posted a video of me dancing online and now I'm now longer Alicia Ruffino. I'm dancergirl - and suddenly it's like me against the world - everyone's got opinions. My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy - even he's acting weird. And some stranger isn't content to just watch anymore. Ali, dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you've seen me online, I've trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose more than just my love of dancing. I could lose my life.

My Rating: 3 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Based on the tone of the novel, the characters’ actions and the important message of being careful of what you post online, Dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman is a book that I think is better suited to teens on the younger side. As Ali, the main character, can attest, anything that gets put online becomes open to public opinion. Tanzman however chooses to forego dwelling on cyber-bullying, and instead gives Ali a mysterious stalker as the biggest consequence of having a friend post an online video of her dancing.

While the ending felt rushed and things were resolved a little too easily for my liking, the identity of the stalker kept me guessing and left me surprised in the end. Tanzman did a really good job of showing how increasingly terrified and suspicious Ali became as the situation escalated, and I’m sure I would have reacted exactly the same if I was in her position.

The biggest reason why I didn’t like Dancergirl more though was because of the characters. Besides the fact that a lot of them felt one-dimensional, I found it really hard to care about Ali and her friends. It didn’t help that they were prone to being occasionally immature (e.g. refusing to tell a parent that you’re being stalked because you’re worried about being grounded) and that I didn’t understand a lot of the technical dance terms.

Dancergirl was released by Harlequin Teen in November 2011. 

Comments About the Cover: I think it would have better if it wasn’t just a facial shot but a girl dancing blurrily. This would show that there’s quite a bit of dance in the book and also kind of represent the video of Ali dancing. 

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Harlequin Teen) for free via NetGalley.

10 comments:

  1. I agree the characters didn't always make the right decisions o_O. I found this really creepy though. Great review! :)

    Giselle
    Xpresso Reads

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  2. Hmm..see these characters would infuriate me. How stupid can you be to think that grounding is more harmful than being stalked?! Yeah, definitely not for me.

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  3. It seems that the theme and message of the book are really relevant and well done even though it doesnt feel like a must read.

    thnks for the honest review =)

    btw, I missed you!!! Im so glad you are back! woooohooooo! ^.^ muah!

    Dazzling Reads

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  4. I think you liked this one a bit better than I did. My biggest problem with it was, as you mention, I just didn't care about the characters.

    I agree about the cover. It would have been so much better if it had featured a girl dancing.

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  5. awww that's really dissapointing! I detest books with rushed endings and flat characters. I agree with your thoughts about the cover. A girl dancing would be perfect. Thanks for the review :)

    Jaskirat~SeeitORreadit

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  6. I don't think a fear of being grounded would keep me from telling my parents I was being stalked, but maybe that's just me:) Too bad on the flat characters and the rushed ending, but I like that the identity of the stalker was a surprise. Thanks for the review Zahida!

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  7. I just hate one-dimensional characters. They are so important to me in the book, almost as important as the plot. Sorry that this wasn't the greatest book. Thanks for your thoughts though. =)

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  8. Awww, that sucks that you didn't like this one as much as you wanted to! :( Characters are always really important to me too, so I can agree with you 100% about how not connecting with the characters or understanding them makes a book so much less enjoyable!

    But this was an amazing & honest review! It told me exactly what I wanted to know and I loved it -- thanks so much! :)

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  9. Cute header.

    NEW FOLLOWER

    Elizabeth

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

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  10. It's really hard to like a book if you hate the characters. I also don't like rushed endings. I don't think I'd like this book at all. :/

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