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A Time for Dancing

door Davida Wills Hurwin

Reeksen: A Time For Dancing (1)

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274996,042 (4.25)2
Seventeen-year-old best friends Samantha and Juliana tell their stories in alternating chapters after Juliana is diagnosed with cancer.
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1-5 van 9 worden getoond (volgende | toon alle)
While this review shows a 2020 read date, I bought it before then and read it often since.
SPOILERS. Sam, Jules, Jack, and Rachel all go to the same private arts academy for teens, I realized upon one of my many rereads. Sam and Jules are semi-professional ballet dancers and have been since they were young children. Jack and Rachel are successful visual artists. It's not mentioned if they've been exhibited or had their own gallery openings yet. Teens and kids can. Private arts academies are hyper-competitive and students must perform to certain standards every semester in order to stay. This is hinted at.
I first read this book when it came out in 1998. IIRC, my aunt got me it. I'm--not sure why she thought a book about dancing or cancer would be a good fit for me. I hadn't started in my own semi-professional youth musical career yet, so I didn't have the scant background paired with the adoration and deep respect of dance I have today. I've never had cancer, knock wood. So I'm left to think she knew how much I'd treasure a story about intense friendship, and she trusted I'd be smart enough to read this book so young. The girls in the book are sixteen. I was nine. I was way above the reading level of my age group, so she was right on both counts.

The cover, an elegant one of two stunning young women dancing on a beach in Northern California at sunrise, has had a strong impact on me. As an adult, I'm a sucker for book covers of sunrises on beaches. As a child, I didn't know about the concept of cover models, which is probably not what they're actually called. Models were often photographed for book covers. I'm not sure how widespread it is now, but it was common for a few decades. The young women dancing on the cover both look to be in their early-to-mid twenties, way older than Sam and Jules, yet I've imagined them to be one and the same when I read this. It's quite a spectacular cover. The paperback cover I got as a child had feathered pages, so the pages were difficult to turn and I thought something was wrong with the book. The hardback copy I got as an adult has regular pages and the wonderful pages. I'm so pleased. This is a dual POV book, with the girls' names ostensibly handwritten every chapter change. If you look closely at the tops of each page, the handwritten name motif continues, with a sun drawn near Sam's name, and a crescent moon drawn near Julie's. This is a fantastic and such a simple touch. It connects to the times Sam and Jules each refer to each other as Sun and Moon since they are the same in height and weight but totally different in complexion and hair texture. It's hinted several times that Jules isn't white, but Sammie is. This was profound for its time.

When I first reread this book as an adult, I gulped back tears and needed a hug. I was alone at the time and remember finishing the book at ten at night or something, so instead I put on headphones and listened to 90s songs--my childhood years--about death, and a few sad love songs and maybe one happy one. As always, I understood the book in wildly different ways as an adult, and the messages still so clearly resonated. They continue to.

Sam and Jules have been best friends since they were nine and danced together in a recital, this ending a brief animosity between the two due to the hyper-competition that comes with being a child performer. Now they are sixteen. Jules is trying to get over her asshole of an ex-boyfriend. Sam remains deeply affected by her father's horribly poor treatment of her after he cheated on her mother so he could become a dedicated husband and father to a new wife and baby. I hated those two whenever they were on the page. I do not care that they are probably cliches; I have seen real-life examples and considering how invested I am in Sam and Jules, of course I'm furious. Jack is such a passive-aggressive boy that he cheated on Jules with Rachel for awhile and lied skillfully about it. Now Jack and Rachel are inseparable and ugh. I sided with Sam when she said her bit in the car and every time she talked poorly. My language would be a lot louder and more pointed. Jack never again speaks directly to Jules, instead bothering Sam regularly to do it for him. He acts so wounded that she won't do it, and she calls him out regularly. He clearly hates confrontation, and I wouldn't be surprised if he whined about all the time Jules was spending with Sam before he cheated. And he acts like Sam and Jules are so cruel for not playing his childish games. Eugh.

Sam's father is awful in an entirely different way: he can't stand to see her ever again, canceling left and right because of his new wife and daughter. He has the utter nerve to follow up one of his cancellations with "Listen, when do I get to see you?" You're the one who just canceled on her yet again, you fucking bastard, and -you act like Sammie canceled on you-. I fucking hate you. Sam's mother is also not amazing to me. The divorce was hard on her and she got a new date, and acts not great to Sam. Sam's boyfriend Paul is a huge douchebag. I realize all these characters I don't like are devices to push Sam and Jules closer together, and make William and Sandra shine in comparison. It's effective. Rosie was vaguely annoying since I don't like kids, but the times she was on the page, it was always for a really good reason. I thought Brooke's relationship to Sam was interesting. I liked Linda, too. The only man I felt attached to was William. Dr Jerestin is heading a huge scam. What immediately tipped me off was that the fake institute was pay what you will. I respected Dr Connor and was glad for her until she yelled at Sandra and Jules. They made what they thought was an educated choice at the time. Don't yell at them for being scammed.

Saving other things about Dr Connor so I can examine other things in a semi-linear fashion. I loved reading about dance, dance classes, and the effect it had on the girls' lives. I thought the scene with the psychic was interesting, especially how it factored in later. There were dozens of clues, some big but many more subtle, that Sam and Jules were in love with each other. -That- is what I really connected to as a kid. I didn't have the words for how I felt, but I was aware I was queer and picked up on it in Sam and Jules even back then. They both have boyfriends but so what. I could write more on it but I want to address Dr Connor again. I lost all respect for her and I go through this every time I read the book, when she lied to Jules about her hair to get her back on chemo. I truly wonder if she lost her license or something. Still gets me so frustrated.

Above all, what I noticed relatively recently about this book was that while it follows cancer treatments and its effects in broad strokes, it's still romanticized. This is my favorite book, and it's sick lit. It's more than that, but still. A huge realization happened when I was reading this last year: Jules could have had a heart condition instead, and everything about the book could still fit. Her pacemaker could malfunction, or she could be on a transplant list and not make it, and the whole story could still be what it is. I had to suspend a lot of medical disbelief when reading this but did so every time. But--the plot I just offered could have indeed worked better. There's even a ballet with the lead character with a heart problem: "Giselle." While these girls are dancers, they don't talk about future dance plans in any solid way, I was a semi-professional child actor, and wow, did I have solid if un-reached goals. So I think about this.

The book's still terrific and I'm so glad it's still part of my life.
A QUICK NOTE ON THE SO-CALLED MOVIE ADAPTATION: IT IS THE WORST ONE I HAVE EVER SEEN AND I FEEL SO BAD FOR THE AUTHOR. IT EVEN HAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE ACTORS IN IT AS SAM, WHEN SHE SHOULD BE JULIE. Seriously, I often consider writing a play adaptation with more accurate casting. (annoyed sigh) ( )
  iszevthere | Jun 28, 2022 |
This was one of the saddest books I have ever read. It was beautifully written with just enough depth to it, while not getting too deep that it becomes pompous. I've never had to deal with a friend having cancer, but when I read this book it was like I was right there with Jules and Sam. I would recommend anyone who wants to read a sad book about friendship, hard times, and loss. ( )
  AngelaRenea | Jan 12, 2019 |
Julia was a dynamic character because she was a dancer then she got tired and lost her hair and then she died and that was sad, but that is how she changed ( )
  bella_22 | Nov 19, 2009 |
A Time For Dancing was an amazing novel filled with many different emotions. It was a book that was pretty easy to relate to if the reader had experienced anything similar to the main character and her best friend. That was one of the things I loved the most about it... I could relate to the main character very easily, in many different ways. It's a great book for two best friends to read and relate to. I never wanted to put the book down. The author kept me engaged and always wanting to read more. It's definitely a tear jerker, but very well worth the read! ( )
  LKell1212 | Dec 16, 2008 |
This book had a very good storyline. It was interesting to see what each of the main characters went though and the author did a really good job of describing all of the emotions. ( )
  ECooney | Dec 15, 2008 |
1-5 van 9 worden getoond (volgende | toon alle)
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Seventeen-year-old best friends Samantha and Juliana tell their stories in alternating chapters after Juliana is diagnosed with cancer.

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