The Turnout

will english be more impactful? it’s so weird to “start over” 🩰

I have so many late reviews that this one is as good as any.

I read The Turnout by Megan Abbott a little over two years ago (I did mention late reviews!) when I was about to start an adult ballet journey. Now that this journey seems to be over - or at least very much on hold -, I guess the time came for me to review this book.

I’d never read anything by Megan Abbott. Her books look like fun, women-led thrillers of some sorts. I’m not usually one to read thrillers, which you will know if you followed me from my blog, or you’re learning just know if this is how you’re getting to know me. One of her books, Dare Me, is about cheerleaders and has a Netflix adaptation that looks right up my alley and is probably something I should think of watching next.

The Turnout is, as the name might clue you in on, about ballet. As someone who watched Tiny Pretty Things and found it pretty much atrocious, you’d think I’d pass this one, but I was intrigued all the same and wanted to get in the mood for my upcoming adult ballet classes (which I might write about in the future, if you’ve read this far and are still interested).

On another note - who would guess that changing platforms from blogger to substack would inspire me to write this much?

So - to the book. The Turnout follows twin sisters, Dara and Marie, born into a ballet family, Marie being named after the little girl in The Nutcracker (a book I bought almost immediately after and which I also need to review soon), and Dara being… Dara, I guess. Their mother, former ballerina, opens a dance school and teaches both her daughers ballet, making it central to their identities. At some point she has one of her most promising students, Charlie, a boy around their age (12-13), go live with the family. And when the girls and Charlie are in their late teens, Mr. and Mrs. Durant die in a car crash, and Dara and Marie are left to run the dance school.

Ten years on, their lives are in a weird state of arrested development - Dara is now married to Charlie, but Marie still lives with them, in their childhood victorian home. The three of them are running the school together. Trying to get away from this, Marie decides to start sleeping at an attic sort of space at the dance school but accidentally sets a fire.

This story is mostly told from Dara's POV so of course she feels abandoned by her sister, whom she thinks is a bit flimsy, whereas she always had to be the serious one. She sounds unreliable the whole time. Old rivalries reignite, tension ensues. Especially when an external contractor enters their lives in order to fix the studios on time for rehearsals.

I'm sure everyone knows there's a dark side to ballet - even if all you know about it is having watched Black Swan. There's blood, sweat, tears, competition, and if you're in adult ballet like me and there's nothing much of the like, you'll probably end up being bored by putting together choreographies for year end shows meant for kids and will still dislike your classmates.

More than the messed up world of ballet, the Durants are a very messed up Family. There is a lot of trauma, angst and hidden feelings, but this book is both as enjoyable to read as it is, in the end, rather forgettable.

If you’re in Portugal, you can get a physical edition via wook, in English, as it was not translated into Portuguese.

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