Review: Silhouette by Thalia Kalkipsakis

Book Description via Goodreads:

ARC, 258 pages

July 2012, Hardie Grant Egmont

Scarlett Stirling is hardworking and fiercely ambitious. She loves the blisters and the strict regime of her dance classes at the National Academy of Performing Arts. Her life is measured and balanced. Perfect.

But when Scarlett meets charismatic musician Moss, she enters another world – a world without restrictions – and is swept up in a heady whirlwind of sex, drugs and celebrity. Spread thin between her commitments and her desire to be with Moss, Scarlett pushes herself to the limit, unaware she’s playing a dark game.

Silhouette is not just another dance book. This gritty young adult novel follows the strong and determined Scarlett as she navigates her way from the safe, structured Academy into the adult world of commercial dance.

Thalia Kalkipsakis (Go Girl, Girlfriend Fiction) explores a cut-throat industry, where talent and ambition are paramount, and one mis-step can cost you everything.

Source: Jennifer and Hardie Grant Egmont (Thank you!!)

My Thoughts:

Scarlett was disciplined, determined, perfect and ambitious. She was one of the best students in her year, simply graceful, quick to pick u steps and ever patient and hardworking. With years of training, she now led a strict but balanced life as a dancer. I liked her as a character. She knew what she wanted in life and she charged towards her goal, fearless.

I was swept up into Scarlett’s hectic but exciting world. First of all, I am not a dancer so reading a book about dancing was something new for me. Reading about dancing from a very dedicated and passionate dancer’s point of view was perfection. Scarlett’s daily life revolved around her dancing and her passion until she met Moss Young, a young, attractive musician.

Moss was extremely charming. His voice alone could lure girls into his arms. Scarlett wanted to be with him, wanted to get close to him and so she did. The world that Moss moved in, however, was dark and glamorous. He led Scarlett into a fun but non-committed relationship. He was attracted to Scarlett but apparently, it wasn’t enough for him to take her seriously. He insisted that he and Scarlett needed freedom to focus on their passion: he on his music and Scarlett on her dancing. Moss was part-good and part-bad for me. At times, I hated him and at times, I was amused and intrigued with him. He led an ambitious life and it was clear that he might be a bad influence but when it came to his music, he would do anything.

With the graduation performance coming up, Scarlett was working twice as hard, pushing herself to her limit to be the most perfect dancer there ever was. But she was standing on the edge of a knife, trying to balance her dancing and her complicated relationship with Moss Young, all while dealing with her mom’s secrets.

The other characters of Silhouette also played their roles well. They were interesting and engaging. Paige, Scarlett’s best friend was not your average ballerina. Towering at 6 feet, she struggled to claim her place in the industry. Grant, one of the best students at the Academy, was surprisingly down to earth and concerned with Scarlett. To be honest, I even thought that he had a thing for her. Bruno, Moss Young’s drummer, was a rational and good friend despite the crowd he rolled with.

Silhouette is powerful, beautiful, engrossing and crazy good with its hypnotic prose and engaging characters. I was stunned and awed by the writing. It was simple yet elegant. It was exactly the kind of writing that made readers fall in love with the story by the first five pages.

Silhouette is one of the best books from Australia. I highly recommend this to readers of YA contemporary novels!

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