In camp, my friend was reading a book that looked interesting. I asked if I could read the first few pages, but I got so attached to it that I read the first CHAPTER. And this is how it started...
Plot: This non-fiction is about a 14 year old girl named Marie van Goethem, who enjoys dancing at the Paris Opera Ballet School, (In France) this happens to be her only joy. Other than that Marie is tormented by her hunger, her mother's uncontrolled drinking, & her older sister's selfishness. This situation definitely made it difficult for everyone. Plus her father died, and after his death life for the family became difficult and their small savings were gone.
It was her mother's desire that all 3 girls became dancers. Both Marie and Antoinette, her older sister, were dancing for the corps de ballet, meanwhile Charlotte was just a petite rat. She always wanted to be an étoile, so she can be noticed. Instead she got noticed in a way that was uncalled for. Edgar Degas, a famous artist/sculptor, hires Marie to pose for a statue that he was currently working on. These few francs she is getting paid are only a temporary help for Marie and her family.
While waiting for the statuette to be revealed Marie fell in love with Jean-Pierre Bordenave, the carriage driver for Edgar's friend Mary Cassatt. They usually met everyday after Marie is done with her duties until one day Jean-Pierre gave Marie some bad news. He needed to go help his family in another part of France and he had a feeling he was going to be there for a while. He was sweet enough though to ask Marie if she wanted to come, but she refused to go.
While he was gone, Marie started to see a wealthy suitor from the Opera more and more often, though she did this, she still knew that her heart belonged to Jean-Pierre. Her older sister, Antoinette, got very angry with Marie because she was choosing Jean-Pierre over a rich, wealthy suitor who could get more money for the Goethem family, unlike Jean Pierre. She goes way over her head and goes to desperate measures, which happens to be jail! When Marie goes to visit Antoinette in the women's jail called Saint-Lazare, she tells her that she was in desperate need of food and when Marie sneaks in with food(not to mention that she had to say no to Madame Théodore about attending somewhere!) , Antoinette just starts yelling at her because she didn't bring enough! Since she missed so many classes and seasonal examinations, Marie was dismissed from the Paris Opera and so did Antoinette. Thankfully Charlotte was still dancing!
In the end, no historical evidence of Marie or Antoinette's life exists. Well at least nothing after Antoinette's prison days and Maire's dismissal from the Paris Opera. As said later on, Charlotte continues her career in ballet and moves up to a sujet. And also ended up taking care of Antoinette's little on with Marie.
Character(s): the 2 characters I chose was Marie Van Goethem and Charlotte (her sister).
I chose these 2 characters because they are the ones who shined out of all of them.
- Marie- is a sweet, young 14 year old girl who is trying to support her family, even when she has no time to. The thing I liked about her the most was that she was courageous. I said this because when Antoinette got sent to jail, Marie missed many classes just to give food to her selfish sister. She was brave enough to get past the prison matron every time she went, plus when she said "Time's up! Times up!" Marie was still there helping her sister. The thing I would have changed about her was that when she used to come home late at night, Charlotte used to get up and cry because she was so hungry. I would have changed it because she worried her hunger by using her francs to go to Le Rat Mort and not bringing back anything for Charlotte.
I think that in the near future Marie will be what she always was, herself. I knew that even though Marie got dismissed form dance, she would still shine, and she did. When I read the end of the book it said that "the girl who modeled for Petite danseuse de quatorze ans had fascinated museum goers, art historians, and contemporary dancers." And towards the end it said, "At last, after 122 years later, Marie became an étoile, a star."
- Charlotte- is the character in the book that doesn't have much attention, only when needed. She is the youngest in the family, and was a baby when the father passed away. She is also in Paris Opera, but she is a petite rat, a small rat, meaning she was in the class for younger kids unlike her older sisters. She did eventually learn pointe. The thing I liked about Charlotte was that even though she had little amounts of food, she managed to be happy and keep dancing. She also only complained about 2 times about her hunger, but who can blame her, she is younger than Marie and lives the same poor lifestyle. The thing I would have changed about Charlotte was NOTHING. I wouldn't change anything about her she is sweet and young, what more could you ask for? Even though she wasn't the main focus in the book, when she was mentioned it was always for the good, such as when she passed her examinations, helped Marie get Antoinette's dressed cleaned, and much more.
I think that in the near future Charlotte will continue dancing and set her goal in life. She seems like whatever thing she has in mind, she will do, no matter what it takes. In the future Charlotte will become older and wiser, forcing her to make the right decisions. In the end of the book it also said that" Charlotte did continue her career in ballet, eventually becoming a sujet." It also said that "...in 1907 she ended her career and became a professor for ballet,but sadly that also ended in 1933."
Your Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it because of the technique the author used. The author, Carolyn Meyer, used french words and italicized them so they would stand out and then in the next sentence she would say the translation in English, such as s'il vous plait meaning please. Since I already know french, it was easy for me to understand what was going on.
Even though the book was sad, I was delighted to read it because it taught me about the difficulties of some families. These difficulties showed me that even though she had a lack of food, and bad living conditions, she still managed to keep up with what she had, such as dance. Dance was her only way to let out her emotions in a way no one would get hurt, plus she enjoyed doing this hobby. It was also something her mom could be proud of and will be happy to watch, she even went to all of their examinations to go see them impress the judges, even when she couldn't get up out of bed.
It was sad in many ways, the reason I thought it was sad was because the mom was an alcoholic and the father died. Your parents are the people you look up to as your role model, the example Marie's mom was giving her daughters could effect the decisions they make when they get older, such as Antoinette's decision to get pregnant when she knew she wasn't in the right conditions. Also most of the money the Goethem's had, got blown off by the mother who used it to buy herself more drinks when she could have used it wisely to get the girls, especially Charlotte, a nice meal, well at least bread that hasn't expired yet. Lastly, I wanted to say that without your parents you are completely lost, your parents are like the guide to life, it is a must to follow them.
Reading Strategies: When reading this book, I used a few strategies. Some of them were Mental Images, Questions, and Summarize. Lets start with mental imaging, since this book was made long ago and in a country far from here, i couldn't really imagine the monuments. I made a movie in my head, but since the author didn't really describe the physical characteristics I couldn't clearly imagine them either. Every "scene" I imagined, I saw it in a brownish old color, like the color of the cover of the book.
The next strategy I used was questioning. I asked many questions, but the one I asked in the beginning was that how did Marie get into the Paris Opera when she barely has money to buy her family some decent food? The question I asked in the middle was that why did Monsieur Degas pick Marie out of the other girls in her dance class? And the question I asked at the end was that why did Marie keep bringing food for Antoinette when she yelled at her every time for the same reason? There were many other questions, but these were the main 3.
The last strategy I used was summarizing. I most definitely used this strategy because since the book was so long (272 pages) and it went by year, every time it discussed a new year, I summarized what I had just read. Each year Marie was getting older and older, so by the end of the book she was MARRIED!!! and Antoinette had a baby, but she unfortunately died.
Author Information: The author if the book I am reading is Carolyn Meyer. Carolyn has written over 21 different historical novels such as White Lilacs, Mary, Bloody Mary, etc. The thing I liked about Carolyn's writing was that she made Marie van Goethem come back to life. The language she used was powerful and it made me feel like I was really there watching every move Marie made. This book was really good and I recommend it for anyone!(well mostly girls)
