Apollo’s Angels by Jennifer Homans (thoughts)

You know how some books sound like a good idea, start out strong, and then when you’re over halfway through you suddenly realise you’ve begun to dread picking it up? That’s what happened to be with Apollo’s Angels by Jennifer Homans (which I read thanks to Netgalley). It’s a history of the ballet, and as someone who loves ballet, I thought it was a natural fit. The introduction made me very excited, and the early chapters about ballet’s origins and evolution in historical Europe were fascinating. But somewhere along the line, I lost my interest. And then it just kept going and going (it’s 549 pages of actual text), and I became quite frustrated. Where was the editor? It was if once Homans got to more contemporary ballet, she was too close to the subject (as a former ballet dancer and current art critic) to be able to edit the information, and as a reader I was left drowning in minute details.

Obviously, writing about ballet is a challenge, since even photographs can’t really capture the art form. But I thought Homans’ actual descriptions of various ballet dancers and their styles were marvelous: she captured the flavour well and really conveyed it to me as a reader. And she did have some guiding themes that served her well through most of the book. But the last two parts, which focused on the twentieth century, really killed a lot of my love for the book.

I would still recommend this to ballet enthusiastists, because the historical bits were compelling and fascinating. Homans obviously loves ballet and that really comes through in her text. But my recommendation comes with a large reservation: be prepared to slog through the final two hundred pages. Unless you’re an ‘insider’ in the ballet world, I can’t imagine a reader wanting to know as many details as Homans feels compelled to share. I’m still glad that I read this, but I was even happier to turn the final page.

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