Wow, Corpse de Ballet: A Graphic Novel by Megan Kearney is creepy AF! Mature themes, set in an airy, dangerous, setting, come to life on the minimalistically illustrated images. Though available, I read via an online reader copy, so perhaps images are different in the final piece, but what I saw was mostly blue and lack of colors and basic detailed imagery.
When I think of ballet stories I think of this. I think of backstabbing gals who need a lesson in how to not be obviously jealous of better dancers and their lack thereof. I think of girls doing anything to climb their way to the top. What I don’t think is the extreme madness that comes out of things.
We have Rose, a young girl from a “less than privileged” background, who has been given a spot in a prestigious ballet school. Her new roommate seems to be her best friend forever, but things don’t add up. Like why Rose is seeing things, having blackouts, lost time and extreme anxiety. As things unfold two points come to light: Roommates doesn’t always mean they are your “Mate” and Rose is really not well.
While I enjoyed this, there were a few bumps in the road while reading. Rose felt and looked too young and naive at times (she’s supposed to be older, high school aged). Was there an occult element or is that part of the gaslighting of a character? Yes, there is gaslighting only you don’t really realize that at first, or at least not from where you expect. Then the ending had a piece that if the beginning happened, it couldn’t have happened. And a few other things like that. Nothing is in depth, a lot of speculation can be considered with how things turned out, but overall it was not a bad read, just not my all time favorite.
We know the drill when it comes to teen novels: know your reader. I would say at least 13 and up would be best, but nothing is graphically presented (mentions of a death, possible murder, and an eating disorder) but we know that they are happening. I wouldn’t call them triggers, I would call them warnings they are there.
