The Art of Falling

October 7, 2013
Dancer Penny Sparrow struggles to regain balance after a mysterious accident leaves her injured, in Craft’s mixed debut. Penny has no memory of what caused her traumatic fall—or if it was a suicide attempt—but odds are it has something to do with her no longer being a member of the Philadelphia modern dance troupe where she was a rising star. The story shifts between recollections of her history as a performer and her love affair with the troupe’s founder and her present, in which she struggles to find her identity now that she is no longer a working dancer. Penny’s eating disorder and body image problems play a large part in her story and reduce her appeal—she angrily brushes off conversation about her own issues while attempting to control the nutritional habits of her devoted mother and friends. The characters and their dialogue are often maudlin, but Craft, a former dance teacher, choreographer, and critic, delivers an enjoyable portrait of the hidden world of dance and the mind of a dancer.

October 1, 2013
The art of falling isn't hard to master, Penelope Sparrow discovers, when she wakes up in the hospital after a 14-story plunge that ended with her body colliding with Marty Kandelbaum's car. Remembering the fall is too dangerous. Remembering means facing the loss of Dmitri, the loss of dancing. Remembering means facing that she may have tried to commit suicide. Kandelbaum's arrival is the first obstacle in Penny's path toward self-wallowing. Determined to protect her from further harm, Kandelbaum brings fasnachts from his bakery, hoping food may begin the process of healing. A lifetime of being criticized for not having the stereotypical dancer's body, however, has left Penny vigilant about every morsel that passes her lips. She doesn't have an eating disorder, she tells herself; she simply must be careful. Her roommate at the hospital, Angela, has no such qualms. Battling cystic fibrosis, Angela embraces every pleasure life allows her. Dance critic Margaret MacArthur arrives soon after Marty. Unbeknownst to Penny, MacArthur has followed her career, and now she is certainly interested in the accident, but she is clearly also interested in something more. No matter how hard Penny tries not to recall or discuss why she fell, everything reminds her of Dmitri--their love, their partnership at Dance DeLaval, her joy in dancing his choreography--yet at the edges of her memory she sees the shadows of his rejection. While her mother and friends try to buffer Penny's recovery, it is MacArthur's blunt persistence that forces her to confront the damage exacted on her body and soul well before the fall. To see the truth, Penny will have to recognize the lies and rough condemnation of the dance world. Craft's debut novel lovingly traces the aesthetics of movement and gently explores the shattering pain of despair. A sensitive study of a woman choreographing her own recovery.

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November 1, 2013
When Penelope Sparrow wakes up in the hospital, she's told she fell 14 stories and is lucky to be alive. But with bruises and pain and a broken bone, Penny faces the possibility of life without dance. All Penny ever wanted was to be a dancer, but her five-foot, eight-inch stature and wide hips (despite a lifetime of eating just enough to stay on the right side of anorexia) meant rejection from the traditional five-foot, five-inch and 95-poundworshipping dance world. Penny slowly pieces together the fragments of what happened that night on the balconyand how it relates to her former, and complex, relationship with famed dancer Dmitri. Deepening relationships with Angela, a cystic fibrosissufferer; Marty, a baker; Bebe, her former mentor; and others carry Penny along as she comes to reevaluate what it means to live, love, and accept less than perfection. Craft, a former dancer and choreographer, captures the entanglement of pain and despair and beauty and hope that often knits our lives and, through the character of Penny, illustrates how self-acceptance is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)