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A Novel
by Meg Howrey
Book Reviewed by:A magnetic tale of betrayal, art, and ambition, set in the world of professional ballet, New York City during the AIDS crisis, and present-day Los Angeles.
Throughout her childhood, Carlisle Martin got to see her father, Robert, for only a few precious weeks a year when she visited the brownstone apartment in Greenwich Village he shared with his partner, James. Brilliant but troubled, James gave Carlisle an education in all that he held dear in life—literature, music, and, most of all, dance.
Seduced by the heady pull of mentorship and hoping to follow in the footsteps of her mother—a former Balanchine ballerina—Carlisle's aspiration to become a professional ballet dancer bloomed. But above all else, she longed to be asked to stay at the house on Bank Street, to be a part of Robert and James's sophisticated world, even as the AIDS crisis brings devastation to their community. Instead, a passionate love affair created a rift between the family, with shattering consequences that reverberated for decades to come. Nineteen years later, when Carlisle receives a phone call that unravels the events of that fateful summer, she sees with new eyes how her younger self has informed the woman she's become.
They're Going to Love You is a gripping and gorgeously written novel of heartbreaking intensity. With psychological precision and a masterfully revealed secret at its heart, it asks what it takes to be an artist in America, and the price of forgiveness, of ambition, and of love.
The characters are beautifully drawn. As the timeline shifts back and forth between Carlisle's adolescence and adulthood (giving equal focus to both), truths are gradually revealed. These provide further context and reveal the motivations of each character, making them feel all the more layered and believable. Through these portrayals, Howrey effectively demonstrates how complicated love can be, and how it's often those we love most that we cause the most harm. Understated yet gripping, this emotionally intense novel is ultimately about the lasting ties of family and the importance of learning how to forgive — both others and ourselves...continued
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(Reviewed by Callum McLaughlin).
The protagonist in Meg Howrey's novel, They're Going to Love You, is a choreographer, hired to create a new adaptation of Igor Stravinsky's renowned ballet, The Firebird. First staged in Paris in 1910, it is often credited as the show that catapulted the composer to international fame.
The ballet's story is based primarily on the creature of the same name from Russian folklore, incorporating characters and plot elements from several traditional fairy tales, and often thought to take inspiration from Yakov Polonsky's popular 1844 children's poem, Winter Journey. We follow Prince Ivan, who spares the life of the eponymous Firebird while hunting in the forest. In exchange for his mercy, the bird gifts the prince one of her enchanted ...
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Jami Attenberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Middlesteins and All This Could Be Yours
They're Going to Love You is my idea of a perfect book. It is about art, life, death, love, and family and it is beautifully and sharply written. I cried several times while reading it, and was sorry to let it go when I was done. I cannot recommend it enough.
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