Books I've read: Anything But Fine

 

This is a sweet book from Australia.  Luca has been doing ballet basically since he could walk.  His entire life has been dedicated to training hard enough to get into the Australian Ballet School.  So when a fall on some stairs leaves him with a broken foot and the news he'll probably never dance again, he spirals downward fast.  Especially when his inability to dance loses him his scholarship to the  prestigious private school he's been attending.

At his new public school, Luca struggles to make friends and navigate an unfamiliar building on crutches.  His old friends keep calling, but Luca can't bring himself to talk to them - they're all dancers and the hurt of losing his dream is still too raw.  The cute guy in the waiting room of his physical therapist's office is a nice distraction, pretty to look at and did he just catch Luca's eye?

So it's a surprise when Luca discovers that the cute guy goes to his school, is the star of both the rowing and footy teams.  Soon the pair are navigating an unlikely friendship.  What the hell is popular, sporty Jordan Tanaka-Jones doing hanging out with the nerds on the corner benches?

As their friendship becomes something more, Luca finds himself in a tricky situation - he's been out for years and is super excited that he's finally got a boyfriend.  Unfortunately, Jordan isn't ready to come out to anyone, even his family, let alone the homophobic bros he plays sports with.  He swears he'll tell people soon, but as the months go by, Luca becomes more and more uncomfortable with being someone's dirty little secret.

There was a lot to like about this book, but at the same time, it didn't work for me 100%.  I know it's hard to talk about a lot of stuff, but so many of the crises and conflicts in this book were the result of misunderstandings or lack of communication.  I also felt like the beginning of the book was focused so much on how much Luca had lost by losing his ability to dance that the sudden focus on Jordan and nothing much else was a bit jarring.  I mean, I can understand transferring your passion from one thing to another, but this happened so quickly I almost got whiplash!

I also found the way Luca treated his father somewhat uncomfortable.  He was often thoughtless and cruel and I never felt like his father had done anything to deserve that kind of treatment.  It made me like Luca less and care less about whether he ever got what he wanted.

I also found it hard to warm to Jordan.  I understand being afraid to come out, but the way he treated Luca sometimes was horrible and made it difficult to root for them ever really becoming a couple.

And let's not even get started on the bitchy ballet girls!

But overall, I quite enjoyed this one, horrible characters and all.  It reminded me a lot of my own high school years with all the backbiting and cattiness.  Teenagers can be so awful to one another!  SO i guess in many ways, this is probably a far more realistic portrait of high school than many others.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

Luca Mason has been preparing to audition for the Australian Ballet School for more than a decade when a missed step on a flight of stairs lands him in hospital. But it’s not all bad—as Luca settles into a life of doctor’s appointments, unwieldy crutches, and absolutely no ballet (and no, he does not want to talk about it) he strikes up an unlikely friendship with the perfect-in-every-way rowing star of his new school, Jordan Tanaka-Jones.