The Turnout by Megan Abbott

 

            Reviewed by Christy

            The turnout, the ability to rotate one’s legs outward at the hips, is an important technique in building a good foundation for ballet. Dara and Marie Durant have been dancing ballet since they were very young. Dara remembers vividly the exultation she felt the first time she executed the turnout. Their French dancer mother ran her own dance school, and now the sisters have taken over the family business. Though the building is old and badly in need of renovation, the women, along with Dara’s husband Charlie, enjoy a bustling clientele. During their busiest season of the year (rehearsals for The Nutcracker), a fire breaks out in one of their studios destroying it completely. Enter contractor Derek.

            Derek convinces the trio it’s time to undertake the long-needed remodeling. Dara, the de facto leader, is skeptical but reluctantly agrees after some persuasion from Charlie. None of them are prepared for the havoc this intruder will wreak.

            I’m a fan of Megan Abbott but her previous novel, Give Me Your Hand, was a little underwhelming for me. I was delighted to discover that The Turnout, however, reminded me of why I enjoy the author so much. In her books, Abbott likes to focus on a competitive micro community – for example, cheerleading in Dare Me or gymnastics in You Will Know Me – and peel back layers of secrets to reveal the sleazy truth underneath the sheen. The run down little dance studio in The Turnout is no exception. Abbott is really good at writing about slimy misdeeds in a way that is almost effervescent. The characters are interesting (stoic Dara and mousy yet impulsive Marie in particular), but I also enjoyed the atmosphere of the writing. The creak of the wooden stairs in the sisters’ old home, the frost in the winter air, and the scrape of razors on the soles of the pink slippers all made for an immersive read.

            As the novel went on and new tidbits of truth were casually revealed piece by piece, The Turnout became quite the page-turner. I think it might be my new favorite Abbott book.

** I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. **

Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott

Reviewed by Christy H.

            Kit has worked tirelessly in her postgrad years to reach the success she’s achieved – working in a lab run by respected scientist Dr. Severin. When Dr. Severin announces the lab has received funding to study premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and that only three positions will be available, Kit hopes, but isn’t certain, that she’ll win one of the prestigious spots. When the doctor announces a new hire at the same time, Kit’s hopes are dashed, especially when she discovers the new hire is Diane, her close friend and competitor in high school. Though Kit was always smart, Diane was the one who unintentionally lit a fire under Kit, getting her to put more effort into her schoolwork instead of just coasting. The results were a college scholarship and a career in STEM. Despite this bond, Kit and Diane drifted apart after high school, after Diane revealed her darkest secret.

            With Diane back in her life, Kit, who has always felt insecure about her capabilities, is certain she will lose the position to her. She drowns her sorrows in Long Island Iced Teas and lets the long held secret slip to one of her colleagues – further complicating things.

            Like other Abbott books, this one is quick and readable and I did like it, especially the look behind the scenes for women in STEM research. But I also found it lacking something, although I can’t quite articulate what that is. I’m not sure if I felt a disconnect from the characters or if it was the mystery that didn’t grab me. I was curious how everything would turn out but I wasn’t quite as invested as I have been with some of her other novels. So it may not be my new favorite Megan Abbott novel but it’s still a good time and worth a read.

Based on a True Crime Story: Bury Me Deep and See What I Have Done

 Reviews by Christy

Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott

            In 1931, two suspicious trunks were reported at a Los Angeles train station. When police opened them they were surprised and horrified to find that they contained two dead women – later identified as Agnes LeRoi and Hedvig Samuelson. It didn’t take long to trace the trunks back to the woman who had been traveling with them: Winnie Ruth Judd. Winnie had been friends with the women but she claimed the murders were committed in self-defense (though police believed it was over the affections of a man). Judd’s story changed throughout the years so there has never been a definite answer as to what happened that night.

            Megan Abbott fictionalizes a version of events in her book Bury Me Deep. Abbott tells the story of Marion who has been left in Phoenix by her doctor husband while he goes to work in Mexico (after repeatedly losing his license in the U.S. because of his morphine addiction). After finding work at a medical office, she quickly becomes friends with her co-worker Louise and Louise’s roommate Ginny. Louise and Ginny are wild and fun and quiet Marion takes to them immediately. At one of their many parties, Marion meets Joe, a successful businessman and supposed upstanding family man. She falls for him quickly, and everything goes downhill from there.

            Abbott’s version of events is interesting and quite plausible. Marion is written as a good girl in over her head, taken in by the dastardly Joe. The hold Joe has over Marion is described repeatedly though I never quite felt that reading it. She can barely control herself with her overwhelming desire for him but aside from their secret rendezvous we don’t really see them interact that much. It’s hard to see what attracted her to Joe in the first place. Perhaps she’s excited by his overt advances because despite his addiction, her husband is kind and overly proper.

            Though I wasn’t particularly blown away by this novel, it did keep me turning the pages, and I did feel a little sorry for Marion despite her poor choices. A lot of Abbott’s earlier works are in this noir-style, and I look forward to checking them out.

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt

            In 1892, Mr. and Mrs. Borden were murdered in their Massachusetts home by an unknown assailant with an ax. Suspicion quickly fell on their daughter Lizzie Borden; investigators found her behavior afterwards strange and her answers contradictory. Though she was eventually acquitted in her subsequent trial, the reality of Borden’s guilt or innocence was never definite, and interest in the murder case continues to this day – over 125 years later.

            Schmidt recounts these events in her novel, and imagines what really happened that fateful day. I loved the idea of a fictional account of the Borden murders, and I was excited to read it. But I really did not like this novel. Schmidt’s style of writing is overwrought and tedious. The chapters are told in alternating viewpoints (Lizzie, older sister Emma, maid Bridget, and stranger Benjamin), and Lizzie’s chapters are the most tiresome. Especially in the beginning when she is given a sedative after finding her father dead. Her thoughts are meandering, unfocused, and I’m not sure why the author felt readers needed to spend multiple chapters in her sedated mind.  I did enjoy Bridget’s chapters and to a lesser extent Emma’s as well but I think just reading a nonfiction telling would’ve sufficed.

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

Reviewed by Jeanne

We’ve all seen the little inspirational biographies of young athletes in the media: how the child developed a passion for baseball or soccer or ice skating and the parents sacrificed and saved to help the child achieve his or her dream.  In Megan Abbott’s You Will Know Me, we get a close-up view of what that’s like.  Kate and Eric Knox’s daughter Devon is a gymnast—a very gifted gymnast, possible Olympic material.  The Knoxes are one of several couples with daughters in the program, all parents who want their daughters to have the best chance of reaching the heights, and Devon is the engine who is going to pull the rest of the girls along with her.

The BelStars Gym parents are a close-knit group, so when Coach Hailey’s boyfriend is killed one evening by a hit and run driver, everyone –parents and gymnasts—are shaken to the core.  Practices are cancelled, girls see their performances slip, and parents begin to get very nervous.  They have invested a lot in time, money, and effort and there’s a major meet coming up soon.  They need for the gym to get back on track.

But when the police keep asking questions, it begins to look as if someone connected with BelStars may know more about exactly what happened that night.

Abbott has been lauded for her well-crafted psychological portraits of young women, and this book is no exception. Told primarily from Kate’s point of view, the reader gets a vivid picture of the family dynamics; how Eric and Kate met, the accident Devon suffered as a child, the struggle of a middle-class family among some big spenders, how having an exceptional child has changed everything about their lives.  Abbott also explores how well we can know other people. . . and even ourselves.

I enjoyed how this book slowly but steadily ratcheted up the tension as Kate begins to wonder about any number of things she’s never had cause to question—and the reader begins to have doubts about some of Kate’s own choices.  The layers of mystery and motives (not just for crimes) are revealed slowly but surely.  Even though I had a number of things I needed to do, I found myself reading “just one more chapter.”

I’ll be reading more Megan Abbott in the future. I’ll also never watch gymnastics quite the same way again.