Review: Take A Bow

TAKE A BOW
Elizabeth Eulberg
Contemporary Young Adult
278 Pages
Scholastic Point
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Emme, Sophie, Ethan, and Carter are seniors at a performing arts school, getting ready for their Senior Showcase recital, where the pressure is on to appeal to colleges, dance academies, and professionals in show business.

For Sophie, a singer, it's been great to be friends with Emme, who composes songs for her, and to date Carter, soap opera heartthrob who gets plenty of press coverage.

Emme and Ethan have been in a band together through all four years of school, but wonder if they could be more than just friends and bandmates.

Carter has been acting since he was a baby, and isn't sure how to admit that he'd rather paint than perform. The Senior Showcase is going to make or break each of the four, in a funny, touching, spectacular finale that only Elizabeth Eulberg could perform.

MY THOUGHTS
Take a Bow is a short but surprisingly emotional read, thrusting into the midst of a creative and performing arts school as four very different students try to find their way through their classes, their futures, and their individual relationships. The fact that there are four first-person point of views packed into an under three-hundred page story may cause some readers to balk initially–questioning whether or not there will be enough time to adequately connect to each character before reaching the last page–but Ms. Eulberg does an extremely impressive job of layering each character and giving them the means to pull a strong, visceral response from us however brief our sojourn into their heads and hearts. Watching as the relationships change between the four narrators as well as the side characters is entertainment at its finest, each one of them flawed and in various stages of recognizing those flaws so they may get out of their own way and grab onto the future that’s waiting just beyond their self-constructed walls.

Emme and Ethan are perhaps the two characters with whom we spend the most time, their relationship consisting of deep friendship (and unrequited love on Ethan’s part) the most emotional of the four threads woven together to create this beautiful patchwork of a story. Emme is endearingly naïve and a genuinely good person, always the first to help any of her friends should they need it, and utterly unsuspecting of any type of subterfuge or petty jealousy to the extent that we often want nothing more than to reach in and force her eyes open wide so she can see what everyone else around her already does. Her eyes do eventually open much to our immense relief, and once they’re open they remain blissfully clear and she never allows her vision to be clouded by a manipulative farce of a friend again. She goes from a meek, quiet young woman content to her place in the shadows to a strong and confident young woman who’s still plagued by nerves, but who no longer allows herself or those around her to stand in her way.

Ethan has our hearts from the opening pages, his feelings for Emme as obvious to us as Emme is oblivious, and we immediately enter into a love/hate relationship with him—loving his protectiveness of Emme while simultaneously hating that he protects her even from himself. His flaws are probably the darkest and most numerous, his self-destructive behavior a burden he bears not alone, but rather one he unintentionally shares with Emme and those who most care for him, weighing all of us down until our toes brush bottom and he begins to push off and drag us all back toward the surface. Despite his behavior, he is nothing if not worthy of redemption and affection, his clear love for Emme something painful and stunning at the same time as we honestly have no idea as to whether her feelings for him can be what he so desperately wants them to be.

Ethan and Emme are definitely the strongest of the four narrators, our time spent with Carter and Sophie not quite as complex or interesting as the maelstrom of emotions constantly swirling around the other two. Carter’s chapters are written in script-like form, something a bit jarring given the other three perspectives have no such clear distinction, and while we understand why it’s done that way given Carter’s entire life has been scripted for him, it seems just a touch out of place. Overall however, Ms. Eulberg has written a story rich with intriguing relationships where all the beauty and pain that accompanies change is laid before us in glorious detail.

Rating: 4/5

Review: Prom & Prejudice

PROM & PREJUDICE
Elizabeth Eulberg
Young Adult
227 Pages
Scholastic Point
Available Now

THE STORY
Every girl at Longbourn Academy dreams about going to prom. The couture dresses, the Pemberley boys, the social prestige–all of it on the mind of every junior and senior at the school. Everyone except Lizzie Bennet, a gifted pianist but poor scholarship student, whose lack of wealth makes her a social pariah among the rich and entitled.

For the sake of her best friend, roommate, and one of the two people at school who doesn't treat her as a doormat, Lizzie agrees to go to a reception so Jane can mingle with Charles Bingley, a Pemberley student who has just returned from a semester abroad. At the party, she has an unfortunate run-in with William Darcy, Charles's best friend, and is reminded yet again of her unworthy scholarship status.

Unfortunately for Lizzie, she is forced to spend more time with Will since their respective best friends are romantically involved, and she often finds herself irritated by his very presence despite his attempts to get to know her better. However, when Wick, an old acquaintance of Will's makes advances on both Lizzie and Jane's younger sister Lydia, a shocking truth about Will's family history with Wick is revealed and Lizzie realizes she may be as guilty of prejudice as those around her.

MY THOUGHTS
Prom & Prejudice is a sweet story that modernizes and reintroduces us to characters with whom we are already familiar, placing them in an updated world but keeping timeless elements at the forefront as Ms. Eulberg re-examines basic human nature in social situations in a way that keeps us rapidly flipping the pages even when we know exactly what's going to happen. This is a book that shouldn't be approached with too much seriousness–those who are looking for the rich complexity of Austen's original tale will certainly find many a flaw in this retelling–but for any reader looking for a story full of classic miscommunications and misinterpretations that ultimately lead to the reversal of a deep-rooted prejudice, you will not be disappointed. The notion that wealth is somehow an adequate and accurate way of determining a person's worth is applicable in any time period, and Ms. Eulberg does a nice job of transferring this social bias to an elite New York City boarding school where it is as believable and as equally frustrating as it was in Austen's time.

Lizzie is an enjoyable heroine, taking her verbal and physical abuse at the hands of her peers for her scholarship student status in stride, keeping her focus on her music and her career goals. She is a loyal friend to Jane, often subjecting herself to public ridicule at social functions so Jane won't have to attend alone in the hope of meeting up with Charles. We can't help but erect our own walls to guard against the animosity often slung in her direction, the strength of our solidarity with her increasing with every nasty comment and rude gesture. Though she treats Will with the same hostility she resents from others, the growth and maturity we know is coming still never fails to make us smile as she humbles herself and eventually rectifies her preconceptions of his character.

Will, after living up spectacularly well to the snobbery and arrogance rumored to infect all Pemberley students, makes a solid and respectable effort to win Lizzie's affections, enduring her wrath while quietly prodding her impressive armor for any weak spot that might allow him access to the girl underneath it all. Their interactions are beautifully tense, the line between anger and attraction often blurring to a degree that causes our temperature to rise several notches, and in our heated state we can do nothing but shake our heads as Lizzie remains oblivious to Will's interest, content instead to exist as she has previously–wrapped thickly in her own proud, but lonely, blanket. We wait with a heightened sense of anticipation for events to play out as we know they will, yet our knowledge of the outcome makes the reading of Lizzie and Will's romantic dance no less enjoyable.

Prom & Prejudice is a quick and easy read, one not meant to mimic the beauty and depth of Austen's work, but instead meant simply to entertain and, in that respect, is successful in doing so. Readers of all ages looking for an adorable romance will enjoy this tale, reveling in the characters' ability to complicate matters that ought to be simple. We come to realize our hearts often know far more than our mouths or minds do, and we are able to sit back and experience the frustration and hurt, but also the luminous joy that accompanies the journey our minds take in order to catch up with what our hearts have already figured out.

Rating: 4/5