Book Review: Silhouette by Thalia Kalkipsakis

Scarlett Stirling is a month away from graduating from the National Academy of Performing Arts, and shes on track to pass her final examinations with flying colours and catch the eye of some of the top dance academies while shes at it. But Scarletts all too aware how fleeting a dance career can be, and how important it is to pack as much as possible into that time. Shes talented, precocious and ambitious, but shes also impatient and obsessivetwo traits that so often either result in astonishing achievement, or a terrible fall from grace. In Scarletts case its the latter.

Throughout the hours of training and rehearsals that Scarlett puts in, shes haunted by the spectre of her father, whose own career was tragically, and fatally, cut short. Though Scarletts mother warns her of the danger of chasing a ghost, Scarlett is adamant that her actions and passions are her own. When she is told by others to keep things in perspective, shes unable to fathom what they mean. Everything'is in perspective, she thinks. Dancings not just something I do. Its who I am. Failure is not an option: though everyone from her mother to talented professionals exhort her to consider a back-up plan, Scarlett is convinced that doing so would be admitting defeat.

One of the challenges facing creative professionals is that professional and personal identities are inextricably linked: it can become impossible to step away from ones job because that job is also ones identity. And for Scarlett this is certainly the case. Failing in her dance career would not merely be a professional failure, but a personal one as well, and Scarlett constantly links dance achievement with personal achievement, revelling in the personal high that results from her career achievement.

Its a high thats tremendously addictive and tremendously dangerous, and which consumes Scarletts life until she has scarcely the space to eat, sleep, or live any sort of life outside her training. This sort of obsessiveness, however, is seen by Scarlett not as dangerous, but as a triumph: by giving her entire life and body over to her dancing, shes reifying her identity and her passion.'It makes me wonder how much harder I could push in terms of food and muscle tiredness, she thinks giddily after a day of near starvation and non-stop training.

By narrowing her identity to such a degree, Scarlett is able to shut out any conflicting voices or strugglesif they dont line up with her dancing identity, then theyre trifles she neednt bother with. When her mother pleads with her not to follow in the footsteps of her father, saying He was my husband, not just a dancer, Scarletts response is:'Not just a dancer? Scarlett uses this clash of identities to shut out her mother, her friends, and even the dance academy, believing that the latter is too interested in hand-holding and well-roundedness.

So when Scarlett finds a way to fast-track her career, shes right on it, pushing herself to absolute extremes and letting anything thats not dance related fall by the wayside. Its a harsh, destructive spiral, but it comes with the reinforcement and advocacy that Scarlett so desperately needs. Musician Moss, with whom Scarlett begins an exhausting and lurid affair, tells her, your dad knew how to live. You know what they say. Its better to burn out than to fade away. At another point he says, People like uswe need our freedom to which Scarlett responds with [Moss] focuses on his music, while I focus on my dancing career.

But Scarlett begins to see that Mosss way of burning bright may not be for her. Though perturbed by his speed binges, which he uses to help see himself through marathon song-writing sessions, she realises that theres a parallel between his manic, harmful obsession and her own. Upon collapsing in class one day, she realises that shes not so far from Mosss behaviour as she thinks.'If Miss Penelope cares so much about me hurting myself, why dont I? she says. What am I doing? Pushing to my limit, or just running away? After all, there are others, such as the acclaimed dancer her father performed with, who have managed long-term, stellar careersand without any of the self-destructive behaviour in which Scarlett is becoming so deeply embroiled.

I could see you putting too much in, says her mother as she watches her daughter struggle to accept the consequences of her actions. You realise the risk you take when you do that? If you put in all that you have, you risk losing that much, too.

Thematically,'Silhouette is very strong, but I do feel that the potential for depth of theme and characterisation here is undermined by a few elements. The timeframe of the novel feels like too brief a window for Scarletts fall from grace, and I cant help but think that the novel might have had more of an impact if it were drawn out over a longer period of time. The way in which the plot plays out is unsurprising as well, and I felt that the book might have been stronger were the story narrowed to a few key characters rather than spilling between those at Scarletts school and Mosss friends.

The writing, too, is a let-down: the book (NB, my copy is an uncorrected proof) is full of choppy sentences and fragments that lend a slick and superficial tone that is at odds with the content of the book. I also struggled with the setting (ostensibly in Sydney?), which, like so many Australian books, fails to feel grounded, looking to a sort of everywhere-but-nowhere setting to, one supposes, appeal to an international audience. The title is off-putting, evoking suggestions of anorexia, rather than the Scarlett-as-silhouette motif that recurs throughout the book, and which becomes particularly salient at the end.

Still, in all, this is a solid, powerful read, and one that I expect will resonate with those who identity with Scarlett, or those who have watched the worlds many Scarletts from afar.

Rating: (good)'

With thanks to Hardie Grant Egmont for the review copy

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Other books by Thalia Kalkipsakis: