I requested this book as an Early Reviewer and was quite pleased to receive it as I too grew up in Bedford, albeit 20 years earlier. And I suppose Bedford has changed; after all Martha Stewart now lives there. Nevertheless, there were mansions then, and rich people, but I grew very tired of his generalizations about the town and its residents, and his continued emphasis on wealth. For example: "The money crowd was small at Fox Lane [my high school], but they found each other by their BMWs . . ." I wonder how he knows, given that he went to Rippowam (yes, a ritzy private school).

This is all carping, and feels ungenerous, but it does capture the annoyance I felt. Some scrupulous editing would have helped greatly. I realize it was written as a series of short stories, which is fine, but they should have been rearranged to cut out the repetition and to make the whole book less disjointed. And, as many reviewers have written, we all wanted to hear more about dance. The focus on the difficulties of growing up with an alcoholic father is understandable - it shaped his life. But how did dance, which after all began when he was just nine? Was it an escape? Was the control required the opposite of what he witnessed each night with his father?

I watched some short videos of Boal's dancing and it was exquisite. I just wish his writing could have measured up. ( )

A heartfelt memoir about the life of Peter Boal, the former principal dancer of the New York City Ballet. Rather than chronological order, this book is written in short vignettes and, for the most part, encompasses his life from early childhood to young adult as part of a privileged but imperfect family.

Beautifully written, but left me wanting to know more about his dance career. Perhaps a sequel will be forthcoming. ( )

although well written, I couldn't finish this book. I didn't have much interest in the childhood of a privileged white kid growing up in a priveleged nieghborhood, ( )

Memoir from a former principal dancer for the New York City Ballet. I was a little disappointed at first that it did not cover more about his dance training and career. That said, it was a beautiful coming of age story, as the author describes his privileged youth and his relationship with his family and especially his father. These early influences shaped his later career. ( )

This memoir was a complete disappointment. I was excited to receive this book from the publisher as an Early Reviewer because my sister and I both spent our childhoods in a ballet academy and now my niece is also a very skilled dancer. The author, Peter Boal was a principal dancer for the New York City Ballet and is the artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet. The picture on the cover shows a male dancer (one could assume to be Peter Boal since it is his memoir) in an emotive pose. On the back of the book it states, "Peter's journey starts with a storied career as a dancer and leaves readers with insights into the life of an artist . . ." but the book starts with him winning a bike when he's two. And continues to talk about building a macaroni tower in school. This book doesn't share insights, and barely mentions dance, and definitely doesn't talk about his career in any meaningful way. This memoir is a good lesson for writers about knowing your audience, and audience expectation: A writer needs to fulfill the promise made to the reader. ( )