#20 Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher
When her mother becomes physically unable to work, Ruby drops out of school to work in a meat packinghouse to support the family. She 
hates her job, and the poverty her family is forced to live in. When she learns about a place where she can earn a lot more money as a dance instructor, she jumps at the chance. Only when she starts her job as a taxi dancer, she quickly discovers that she’s expected to do a lot more than teach men to dance.
Ten Cents a Dance is a historical fiction novel that tackles Chicago in the 1940s. It sheds light on taxi dancers, or women paid to dance with men, a topic that I was completely unaware of before picking up this book. Fletcher does a fantastic job of immersing us in the time period through the use of her main characters voice, music, clothing, slang, and historical events.
One of the things that surprised me the most about the book was the fact that Fletcher has taken such a different view of certain romantic trends that are often glamorized in young adult literature. The concept of forbidden love, the nice girl falling in love with the bad boy, and the reality behind falling head over heels in love at sixteen, are seen through a very realistic lens, and not one of fantasy. In fact, there’s nothing close to fantasy in this book. Ten Cents a Dance is not a glamorized tale of the noble poor working to support her family. Behind the glitzy ball gowns and after parties, it is the story of one teenage girl struggling to find her place in the world at the crossroads between childhood and adulthood. Ruby is a great narrator, with a voice that grabs the reader from the start, but she is a very young narrator. One of the things I struggled with the most of this book is, watching Ruby make bad decision after bad decision. I’m not saying that the author did a poor job of explaining why she made these choices. Considering the life she was forced into, and her lack of experience, they actually would make sense to her. Still, being twenty-four and after having seen many people make similarly poor decisions, I often read this book with a feeling of dread in my stomach, knowing what was going to happen next.
The book is not perfect. In fact it does end up dragging quite a bit in the middle chapters. But when it’s good, it’s really good. I’m really happy I picked up Ten Cents a Dance. The characters were nuanced and interesting, and the setting fully realized. I also enjoyed reading the notes from the author, and found the story behind the book to be almost fascinating as the book itself. This will not be the last book I pick up by Christine Fletcher.
Rating: four stars
Length: 356 pages
Source: University of Rhode Island Library
Challenge: This book is part of the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge and the 2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge
Similar Books: Here are a couple similar works of historical fiction- A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, and What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell ( my review)
Other books I've read by this author: This is my first!
xposted to bookish and temporaryworlds
hates her job, and the poverty her family is forced to live in. When she learns about a place where she can earn a lot more money as a dance instructor, she jumps at the chance. Only when she starts her job as a taxi dancer, she quickly discovers that she’s expected to do a lot more than teach men to dance.
Ten Cents a Dance is a historical fiction novel that tackles Chicago in the 1940s. It sheds light on taxi dancers, or women paid to dance with men, a topic that I was completely unaware of before picking up this book. Fletcher does a fantastic job of immersing us in the time period through the use of her main characters voice, music, clothing, slang, and historical events.
One of the things that surprised me the most about the book was the fact that Fletcher has taken such a different view of certain romantic trends that are often glamorized in young adult literature. The concept of forbidden love, the nice girl falling in love with the bad boy, and the reality behind falling head over heels in love at sixteen, are seen through a very realistic lens, and not one of fantasy. In fact, there’s nothing close to fantasy in this book. Ten Cents a Dance is not a glamorized tale of the noble poor working to support her family. Behind the glitzy ball gowns and after parties, it is the story of one teenage girl struggling to find her place in the world at the crossroads between childhood and adulthood. Ruby is a great narrator, with a voice that grabs the reader from the start, but she is a very young narrator. One of the things I struggled with the most of this book is, watching Ruby make bad decision after bad decision. I’m not saying that the author did a poor job of explaining why she made these choices. Considering the life she was forced into, and her lack of experience, they actually would make sense to her. Still, being twenty-four and after having seen many people make similarly poor decisions, I often read this book with a feeling of dread in my stomach, knowing what was going to happen next.
The book is not perfect. In fact it does end up dragging quite a bit in the middle chapters. But when it’s good, it’s really good. I’m really happy I picked up Ten Cents a Dance. The characters were nuanced and interesting, and the setting fully realized. I also enjoyed reading the notes from the author, and found the story behind the book to be almost fascinating as the book itself. This will not be the last book I pick up by Christine Fletcher.
Rating: four stars
Length: 356 pages
Source: University of Rhode Island Library
Challenge: This book is part of the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge and the 2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge
Similar Books: Here are a couple similar works of historical fiction- A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, and What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell ( my review)
Other books I've read by this author: This is my first!
xposted to bookish and temporaryworlds