‘Pretending to Dance’ is easy to love | Reading Corner

One of the newest novels by a popular author, Diane Chamberlain, is a story that really shows how people really never stop growing. “Pretending to Dance” covers an array of difficult topics with natural writing and a colorful cast of characters who highlight multiple sides of said topics.

Chamberlain’s novel also concludes without any of those sides being absolutely right. In doing so, she kept her personal opinions out of her story while allowing her audience to consider the subjects.

Molly Arnette and her husband are working to become eligible parents for open adoption. The couple desperately wants a child although Molly has reservations about the procedure and not for obvious reasons. Our main character is leery to the point of paranoia that the process will uncover parts of her past that she has not only buried but cut ties with.

Flashbacks to the time in question take up the bulk of the book with parts of the present timeline progressing along with the gradual uncovering of what Molly has tried so desperately to hide.

From San Diego, where she and her husband live as adults, to Swannanoa in North Carolina, Molly guides the readers through the summer of her 14 th year that would change her forever.

Chamberlain switches between the tones of each time expertly, when our narrator is a growing teenager to her life as an adult. Regardless of a somewhat complicated family life, Molly was as happy and well-adjusted as teens can be. She was smart but protected, so although she could sense something was wrong that summer, she went along with her family’s charade that everything was alright.

In juxtaposition to her almost forced apathy as a young woman, Molly as an adult over-analyzes every aspect of her current state, convinced that the truth from that summer would ruin her marriage and chances at adoption. But the parallels between her past and present become only stronger as the two plots advance until they crash.

Chamberlain brings the two storylines to their apex at the same time, and Molly finally allows herself to confront her past just as the truth becomes clear. There were hints throughout the book from Molly’s viewpoint as a young teenager which led to her unwavering condemnation as an adult.

Nonetheless, even if the major event was not entirely a surprise, it remained heartbreaking to read. Knowing from the beginning who Molly is mourning for and raging against does not at all lessen the emotional climax, especially after the audience grew to care for the flawed characters.

Poignant and well-written, Chamberlain’s realistic characters and their relationships are definitely the highlight of this book. There is quite some time spent on Molly’s teenaged conduct, but it’s all a part of her coming of age while displaying how perception can be skewed as a child, something she continues to deal with through adulthood. All-in-all, despite its heartaches, “Pretending to Dance” is a book you won’t have to pretend to love.

Emily Smith, For The Sun News.

This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 3:23 PM with the headline "‘Pretending to Dance’ is easy to love | Reading Corner."