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    When the Stars Go Blue: A Novel
    Unavailable
    When the Stars Go Blue: A Novel
    Unavailable
    When the Stars Go Blue: A Novel
    Ebook337 pages4 hours

    When the Stars Go Blue: A Novel

    By Caridad Ferrer

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Winner of an International Latino Book Award, When the Stars Go Blue is a contemporary interpretation of Bizet's Carmen in which the fiery gypsy is reinvented as a modern-day dancer, torn between the attentions of an intense, disciplined music prodigy and a flamboyant soccer player.

    Dance is Soledad Reyes's life. About to graduate from Miami's Biscayne High School for the Performing Arts, she plans on spending her last summer at home teaching in a dance studio, saving money, and eventually auditioning for dance companies. That is, until fate intervenes in the form of fellow student Jonathan Crandall who has what sounds like an outrageous proposition: Forget teaching. Why not spend the summer performing in the intense environment of the competitive drum and bugle corps? The corps is going to be performing Carmen, and the opportunity to portray the character of the sultry gypsy proves too tempting for Soledad to pass up, as well as the opportunity to spend more time with Jonathan, who intrigues her in a way no boy ever has before.

    But in an uncanny echo of the story they perform every evening, an unexpected competitor for Soledad's affections appears: Taz, a member of an all-star Spanish soccer team. One explosive encounter later Soledad finds not only her relationship with Jonathan threatened, but her entire future as a professional dancer.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateNov 23, 2010
    ISBN9781429925747
    Unavailable
    When the Stars Go Blue: A Novel
    Author

    Caridad Ferrer

    Caridad Ferrer always knew she was meant for the arts-she just thought it would be onstage, belting out smoky torch songs with a side of teaching little darlings do-re-mi. Her subconscious clearly knew better, urging her to keep journals and weave stories. Several novels and a RITA® award later, her subconscious taunts her with the occasional, "Nyah, nyah." A native Floridian, Ferrer now makes her home in the Pacific Northwest, thriving amidst the cool, rainy weather.

    Read more from Caridad Ferrer

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    Reviews for When the Stars Go Blue

    4/5

    28 ratings8 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Interesting try at retelling a classic opera! I wish the connection wasn't made SOOOO completely obvious though.
    • 4/5
      I'm a sucker for well written YA, and good adaptations of classical stories, also a sucker for dance narrative.
      This does a terrific job of hitting my sweet spot, with a strong, authentic narrator staying true to her Hispanic heritage... and setting the stage for a reinterpretation of Carmen that builds out into character development and obsession/passion along interesting lines.
      A fun, fast read.
    • 4/5
      Soledad, incredibly talented dancer and recent high school graduate, knows exactly what she wants for her future. The summer after graduation, she plans on teaching at a ballet studio and, come January, will move to NYC to make her dream of dancing professionally a reality. But then an incredible opportunity presents itself: to play Carmen, the passionate gypsy of opera fame, in a drum and bugle corps for the entire summer on a tour of the country. Plus, she'll be spending time with the intoxicating and beautiful Jonathan, her classmate, a corps member, and the one who presented her with the idea in the first place.

      Soledad's world is opened by her experiences in the strict corps, and her dancing is all the better for it. But her story doesn't just include a performance as Carmen; it mirrors it. It's clear after a few encounters that another is after her affection, and the results may spell ruin for Soledad and for her future.

      For Valentine's Day, I wanted to pick a book that dealt with love, but also with passion. I figured a book based on the story of Carmen was a perfect fit, and I was right. Soledad and Jonathan's romance is fast and furious—the attraction is instantaneous, when Soledad notices Jonathan for the first time. Despite his crush on her for the four years they've been in high school together, he has never gotten the nerve to talk to her before his idea to have her audition as Carmen, and it's immediately clear that his passion has been burning for a long time, all but exploding when Soledad begins to return the affection.

      What I love about this book is how real all of the relationship felt to me. In high school, things do happen that fast. "I love yous" are exchanged, and you'll spend as much time as possible together. The interactions are believable, especially Jonathan's jealousy and slight possessiveness. This being their first real relationship, both Soledad and Jonathan are feeling it out and learning what it means to be in a relationship, though not always in a positive way.

      Soledad narrates, and her language is spot on. It has just the right amount of cursing, and rarely did I think Ferrer tried too hard with making her sound like a teen. She did a fantastic job with that. My only complaints are the overuse of elipses throughout the text—some places it worked, but I got annoyed with them more often than not—and the chapter titles, which seemed to be all song titles. Again, some worked, but for some I was confused about the link between the title and content.

      And let's talk about the corps for a minute. I loved reading about the marching and the performances; I was in marching band in high school and didn't particularly like it, but I had a pride in being a part of it. It's nothing compared to what this corps was like though. The intensity and precision, the descriptions of everything, are fantastic. And Soledad's description of her dancing is thrilling to read.

      This is a great story about first love and incredible passion, yet also shows which behaviors can be harmful. Plus, a modernization of Carmen? Awesome. Ferrer does a lovely job at bringing the emotion and power of the opera into a modern teen context. I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's Day read.
    • 4/5
      This is a very intense and passionate novel. Which makes sense, as it is a retelling of the opera Carmen. Even though it might spoil some of the plotline in the book, I think it is a good idea to read up on a general outline of the opera before reading - to help you appreciate the spirit of the retelling.A lot of books and movies attempt to explain the intensity and drive of serious dancers, and this is no exception. Our MC, Soledad, is a very determined and talented dancer. She ends up taking a part dancing for a competing marching band. I loved that twist - because dancers aren't the only intensely focused group out there. Marching band is hardcore...which Soledad finds out very quickly.Anyways, the point I'm making is that the very nature of the activities the characters are involved in adds just another level of passion and focus to the story. As if the characters don't bring all those things to the table as it is.I'm not even going to breathe a hint of a spoiler here, the boys are introduced in the summary - and that is all you need to know. Meet them, decide for yourself what you think about them, and dive headfirst into this novel. It is sexy, it is intense, and will be one that sticks with you for a long time.
    • 4/5
      I really loved this book. I liked Soledad's spice, her independence, and her willingness to make herself vulnerable to love someone. I also loved the fact that she understood there is great strength in making yourself vulnerable. I loved her grandmother "Mamacita" who raised her. She was such a warm, interesting character. Her love for Soledad so evident. But her willingness to let her go for her own growth commendable. The 'moment it all went wrong', I never saw coming. I was completely blown away. It was easy to get engrossed in the world of dance and corps while reading this book. You felt as though you were living it with the characters sometimes. This was a lovely book that I would recommend. I'm giving it 5 precise kisses!
    • 4/5
      This modern retelling of Carmen is full of sultry sensuality, color, and rhythm. And uniquely from other adaptations of Carmen, it has a bittersweet coming-of-age young love theme layered into the mix.Soledad is a teenage Latina in Miami, being brought up by her Cuban grandmother (“Mamacita”). Soledad is single-mindedly dedicated to dance, and dreams of going professional one day. Jonathan Crandall is the horn captain for a drum and bugle corps. The corps is looking for a female to play Carmen to add spice to its all-male performance in the upcoming summer tour. Jonathan has always had a crush on Soledad; this is his opportunity to approach her with an offer to play the lead. Dancing in this venue will help expand her repertoire, and she agrees to join the troupe.“Taz” (short for Baltazar) is a sexy Spanish soccer player whose team is also on the same tour as the drum and bugle corps. And Taz falls for Soledad as well.How does it come out? Well, if you know your opera, you know that Carmen has an unhappy ending. But Ferrer very cleverly transforms that tragedy into metaphor, giving the reader something much better to take away, which is in fact more thought-provoking than the blunt ending of the opera.Discussion:Some of the prose might be considered overwrought, but I think it works, because it fits with Soledad’s passionate personality. Whether she is happy or sad, talking or dancing, she displays emotional intensity. This passage when she and Taz are dancing at a club on a night all the performers have a break is illustrative:'Responding to his smile, matching him step for step, my hand sliding across his chest and hooking around his neck. Two parts coming together into beautiful, organic movement. Everything sensual and arousing and heart-stopping about really dancing with another human being. And with every turn, I moved in even closer; with each beat, my body swayed more seductively, learning the contours of his body, inviting him to learn mine. Realizing with the tiny part of my brain that was still operational that one of his hands was splayed across the middle of my back, the other tangled in my hair, the tips of his fingers brushing my neck while both of my arms rested on his shoulders. Pull away, that tiny part whispered, but I couldn’t. Not as long as I could feel the subtle bunch and shift of muscle beneath cotton warmed by his body’s heat – could keep playing my fingertips through the ends of his hair. …”The rhythms demanded, she said, that they "...linger over the movements and savor each beat like they were bits from a juicy, sweet mango on the hottest day of the summer.”Or, as Jonathan put it less floridly, "You were practically fucking him on the floor.”Evaluation: I loved how the author reworked Carmen to make the ending transformative, and I loved the affectionate look at the Miami Cuban culture. The author does an excellent job in portraying jealous, possessive attachment and the mixed response it can elicit. There is plenty of tension in this book, and plenty of heat. It is a paean to passion of all kinds. This book is YA, but not PG.
    • 3/5
      If you do not know Carmen, you may not have the biases I did coming into the book. See, I don’t really like that character that much, but I do love dancing, so I decided to put aside my biases (as much as I could) and just read.At first I struggled with the writing. It felt choppy to me, and I had to re-read sentences to understand what was going on. When that happens occasionally, I tend to blame myself, but when it happens regularly throughout the course of the book, there’s something about the writing style that doesn’t connect with me. I got used to the rhythm of the wording, but I never really got past it. It was a little like swimming against the tide; you make adjustments to get where you need to go, but it’s not easy to get there.Despite my rocky relationship with the writing style, I found myself genuinely interested in Soledad’s story. Sure, at times she seemed a little frigid, but she never came across as selfish, which is what I was worried about. However, being familiar with Carmen, I was not looking forward to what was coming, because from the beginning I liked Jonathan. He’s this nice guy, a little on the shy side, and he’s crazy about Soledad. And the guy who comes along after she’s already with Jonathan instantly drove me crazy. How dare Soledad do anything to hurt Jonathan, and with that guy?! This is where Ferrer’s skill shines, because the story did not make me want to punch the girl in the face. The changes in Soledad’s relationships with both guys happened in a way that was plausible and completely understandable.By the end, I was surprised because it was not the dancing that I liked most about the book. In fact, I didn’t find those parts to be all that exciting. Instead it was the story, and more specifically the parts of the story I thought I would hate, that I ended up liking the most.
    • 4/5
      What originally grabbed my attention when I first heard of When the Stars Go Blue was the fact that the story takes place in Miami. Being a South Floridian all my life I knew that recognizing all the landmarks mentioned throughout the book would make reading this story even more enjoyable. Aside from the awesome setting, I loved the world of dance depicted in these pages. Soledad breathes and lives... dance - it is her world... and Ms. Ferrer expertly captures the ups and downs that can be associated with it. Soledad was such a passionate, driven, and strong individual. She's the type to live in the moment and when she truly believes in something, she gives it her all. When she's asked by Jonathan to play the part of Carmen as a dancer in his drum and bugle corps she agrees not only for the dancing but also because of her fascination with Jonathan. Their relationship is passionate and very intense but eventually starts crossing over into a place where you know cannot be healthy. Jonathan is jealous and possessive and eventually this takes a toll on their relationship. This is a retelling of the opera Carmen. It is emotion-packed with very strong and three dimensional characters. The rich descriptions of Soledad's dancing, Jonathan's passion for music and even Taz's love of soccer are so expressive and well done. My only complaint (and it's a small one) is that the story lagged a little towards the middle, but otherwise, it was very, very good. I was impressed with this retelling of Carmen and can definitely say that Ms. Ferrer did a phenomenal job in revamping and making this story her own... not to mention bringing it to the attention of YA readers. This is a very moving and emotional read - one that will have you laughing at times and crying at others. Don't miss out on it.