--- title: Maggie Shipstead, "Astonish Me": Book Review description: Shipstead's sophomore novel makes a grand arabesque into the world of dance canonical: https://time.com/56116/maggie-shipstead-astonish-me-review/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-09T20:52:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:13:28.877Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Maggie Shipstead, "Astonish Me": Book Review og:description: Shipstead's sophomore novel makes a grand arabesque into the world of dance og:url: https://time.com/56116/maggie-shipstead-astonish-me-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06048d9100a0806e/698689e9cd6848cb3b094114/astonish-me.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Astonish Me, Maggie Shipstead og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Maggie Shipstead, "Astonish Me": Book Review twitter:description: Shipstead's sophomore novel makes a grand arabesque into the world of dance twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06048d9100a0806e/698689e9cd6848cb3b094114/astonish-me.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # REVIEW: _Astonish Me_: Maggie Shipstead's Balletic Prose > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Apr 9, 2014 8:52 PM UTC  Random House  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Apr 9, 2014 8:52 PM UTC When you strip away the tutus, dainty shoes, and pas de deux, the world of ballet can be brutal. (_Black Swan,_ anybody?_)_ An unforgiving combination of art and athleticism, it chews up and spits out anyone who’s not young enough, talented enough, or driven enough to compensate for either. That’s what happens to the unremarkable Joan in _Astonish Me_, the second novel from Maggie Shipstead, a writer who made her promising debut with the WASP wedding romp _Seating Arrangements_. In the 1970s, Joan has a brief but steamy affair with a Baryshnikov-esque Russian dancer, Arslan Rusakov, whose getaway car she drives during his defection from the Soviet Union. He then becomes an international celebrity and, thanks to his jaw-dropping talent, the darling of the dance world. Joan, meanwhile, is destined for a mediocre career in his shadow, so she makes a getaway of her own. She flees to California, marries the childhood friend who pined for her, and settles into motherhood far away from the glitter and cocaine of Studio 54-era New York City. But when her son Harry grows up to be a dance prodigy himself, Joan is suddenly sucked back into the world she had put behind her. _Astonish Me,_ out this week, sets itself up to be about the choice between dangerous, unstable passion and easy, reliable contentment, but the story is never quite that simple. That’s partly because Shipstead isn’t interested in the straightforward answers. In _Seating Arrangements_, she expertly explored the emotional grey areas of a New England family weathering intergenerational turmoil and infidelity, and in _Astonish Me_, she once again succeeds at capturing the messy, intimate drama of domesticity: furtive glances exchanged over dinner tables, after-hours pillow talk, the different breeds of jealousy that lurk among friends, lovers, rivals and spouses. But it’s also because Arslan Rusakov is a mystery for much the novel, which begins just after the affair implodes and quickly fast-forwards. The book covers around 30 years in fewer than 300 pages, and its frequent back-and-forth jumps in time can feel a little misleading. Many of Joan’s life choices revolve around a man whose magnetic appeal is never quite explained — readers must simply accept that his dancing is extraordinary, even if his personality (and grasp of the English language) is not. Elsewhere, seemingly minor characters go on to play crucial roles in major plot developments, while others almost get lost in the shuffle, dipping behind the curtain between chapters and never returning for a solo. All that would be more frustrating were _Astonish Me_ a tale of an epic romance gone wrong. But by studying how Joan, Arslan, and other satellite characters orbit around one another, the book instead examines the lengths people go to (or don’t) to be perfect. What might seem like one of the novel’s few letdowns is in some ways another one of its strengths: the quest for perfection is far more thrilling than actually achieving it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/56116/maggie-shipstead-astonish-me-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/56116/maggie-shipstead-astonish-me-review/"},"headline":"REVIEW: Astonish Me: Maggie Shipstead's Balletic Prose","datePublished":"2014-04-09T20:52:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:13:28.877Z","description":"Shipstead's sophomore novel makes a grand arabesque into the world of dance","url":"https://time.com/56116/maggie-shipstead-astonish-me-review/","keywords":["Books","ballet"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06048d9100a0806e/698689e9cd6848cb3b094114/astonish-me.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06048d9100a0806e/698689e9cd6848cb3b094114/astonish-me.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Astonish Me, Maggie Shipstead","caption":"","creditText":"Random House","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/56116/maggie-shipstead-astonish-me-review/","name":"REVIEW: Astonish Me: Maggie Shipstead's Balletic Prose"}}]}] ```