I was really impressed with the depth of this book. The author really did her research, especially with the language she used! And I read her afterward and it was really interesting how much of a story she came up with with so little to go on. The excessive role that God played got tiresome for me, though mostly because of my own personal views, and not because I felt that the author inaccurately portrayed the time period. I found at some points that I was skimming through the philosophical parts to get on with the plot...it's my biggest weakness while reading. I really dislike when a female character, or even in this case the Indian characters, were unable to speak their minds...not just get what they wanted, but even voice the fact that they wanted it. Injustice makes me chaff at the bit...and I suppose I should have really expected it with this book, based on the story. I did enjoy it though and I'm glad I read. Thanks for the rec Grandma!

I think this book was really well put together. The idea of alternating chapters with two of the sister's points of view was interesting from the start and then mirrored the tense situation at the end as the viewpoints switched back and forther faster and faster. It also really leant an intenseness to the "betrayal" both sisters felt from the other (and how they dealt with it) because you could really FEEL how each saw the other. And it hurt my heart to see them breaking over it. I was very impressed with the maturity of the writing and I think the author di a great job modeling after the "scientific liturature" of Emile Zola that she talks about in the book. I truly felt depressed with the lives the girls were born into and could see how almost impossible it was for them to climb out of that. I do appreciate that she gave us the "afterward" and didn't let us end in depression...and how she managed to make it seem not too forced by having the baker's son in things from the start. I also learned a lot about the lives of the girls in the Opera ballet and I found the situations MOST interesting...and again, depressed that there were so few options for those girls to succeed without..."help." All in all, very impressive. And I enjoyed the extra part at the end talking about what facts were true and what the author added from imagination...I had no idea that much was known about Degas' models and I applaud the author on using it all. Very enjoyable read.