... [a] witty, sobering, hell-raising memoir ... She exposes more turmoil at New York City Ballet than any fictional ballet melodrama could hope to match. Good luck trying to look away while she eviscerates the institution ... Pazcoguin attests to every suspicion you may harbor about ballet’s underbelly. The author has experienced them all ... There are enough real-life crises in this brisk, often laugh-out-loud tell-all to light the imagination of any cable TV script writer. But with her string of criticisms and even in her crazy-funny asides, Pazcoguin has a serious point to make about the ballet world ... Pazcoguin is not merely out for blood. It’s clear that she’s passionate about her art and devoted to the dancer’s life, no matter the late nights, early mornings and utter absence of things like dinner plans and weekends. Her outrage over the misbehavior is nuanced, not shrill, and she comes clean about what she sees as her own complicity and mistakes ... It's a corker.
[A] page-turner of a memoir ... not timid ... She didn’t leave out the painful stories ... The book—laced with expletives—is not without humor ... As much as it seems like an examination of her workplace, Pazcoguin sees Swan Dive as a deep look at herself—as a person and as an artist.
In her brisk, spirited debut memoir, the author recounts her experiences in the competitive, hierarchical ballet world ... A lively chronicle of dedication and joy.
Pazcoguin’s irreverent, conversational writing is appealing: funny, poignant, and sometimes understandably angry. Word pictures, such as anxiety 'whir[ring] inside of me constantly, not unlike a high-powered blender,' evoke her personality. Although this story takes place within an elite ballet company, it speaks to a broad audience.
Pazcoguin reveals the grimy underbelly of elite stagecraft and the extreme passions that fuel it in this rollicking debut ... Pazcoguin’s humorous asides entertain, though at times they can undermine the abuse she endured ... While the juicy details of beautiful people behaving badly are beguiling, it’s Pazcoguin’s unsparing criticism of the industry that begs an encore. This is potent stuff.
[An] aggressively entertaining memoir ... [Pazcoguin] is generous with endearingly disarming accounts of her on- and offstage belly flops, each of which gets its own Swan Dive section, fueled by her plucky peevishness. That spirited petulance is also out in force when Pazcoguin encounters injustice ... This diverting and cackle-worthy memoir by a New York City Ballet soloist is equal parts autobiography, insider intel and righteous indignation.
