Freestyle
“In the dance studio, Kai feels safe, there he can fly.”
Freestyle is the follow up to Dess Terentyeva’s YA novel Lovely (2021) which gained numerous nominations and won Finnish publishing house WSOY’s writing contest. This verse novel, written on the rhythms of street dance, deals with friendship and the search of one’s own sexuality.
Kai and Mandi don’t remember the time when they didn’t dance – nor when they didn’t know each other. They are inseparable, but their friendship starts unexpectedly cracking as Mandi has a crush on a girl from the dance school. Kai tries to be supportive and encouraging, but Mandi feels he doesn’t understand. Later, then, Mandi reveals that she has been dating someone over the summer. Kai starts to feel like he might be losing his best friend.
Kai for his part doesn’t even know if he’s interested in romance or dating. He is tired of the assumptions people make about him and about in which categories he doesn’t fit – or should fit. But he eventually starts to think that there may be a category for him to belong to, as Kai realises that he could be asexual. And he has his place of solace, which is their dance practice.
Terentyeva writes insightfully and sensitively about asexuality. Her own background as a dancer pulses in the rhythm of this lively verse novel.
‘Terentyeva’s novel in verse is a rarity in Finnish literature for both its form and its subject matter. The verse novel is a form of storytelling that has become popular particularly in young adult fiction, where the text is divided into verses as in poems, thus enabling a more lively and lyrical rhythm.
And there are barely a handful of protagonists that are asexual in Finnish literature.’
– Helsingin Sanomat newspaper’s interview of the author
info
Year of publication
2023
Original title
Freestyle
Page count
168
Original publisher
WSOY
Original language of publication
Finnish
Reviews
Lastenkirjahylly Blog
"Terentyeva’s recently published book Freestyle can be properly described as a novel in verse, for the reader is instantly grabbed by its rhythmic flow."
Kirjapöllön huhuiluja Blog
"I don’t think I have come across aromanticism in any YA novel before. This indeed is an important topic to bring up because, quite often, it’s assumed that having a crush and dating inevitably belong to a teenager’s life. What if you just don’t feel attracted to anyone?"
Aamulehti Newspaper
"The lively rhythm of the verse novel fits Freestyle especially well. It feels as if it throws the reader straight into the world of teenagers who love to dance. ... Terentyeva has the skill to condense big and heavy subjects into a compact number of pages. ... However, a lot is said and addressed in the short novel. Terentyeva wonderfully depicts the soulscape of a young boy. ... [She] definitely has her own significant place in Finnish young adult literature."
Kirjavinkit
"The colloquial style of the verse novel fits terrifically in this book inspired by dance. The text lives and breathes and dances along within the narrative. Terentyeva succeeds in portraying the atmosphere of the dance classes. She also brilliantly depicts the insecurities and fears experienced in youth. The difficulty of speaking about these feelings is very well condensed in the verses."
Virikkeitä magazine (IBBY Finland)
"Terentyeva’s verse text is vivid, delicate and effortless, like dancing. The emotion it conveys is powerful, and the rhythm is catchy. The tone is gently permissive; the messy emotions of teenagers are expressed in an identifiable way without understatement, but simultaneously with a comforting message: great emotions are part of youth, and you don't have to know everything immediately. Go ahead, indulge yourself!"
Interested in literary or film rights?
Get in touch with your ideas and our literary agents will get back to you in a heartbeat.
Quote
"In the dance studio, Kai feels safe, there he can fly."