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Book Review: Dancing with Air

Rating:

☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5

Title: Dancing with Air

Author: Uvi Poznansky

Publication Date: August 18, 2016

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Thriller

Cover:

When I saw the cover of Dancing with Air, I felt as if I was viewing a private moment in which the woman was lost in her own world. I love the movement of her hand and the worn look of the picture.

Premise

The reader is introduced to Lenny and Natasha, a couple who fell in love during World War II and who are now fighting against an enemy that cannot be defeated—Natasha’s Alzheimer’s. While the book starts and ends in the 1970s, most of the story takes place in England during the 1940s. Young Lenny trades his courier job for one of espionage as he uses his writing skill to deliberately mislead the Nazis regarding Allied troop movements. All goes according to plan until Natasha shows up unexpectedly from America. This surprise visit threatens to destroy everything!

Why I chose this book:

Author Uvi Poznansky requested this review. I love historical fiction, and the 1940s is one of my favorite periods, so accepting this book was quite easy.

First Impression:

The prologue of Dancing with Air will feel familiar for those who have watched a loved one progress through the stages of dementia, especially Alzheimer’s. My heart broke for Lenny, Natasha’s husband and caregiver, as he reminisced about their past together while worrying about what their future held as she slipped further and further away from him.

What I loved:

I couldn’t help but think about true love and what that meant to Lenny and Natasha. There were so many moments in their relationship when things could have ended, yet somehow, they pushed through the obstacles and continued to love each other. There is something comforting about that thought. When the universe conspires to unite two people, not even a world war can keep them apart.

Poznansky offers readers a beautiful combination of historical accuracy alongside a love story. While the world she references actually existed, she does a lovely job of taking the reader back to this time period with her thoughtful portrayal of what life was like while living through the war. One aspect that I thoroughly enjoyed was how he incorporated song lyrics into the story.

Additional Thoughts:

There is a tendency to look at those older than us and think that “this” is how they have always been. We sometimes forget they were young with their
whole lives ahead of them. Perhaps they were wild and reckless, or maybe focused and responsible. I love that we were able to see this aspect of Lenny and Natasha’s relationship.

Quotable Quotes:

• I remember how I expected that some of the soldiers in this boat would soon become casualties. Others must have been thinking the same thing. No one talked anymore, not a word was uttered, but you used your eyes. From time to time I would find myself casting a look sideways at a guy, thinking, which one of us is about to die? Is it you or is it me?
• The most cherished thing you gave me, Natasha, the one I can still rescue for us, is this: our past. I should capture each moment, wrap it up—ever so carefully—in words, so our passion may continue to blossom on this page, even as we decline.
• No longer a girl, imagining herself dancing with air—she was a woman now, a woman with a solid resolve to take charge of the course of our story.

Who might enjoy this book:

Dancing with Air is ideal for those who enjoy an against-all-odds love story set against the backdrop of World War II.

Overall Impression:

Five stars. Dancing with Air captures a beautiful and enduring love story between two average people facing extraordinary and dangerous circumstances during World War II. Poznansky sprinkles the book with historical details without overwhelming the story of Lenny and Natasha, thus always focusing on these young lovers. However, by allowing the reader to see the future story of Lenny and Natasha as they deal with the devastating impact of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Poznansky highlights that not every story has a fairytale ending. Yet the reader knows that the love shared between Lenny and Natasha will survive until their last breaths, and there is comfort in that.

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