Uvi’s Comments (group member since Apr 09, 2012)

Uvi’s comments from the The Creative Spark with Uvi Poznansky group.

Just discovered a new, short and sweet review for Apart From Love:

★★★★ Beautifully told, August 15, 2013
By PhotoMom - See all my reviews
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It is so refreshing to read a novel with lyrical beautiful writing! In today's 99-cent publishing atmosphere, such eloquent use of language is a treat.

Are you an Audible member? Addicted to audiobooks? Love historical fiction? Then this raffle is just the thing for you!

Win a FREE DOWNLOAD of the audiobook edition of A Favorite Son!

Here's how:

Raffle: Win a FREE Audiobook Download of A Favorite Son

King Judah has hosted poetess Bathsheba Dailey and me, live on air!
Join me for a visit in the The Kings Court. It is a 2-hours conversation, so bring a glass of wine or a cup of coffee! The conversation is well worth your time, I promise, as both Bathsheba and I read excerpts from our poetry!

Bathsheba and I in the King's Court

Born and raised in Russia, Julia Gousseva is the author of several books such as Moscow Dreams and Twelve Months of Soviet Childhood, in which she brings a taste of the literary heritage of her homeland to the American reader. I am greatly honored that she posted this lovely review for A Favorite Son

★★★★★ Powerful and Compelling, August 15, 2013
By Julia Gousseva "Author of 'Moscow Dreams'
(REAL NAME)
Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: A Favorite Son (Kindle Edition)

One of the most unforgettable images in "A Favorite Son" is the long-sleeved goatskin coat of the narrator's mother. At the beginning, the coat is described as "kept safely in her chest, hidden from the eyes of the world." As the story unfolds, in an effort to protect, conceal, and betray, this treasured coat is ripped to shreds, becoming a vivid symbol of the power struggle tearing this family apart.

In "A Favorite Son," Uvi Poznansky engages the readers with the eternal themes that have occupied people's minds since times immemorial. It is a story of complicated family relationships, love, death, vengeance, and betrayal.

The first person narrator of the story mesmerizes the readers with his authentic, sincere, and honest voice. Honest despite the ultimate act of deceit he is about to commit. In his own words, "I am bold, fierce, adventurous. I am my father's favorite son." And that is indeed true, just not in the way it seems on the surface.

The narrator's relationships with his blind father, with his twin brother, and with the mother are all complicated in different ways. His love and admiration for the mother is evident at many points in the story, but especially when he describes the mother's treacherous journey from her homeland to the place where they live now, "their wasteland." As the story unfolds, the flawed nature of the first-person narrator becomes more and more evident to the readers. Even his love for his mother acquires new and frightening dimensions.

"My path was slippery, for a torrent of rain poured down mercilessly upon the earth," says the narrator at one point, and he is not only referring to the physical terrain, but to the state of his mind and his soul. This book encourages the reader to "look directly at yourself facing the pain and the ugly imperfections within."

Highly recommended.



★★★★★
Bargain sale $0.99 each, today only:
★ Twisted ★ A Favorite Son ★ Home ★ Apart From Love ★

About a week ago, Chris The Story Reading Ape contacted me, asking if I would like to write something for him. How could I refuse? It's not every day that such an exotic character, seemingly primitive yet intelligent, comes into my life... Today he posted my article in his place. Check it out:

Twisting My Tale As A Way To Provoke You

I was so delighted when Ia Uaro, the author (as well as the cover artist) of the coming of age story Sydney's Song, bought a print edition of Home and gave it as a gift to the teacher of her children. Today I am doubly delighted that she posted this great review, on Amazon and Goodreads:

★★★★★ Poignant and Moving, 14 Aug 2013
By Ia Uaro (Sydney, NSW, Australia)
Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: Home (Paperback)
Zeev Kachel, son of a Russian Jewish family, was born in 1912, on the eve of the First World War. When German declared war on August 1, 1914 and its army marched into Russia, his parents bundled him and his sister into the wagon, leaving behind their store and worldly belongings, to escape for the lives.
"Ma, why did you fool me," Zeev was still bleeding as 70 years later his pen dripped "We Were Born in Darkness",
"what was it for,
When you sang me a lullaby, not a song of war?
Oh why did you hide the fateful truth from me
We were born in darkness, our life--not to be?"

Welcome to the poetry world of Zeev, beautifully rendered into English by his daughter Uvi Poznansky. He was a man of passion with the ability to capture it in his work, as Uvi aptly calls it. You can't but be emotionally affected by Zeev's powerful laments of loss. Of a child after his mother has departed,
"I had travelled to a place so alien, so cold
How bitter it had felt, to you I never told.
How you waited to receive a word from me, a letter..."

I feel a very special connection to Zeev. To me his moving words provoke long-forgotten memories, tucked away because they were too painful to remember, or to share. I could just imagine his agony as he wrote,
"You're asking me to record, on paper to pour
All that I lost, my esteemed counselor?"

And bravely he wrote, and wrote and wrote and wrote. Of very beautiful things that are only beautiful while they last, "Lie to me boldly, don't misgive"
Poetry is cruel honesty--and here is Zeev baring his soul, driving us to share his pain of the well-captured memories,
"For that lost moment, how I pine!"
of his confusion,
"Is this really the path I envisioned?
Then why is the night here so black?"

And yet even as he anguished over his loneliness, "In a night with not a friend, all's bleary," his daughter had understood him. His lucky daughter, in whom he has carved: "I am a poem, I inspire"

Five stars.

My dear friend from down under, Ia Uaro, is the author (as well as the cover artist) of the coming of age story Sydney's Song. Today she features an interview with me on her blog. Check it out:

Meet Uvi Poznansky, California-based Author, Poet and Artist

Just finished reading I'm Not Perfect and It's Okay: A Baker's Dozen -- Thirteen Steps to a Happier Self by Dolores Ayotte. Here is my review:

Dolores Ayotte has such a gentle, humble manner in her writing, that it feels as if she is touching you and bringing her voice directly into your core. She opens with, "Thank you for teaching me all that I know today. By becoming the student, I was able to able eventually to be the teacher that I am today."

Written from the heart, this book is the result of twenty-five years of juggling ideas in her mind. She suggests that healing is a lifelong journey, which she calls a healing circle, linked to more circles like a gold chain to be treasured. The first step in the journey is learning to love yourself; after that, the next steps become easier.

Dolores encourages you to have a really good look at yourself, look into your eyes into the depth of your soul, to listen to the gentle philosopher that lives within you, and to cherish the gift of laughter. Her teaching is supported by lovely quotes from an extensive bibliography, quotes that enrich her message and anchor it in truth, such as "Love has two daughters--kindness and patience."

Five stars.

He turns to me with a sly look. To my surprise, his smile—even with those sharp fangs—is quite endearing.
“Job’s wife, I presume? Hallelujah! I have been expecting for you for quite a long while,” says Satan. His voice is sweet. He must have sung in a choir in his youth, because in some ways he sounds as pious as my husband. “Shame, shame, shame on you,” he wags his finger. “You sure made me wait, didn’t you...”
And without allowing time for an answer, he brings a magnifying glass to his bloodshot eye. Enlarged, his pupil is clearly horizontal and slit-shaped.
Which makes me feel quite at home with him, because so are the pupils of the goats in the herds we used to own.
Meanwhile, Satan unfolds a piece of paper and runs his finger through some names listed there. Then, with a gleam of satisfaction he marks a checkbox there, right in the middle of the crinkled page. At once, a whiff of smoke whirls in the air.
Satan blows off a few specks of charred paper, folds the thing and tucks it into his breast pocket, somewhere in his wool. Cashmere, I ask myself? Really? In this heat?
Back home, when I would count my gold coins, this was something I craved with a passion... It would keep me warm during the long winter nights...
Then, without even bothering to look at me, Satan says, “I swear, madam, you look lovely tonight.”
For a moment I am grateful that my husband is among the living. Or so I think. Nowadays, influenced by the elders, he regards swearing as a mortal sin, as bad as cursing. He even plugs his ears, for no better reason than to avoid hearing it. But if you ask me, I swear: without a bit of blasphemy, language would utterly dull, and fit for nothing but endless prayer. Sigh.
Strangely, Satan does not frighten me that much anymore. And so, swaying on my hip bones, I strut out of the cave in his direction. I feel an odd urge to fondle his horns. Along the path toward him I make sure to suck in my belly, because in the company of a gentleman, even a corpse is entitled to look her best.

Job's wife in Twisted.

Listen to the last paragraph, narrated by the one and only Heather Jane Hogan, HERE.



My sculpture, half-life size, "In Darkness Take a Leap"

Treat yourself to a gift
Get Twisted
★ Audiobook ★ Ebook ★ Print ★

Just finished Moscow Dreams, and here is my review:

This is a story about Marina, a highly intelligent, ambitious Foreteen years old girl, who lives in Moscow. She is driven to learn English and prepare for her college exams, which are two years away, as a way of shaping her future. Her dream is to travel and see the world.

The author, Julia Gousseva, sweeps us away into a different time and place, unfamiliar to most of us. She brings us into Marina's home, allows us to take snapshots of her family, feel the change of seasons going into a cold Russian winter, and hear her father's stories as he comes back home from his travels. We smell the aroma of Russian foods, such as modlovnik, as they are prepared by her Babushka (grandmother.)

The descriptions are utterly honest, drawn faithfully and in precise, authentic detail, all of which builds our trust in the writing. Through the observant eyes of this sharp-minded girl, we become witnesses to an increasingly turbulent time of change: the Perestroika period, which restructured the Soviet political and economic system, and caused of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, during 1991-1992.

I love the double twisted yarn where "life around Marina was changing, and she was changing too." How would she cope with these changes, in herself and in her country, which are beyond her anything she has imagined before?

What a fascinating read! Five stars.

I am announcing a new activity for everyone participating in the launch event of my book! Here is my watercolor, called Spirit, into which I have now brought in the bone princess from the cover of Twisted. So now, I invite you; come into the picture and become a part of the twisting.

Here's how.

Wanda "Panda" Hartzenberg is a top rated reviewer. She ranks #3 top readers, #10 best reviewers , #1 top reviewers on Goodreads. So I am deeply honored that she posted this review, on Amazon and Goodreads, for Twisted:

★★★★★ Yes, I loved it!, August 11, 2013
By Wanda "Wandah Panda" (Pretoria, South Africa) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Twisted (Paperback)
Ive read some of the reviews on thisbook and they have reinforced the main impression I had whilst reading this book!
The author having a strong amd uniques voice never wavers in her storytelling.
Job's wife' s story treated with comedy and sattire is an excellent example. The author paints this character clearly. Still I stepped away from the story thinking that the way the author told this story will make each reader to latch onto something the next reader may dismiss.
Adam in the second story creates the image and referance to biblical creation and him staying mute was both iconic as well as disturbing.
The last two stories follow the same existential pattern whilst the feline in the last book was at the same time a paradox and also an universal icon.
What can I say. Somewhat dark, totally cyclical and thus all encompassing this is a unique strong read.
WaAr

Oh what a day! This is one more review from the pen of Wanda "Panda" Hartzenberg, a top rated reviewer ranking #3 top readers, #10 best reviewers , #1 top reviewers on Goodreads. I am so happy that she posted this review, on Amazon and Goodreads, for A Favorite Son:

★★★★★ So which is worse. The betrayal of a son or of a mother?, August 11, 2013
By Wanda "Wandah Panda" (Pretoria, South Africa) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A Favorite Son (Kindle Edition)
A biblical fan fic with the emphasis on the dysfunctionality of a family.
A brothers betrayel. A mothers mental dissociative disorder and above all greed.
Lentil soup never tempted me though the kosher -- oops not yet a firm concept -- stew sounds far more appealing.

When a woman faints the first time she sees her husband you know something will go wrong.
Written with a very dry sense of humor using facts of a medley of the Christian and Jewish faith to confuse and lay upon the table the discrepancies of blind faith.

A unique story of human frailty and insecurities which is expressed in greed and deception. A true treasure.
WaAr

☆♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸ ¸¸.♪♫•*¨*•♫♪ Check out my audiobooks on my Author Page on Audible--you might like a one of them enough to get it...

Born and raised in Russia, Julia Gousseva is the author of several books such as Moscow Dreams and Twelve Months of Soviet Childhood, in which she brings a taste of the literary heritage of her homeland to the American reader. I am greatly honored that she posted this lovely review for Twisted:

★★★★★ Twisted: Art and Life Interwoven, August 8, 2013
By Julia Gousseva "Author of 'Moscow Dreams', a ... - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Twisted (Kindle Edition)
"Twisted," a collection of four haunting and addictive stories, provides a fresh and personal interpretation of the juxtaposition of art and life. On the surface, the distinction between art and life is clear: life is real and natural, and art is artificial. But the more you think about this distinction, the more lines get blurred until the Creation and the Creator, the Art and the Artist, become one. This idea has fascinated writers and artists -- and Uvi Poznansky is both, as well as a software engineer! - since at least Victorian times. Oscar Wilde believed that "every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist not of the sitter," referring to the emotions and "soul" that the artist puts into his/her work.

In Uvi Poznansky's book, you will explore this idea and many more (such as that vision is not a gift but a burden) through such characters as a clay figure, a ghostly woman, and a feline creature who never meows. Why? The answer is more complicated than you think. There is a reason this collection is titled "Twisted," and the unexpected but logical answer is on its pages.

I am so elated! Two great things happened today: first, I got this message:

"Congratulations, Twisted is now on sale at audible.com. And we plan to make it available on iTunes and Amazon within the next few days"

Here the audiobook edition of Twisted, take a listen:



And second, I have just approved the production of Home, so my poetry book will soon be available on Audible and Amazon, too!

"He can’t help kicking the wall; in the kitchen he kicks the refrigerator and then opens it, to look for an ice pack..."

Apart From Love (audiobook edition)

A brand new, short and sweet review for A Favorite Son:

Biblical story with a psychological edge, August 2, 2013
By Jaxon

Uvi Poznansky retells a well-know biblical story, making it relevant in today's world. The book has a lot of insight into the psychology of families and sibling relationships. Poznansky manages to add touches of humor at just the right time which added to my over-all enjoyment of the book. It's a good read!

Jan wrote: "Hi Uvi,
I left a review of A Favorite Son on Amazon.com. My reviews are under the name Jaxon. All of my reviews are pretty brief, so please don't be offended by the brevity. I thought it was a grea..."

Great Jan! This is truly rewarding. Brevity never offends me, not to worry... :) Heading there right now!

Wow, just discovered this lovely review by jeannette joyal for Twisted:

★★★★★ Twisted, August 7, 2013
By jeannette joyal
Passion, pain, love and despair each a fabric of human desire. When woven together by words, imagination and insight the possibilities are endless!! In this book contains compelling stories that were beautifully rendered. Each one with it own unique twist that will leave you yearning for more of this brilliant Authors work! All of the stories were excellent,


however there is always one that stands out in your mind. That one for me was about a famous old testament account. This one captured my interest because the main character to my knowledge, has never been discussed much other then just being mentioned briefly. I for one never gave it much thought and took it for face value. However to my surprise a whole new perspective was introduce with a dark twist that I found intriguing!!! I feel privilege for being able to have read such an outstanding and exquisite work of art!!! This in my eyes was a masterpiece! There is also a special surprise contain with in these pages that needs to be read by ones own eyes!!!