Apart From Love (Still Life with Memories Bundle, #1) in The Creative Spark with Uvi Poznansky

May 07, 2012 Michelle Bellon rated it it was amazing

This is one of the most exquisitely written novels I've ever read.

From the very beginning, this story engages you as it is written with elaborate execution, mixing poetry with a novel. The author immediately pulls you in with Ben's return after having been gone for ten years. His emotions are raw and disjointed as he grapples with his father's recent marriage to a woman that has played a huge role in why he left in the first place.

Though it took me a few chapters to get my bearings as the stor ...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Uvi Poznansky rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

Here is the first review of Apart From Love from the UK. A. Rose is a Top Amazon Reviewer:

A Beautifully Crafted Triangle of Love, 9 May 2012
By A. Rose (Devon & Menorca) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Apart From Love (Paperback)
The story is told from the viewpoints of Ben and Anita. Ben is the adult son of Lenny who has been estranged from his parents for the past ten years, with Ben blaming his father for the break up of the family when Lenny Here is the first review of Apart From Love from the UK. A. Rose is a Top Amazon Reviewer:

A Beautifully Crafted Triangle of Love, 9 May 2012
By A. Rose (Devon & Menorca) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Apart From Love (Paperback)
The story is told from the viewpoints of Ben and Anita. Ben is the adult son of Lenny who has been estranged from his parents for the past ten years, with Ben blaming his father for the break up of the family when Lenny and Natasha divorced. Anita is Lenny's new wife who is pregnant, the same age as Ben and also has an uncanny resemblance to Natasha, so much so they could have been taken as sisters - but in appearance only. Natasha was a beautiful and talented concert pianist with elegance and grace to match. Whereas Anita is rough, ill educated, dresses brashly and her speech is no better than `street talk'. What Ben didn't know was that even when he was a child at home living with both his parents, his mother was in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease and that this progressed to the stage where Lenny divorced her and had her cared for in a home. The marriage wasn't always happy with Lenny having many affairs and flings but Anita, one of his flings, had been around for ten years or so before he married her following an unplanned pregnancy.

Without giving more of the story away, there are many facets to each persons story and all have their hopes, fears and revelations. The love between Ben and Anita which both of them hide as much from themselves as each other, is a slow burn, almost dangerous dance that is more in their heads than physical. Lenny is a little bit like a spy listening to tape recordings of both Ben and Anita's thoughts, playing and rewinding the tapes over and over, torturing himself in preparing their words for the novel he is writing.

Uvi Poznasky is a very talented lady, not only is she a very accomplished writer, she is a poet, sculptor, artist, teacher and much more. The beautiful cover of the book is of one of her works of art and after visiting her website I see that she is indeed gifted and worth taking a look at uviart.com . This is a beautiful and sophisticated novel of love, loss and torture and well worth reading.

(This review can be seen here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apart-From-Lo... ) ...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Sheila rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, mystery, relationships, current_issues

The characters quickly draw the reader in to Uvi Poznansky’s Apart from Love, and a haunting air of fable invites the reader’s willing suspension of disbelief. Returning from long absence to revisit his elderly father, Ben finds himself oddly drawn to the new young wife who so resembles his absent mother. The missing mother was a concert pianist who divorced his father and left to tour the world. But this story’s more about art than music, truths reflected in the shifting landscapes of lives and ...more

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May 17, 2012 Dolores Ayotte rated it it was amazing

Uvi Poznansky is an artist! There is no doubt about it. As I read "Apart from Love", I was drawn into a masterfully created piece of artwork. This is no ordinary novel. It richly depicts the product of a dysfuntional family and how they are drawn together, yet so repulsed by each other.

There is a quality so deep and raw in "Apart from Love" that it's almost impossible to put this book down. In my opinion, Uvi Poznansky writes like a painter. She starts with a clean canvas and dabs a little paint ...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Renee Pierce Williams rated it it was amazing

"Apart From Love" is the debut novel by the multi-talented Uvi Poznansky, a writer, poet, painter, sculptor, architect, software engineer, and teacher.

This book is a compelling story about an aging, aspiring writer named Lenny Kaminsky, his very talented ex-wife Natasha, who is in a nursing home with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, his new wife Anita, who is much younger than he and comes from the "school of hard knocks," and his estranged twenty-seven year old son, Ben.

Poznansky gives just eno ...more

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May 24, 2012 Marcia Noren rated it it was amazing

This debut novel's characters are still with me, locked down in Jungian psychoanalysis. Uvi Poznansky's writing penetrates the subconscious, where dreams are ignited and poets find words.

As Anita and Ben reveal their innermost thoughts, the lives of Lenny and Natasha, linked tightly with theirs like the ropes in a Celtic knot, become increasingly vivid. This complex family of secret keepers triggered an avalanche of emotions in my mind and heart. Reading the book felt more like standing before ...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Rich Weatherly rated it it was amazing

Book Review of Apart From Love, by Uvi Poznansky
review by Rich Weatherly

The family saga, Apart From Love by Uvi Poznansky opens on a scene in the family home. The reader finds Ben, son of Lenny, the family patriarch, in a strange, tense situation. It is a tense situation because Ben has just been greeted by Anita, his father’s bride. He finds Anita to be attractive if uneducated. She is a year younger than Ben who is 27.

As chapters progress through the saga, each is delivered as a first person a Book Review of Apart From Love, by Uvi Poznansky
review by Rich Weatherly

The family saga, Apart From Love by Uvi Poznansky opens on a scene in the family home. The reader finds Ben, son of Lenny, the family patriarch, in a strange, tense situation. It is a tense situation because Ben has just been greeted by Anita, his father’s bride. He finds Anita to be attractive if uneducated. She is a year younger than Ben who is 27.

As chapters progress through the saga, each is delivered as a first person account of the events taking place between Ben, Lenny and Anita. Readers of literary fiction with a biographical tone will find Apart from Love compelling. Uvi Poznansky paints vivid portraits of these primary characters and others with whom they interact.

We learn early on that Natasha, Ben’s mother separated from Lenny. An element of tragedy is introduced when we learn from Lenny that Natasha has early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Ben had been led to believe his mother had been traveling on a world concert tour. He is shattered to learn Natasha has been in a nursing home.

To me, Anita becomes the strongest character in the story. True, she doesn’t have much education and she was abused at home. That said, we learn through her first person narratives that Anita has good common sense, is attractive and has strong character, especially when it comes to protecting her unborn child. It seems she spends much of her time at home, alone while Lenny is ‘away’ writing and following his own self-interests. Maybe that is part of the attraction that begins to draw Ben and Anita together. One of the early hints comes as we see Ben and Anita performing an enthusiastic duet on the piano. By the end of the performance, both characters seem non-plused.

Additional tension develops when Ben discovers Lenny has plagiarized recorded memos from a tape recorder. This machine will eventually prove to provide a growing body of information which is revealed at the end of the book.

After Lenny and Natasha’s separation, it seems Ben left home for an extended period of time. In the following excerpt you will get a glimpse of Uvi Poznansky’s gift of description and a feel for the lyrical prose she is capable of writing.

Excerpt – A special moment between Ben & his father at Venice Beach, Apart From Love by UviPoznansky

“My father just smiles, pouring me one cup of milk after another. “Well, now,” he says, once I have gulped down the last one. “Lets get some fresh air.” And so, an hour or so later, the old man and I are down at Venice Beach, which is nearly deserted, barely a soul around. There in front of us, closing in on an unclear horizon, is an autumn sun, reddening every ripple out there in the ocean, every little wrinkle here on the shore, and casting endless shadows, shadows made of vapor and dust, which seem to be flowing along, right over the surface. We stand side by side. We smell the salt …”

I highly recommend, Apart From Love. When you read the book, I encourage you to savor each chapter, much like reading an important letter from a friend or family member. As you read each chapter you’ll see a cohesive structure emerge. By the end you’ll find a story where the whole truly is greater than the sum of its parts. Read it and enjoy! ...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Brian Menard rated it it was amazing

I truly enjoyed this unique book!

"Apart From Love" is a truly unique story. It's written as a narrative and I found The characters to be very interesting and well developed. As a result of this effective style of writing, I found myself thinking about Anita, Ben and Lenny for hours after reading each chapter. I especially enjoyed how the Author was able to convey the personalities of Ben and Anita as they told their stories throughout the book. I had the sense that these characters were actuall ...more

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May 04, 2012 De Jr. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: native-s-reads

Touchingly Warmhearted and Eloquently Written…..

I was drawn in quickly by the quiet articulacy in which the author introduces you to a world of love, mistrust, acceptance, anger as well as the full history of the characters within her novel. I enjoyed the way “Author Uvi Poznansky” patiently moves her readers through a wonderfully rich journey of a family full of secrets, full of a rich and even sometimes tragic history….. All the while bringing us the readers into an opulent cultural understand ...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Oleg rated it it was amazing

To me, this novel is reminiscent of a Chinese mystery from Ming Dynasty. Allow me to elaborate - we know WHAT crime was committed; we know HOW it was done; we know WHO committed the crime. Now we need to find answers to the following questions - WHY the crime was committed and what PUNISHMENT the criminal would or deserve to receive.

Take it from there and we spend a lot of time inside main characters' heads unraveling these mysteries all through the story which makes for a fascinating and twiste ...more

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May 02, 2012 M.L. Woolley rated it it was amazing

This is a must read! Don't pass it up- it won't disappoint! ...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Kaye Kelly rated it it was amazing

Truly a novel to be savored. Liberally salted with buttery smooth prose and fascinating insights as to the mindset of a dysfunctional family, Uvi Pozansky's Apart From Love chronicles Ben, Anita and Lenny's struggle with their desires, hopes and dreams as they clash with decency, moral values, and tragic secrets unveiled. Pozansky vividly illustrates the cracks in the fragile relationship between these characters. So much so, I felt I was inside their heads speaking and acting for them. Seldom h ...more

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