The Dan O'Brien Project: Interview with Uvi Poznansky, Author of Apart From Love

I am happy to have Uvi Poznansky, author of Apart From Love, with me on the blog today. She talks about her recent release and her experience as an indie author.

Dan: Tell us about Apart From Love.

Uvi: My novel, Apart From Love, weaves themes of isolation and passion in a unique family: an accomplished pianist Natasha married to the would-be writer Lenny. As she descends, step by step, into the darkness of Alzheimer's Disease, he compensates by having an affair, then marrying Anita, a young, uneducated redhead. This is the situation Ben, Lenny's and Natasha's twenty-seven year old son, has to cope with upon his return to his childhood home in Santa Monica.

Dan: What sets your most recent release, Apart From Love, from other books of the same genre?

Uvi: My writing is unique in its unraveling this complex story, because it has two distinct and at time contrasting voices: the chapters vary, some told by Ben, some by Anita. You can identify unique speech patterns in each one of the characters, and view the unfolding events from two opposite angles: he said, she said.

Dan: How is the book doing so far?

Uvi: So far the book has received nine five star reviews! I am very humbled by the overwhelming response. When you craft each piece of a story, you often find yourself too close to it. Perhaps you can describe that piece -- the string of thoughts around a particular event, teased up from the yarn you are spinning -- but what you lack is an overall perspective. I am so grateful to Grady Harp, Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer for the years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 (not an easy feat, considering the constant, fierce competition between the top reviewers to achieve that disticntion); Vine Voice Amazon reviewer James L. Woolridge, Kathy Parsons, a Top 1000 Amazon Reviewer and an independent piano teacher since 1981, Vine Voice Amazon reviewer Valerie Matteson, and other readers.

Dan: Does music inspire or motivate you to write?

Uvi: Apart From Love is imbued with emotions aroused by listening to music. Some of the characters are associated with particular musical motifs: Natasha, the pianist, is associated with Beethoven’s Fifth, which she has preformed onstage, and which punctuates her decline. Ben is associated with the Entertainer.

Dan: At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

Uvi: I started to tell stories and compose poems long before I could write. My father, an accomplished author, poet and artist in his own right, transcribed them to his diary. Then, in second grade, I wrote a story about Exodus, the ship that carried holocaust survivors to their destination in Palestine. I wrote it from the point of view of the passengers. My school principal was so shocked by the vivid story telling, that he came to my parents asking how it could be that I knew all these details in the description, given that I was born much later. He even warned my parents to watch out for my behavior because I might be 'traumatized' by reading about these events.

Dan: Do you have words of wisdom about writing that you want to pass on to novelists and writers out there who are starting out?

Uvi: First advice: write well. Second advice: read your stories to an audience. It will train your ear to find the passages in the story where you lose your listeners.

Dan: What should readers walk away from your books? How should they feel?

Uvi: In its core, this story is about a struggle, a desperate, daring struggle to find a path out of conflicts, out of isolation, from guilt to forgiveness. I hope my readers would find a reflection of their most intimate feelings casted back to them from the pages of my book.

More About The Author:

Bio: I earned my B. A. in Architecture and Town Planning from the Technion in Haifa, Israel, received a Fellowship grant and a Teaching Assistantship from the Architecture department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. There, I earned my M.A. in Architecture. Then, taking a sharp turn in my education, I earned my M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan. I have published a poetry book and two children books. Apart From Love is my debut novel.