To say that the plot of Blues Dancing simple doesn't do McKinney-Whetstone's novel justice. The plot is pretty straightforward but the substance of it is, at times, difficult to read. At the center of the story is Verdi. We bounce between her naive life as a young college student and, twenty years later, her adult life as a professional in the field of education. Young Verdi is dating Johnson. Mature Verdi is dating Rowe. Johnson is a college student one year her senior while Rowe is a college professor twenty years older...guess where they met? Throughout the plot Verdi's over-the-top, willing to do anything passion for Johnson is revealed and her reasons for being with stoic, stodgy, stick-in-the-mud Rowe twenty years later are at best, murky. It isn't until the past and present collide that it all makes sense. Along the journey we learn that Johnson introduced Verdi to heroin and being so eager to love Johnson allowed Verdi to love the drug even more. Rowe's presence during this time is shadowy, progressively coming more into focus. ( )

Wow! What a great writer. I felt like I was in the book. This author did such an amazing job painting the picture that I felt like I was seeing faces, hearing their voices and feeling their emotions.
First of was Verdi, the "latch-onto-a-man" type of girl, and it just reminded me of some girls that I know. The same with Johnson, that man of swagger, who was was so attractive even though you could smell trouble. Then you have the old college professor who shouldn't be eye balling the student, but you know he is!

For me, the most poignant part of the book was the scene when Rowe "kissed" Verdi up her arm, but was looking for track marks on her arm, but Verdi knew it, and it brought tears to her eyes that he still didn't trust her after all this time. I felt her pain, but hey, she is a recovering drug addict, so you have to feel his pain too.

In the end, I couldn't decide if I wanted her to be with Johnson or Rowe because they brought different characteristics out of her. I also wanted her to learn to be strong on her own.

I think I buy and read everything by this author. highly recommended. ( )

This was a really good one. I wasn't really into how it change back and forth between times, but I still liked it. ( )