Anna’s Dance: A Balkan Odyssey

In the late 1960s, Anna Rossi travels to Europe. What starts as an ordinary trip soon becomes something far more when the friend she was traveling with decides to go home without her and she pushes on alone, diverging from her former itinerary to hitchhike into the Balkans. From there, she finds herself drawn into a history and struggle that were not hers to begin with but which she fits into far too smoothly.

We find out all of this (and most of her past) through her internal monologue and flashbacks, both of which constitute a large portion of the book. Despite her thoughts being presented in loving detail, it was hard for me to figure out exactly who Anna was. I could recite the events of her life, but I couldn’t tell you anything more about her personality than that she is impulsive yet thoughtful and has a great love for and knowledge of the Balkans.

Anna’s Dance is beautiful, with a compelling plot, but despite that, I had trouble connecting to it and understanding why Anna did anything she chose to do. This book is one readers with either enjoy greatly for the heart-wrenching prose or not care for at all.