A Time for Dancing

There are books that you learn from,  books that you are entertained by, books you read that you will never remember, and books that make you cry (lots of other types too).  But this RA favorite is the former, a tear-inducing book.  A Time for Dancing by Davida Hurwin is the story of two best-friend seventeen year olds.  Julie and Sam grow up outside San Francisco.  Sam, a product of divorced parents, a mom who pays her little attention due to her burgeoning romance with a new man, and her Dad who has remarried and has started a new family.  Sam has her best friend, Julie, to rely on.  They do everything together and are each other’s “One and Only” bestie.  Julie is coming off a relationship in which she was dumped by her boyfriend of a few years, and now he is dating another student, while Sam is all consumed by dance lessons and doing well in school.  All of life comes to a “halt,” after a few months of doctor appointments for back/hip pain, Julie learns that she has cancer, stage 4.  The remainder of the story captures Julie’s struggles with chemo, and her eventual decision not to continue the treatments based on the side effects.  Simultaneously, Sam fights her guilt with Julie’s inability to sustain the relationship in the same way she did pre-cancer, her on-going battles with her parents, and a major slide in academic commitment with the various challenges of the time.  Julie makes one triumphant return on the dance floor at a competition with her “one and only” as her dance partner.  Yes, tears flow as the savagery called cancer destroys life as we know it.  The book doesn’t provide the type of depth that Stuart Scott’s book does, as this is more of a young adult book, but still pretty raw.  Life is not easy.  OK book, probably more of an after school special type of TV watch, if you remember those days.  I guess I’m dating myself a bit.