Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
In the Meantime
From the intimacy of small town America to big city life, from World War II to 9/11, In the Meantime vividly encapsulates an unforgettable era. On a hot summer's day in 1931, three five-year-olds meet on a dusty street in a small Midwestern town, beginning a friendship that will last all their lives. Kathryn, the oldest in an ever-expanding family, is bright and earnest, a...more
Hardcover, 170 pages
Published
October 1st 2007
by Toby Press
(first published September 28th 2007)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
151)
Terrible, trite, undeveloped, meandering, not worthy of a review.
I felt like I was viewing the characters, Kathryn, Starling, and Luke (three childhood friends who grow up to be adult friends) from afar. There is little dialogue and few descriptions of actual individual events. Lippincott describes summers and school days and parties and meetings, and skips entire years and decades. Big topics, including homosexuality, race relations, WWII, the atom bomb, etc., are touched upon, but do nothing...more
I felt like I was viewing the characters, Kathryn, Starling, and Luke (three childhood friends who grow up to be adult friends) from afar. There is little dialogue and few descriptions of actual individual events. Lippincott describes summers and school days and parties and meetings, and skips entire years and decades. Big topics, including homosexuality, race relations, WWII, the atom bomb, etc., are touched upon, but do nothing...more
Summary: Kathryn, Luke, and Starling met at the ages of 5 and 6 in the early 1930s; and became inseparable from that moment on. From elementary to early high school they attend the same schools and are constantly at one of their houses, usually Starling’s. But as they get older, so do the cruelties and insults from people that don’t understand them or their friendship, and so Starling and his family move across town, away from the hostility expressed by some of the more aggressive high school bu...more
Not bad for 99p of Amazon, a short engrossing read. There was a lot of plot and 'issues' packed in which left things feeling a bit unresolved; and yet somehow there was still ample oppoutinity to make page and page of seemingly pointless waffling or copying whole tracts of some other books. A bit heavy handed with the symbolism too. The prose just kind of lulled you though, and the main characters were fairly likeable and interesting.
I'm still not entirely sure what was supposed to have been ac...more
I'm still not entirely sure what was supposed to have been ac...more
This is a slim novel which satisfies the reading palette in a way many large ones cannot. It's a small story about three friends and their very different perspectives on life, New York, literature, art, music, and the world from WWII to contemporary moments.
Lippincott's writing is exquisite. His sentences are crafted as well as Virginia Woolf's, and when he dips into a scene, the brushstrokes he uses to paint it for his readers are both detailed and broad. There's a scene where the friends see B...more
Lippincott's writing is exquisite. His sentences are crafted as well as Virginia Woolf's, and when he dips into a scene, the brushstrokes he uses to paint it for his readers are both detailed and broad. There's a scene where the friends see B...more
A direct quote from the book "in writing a book...one should really begin as early as possible in the life of that character, so as to seemingly lengthen or extend the life portrayed; to cover more ground; and then, too, to go over that life - those minutes, hours and days - slowly, and in the greatest of detail, as if with a fine-toothed comb".
That is exactly what happened in this book. I love getting to know a character gradually throughout a book, finding little pieces of information at diffe...more
That is exactly what happened in this book. I love getting to know a character gradually throughout a book, finding little pieces of information at diffe...more
So I got a kindle and just wanted to test it out so I got this book in the bargain kindle books section. It was clearly there for a reason...first of all, the description was more interesting than the actual book. I thought it was going to be some awesome, spindly, time traveling tale of friends with historical events sprinkled in, but it was really just a sort of half-told bunch of nonsense that sounded like something a middle schooler wrote for their creative writing class. Not worth the time...more
I had a review and it disappeared. Hopefully this one will stick.
There is so much that I found compelling about this book. It follows the lifetime of three friends, but does so much more and does it so subtely that by the end I was left thinking about these characters and the whole structure of the novel. It's one of those "you don't realize what's happening to you until long after the last word" novels. I was fascinated with the use of time and the language all wrapped up in the shifting points...more
There is so much that I found compelling about this book. It follows the lifetime of three friends, but does so much more and does it so subtely that by the end I was left thinking about these characters and the whole structure of the novel. It's one of those "you don't realize what's happening to you until long after the last word" novels. I was fascinated with the use of time and the language all wrapped up in the shifting points...more
This book really should have been so much better than it was. It was an interesting idea and endearing characters but the writer just never seemed to figure out what he was trying to say. For example, I have no idea why there was a sudden excerpt from a character in Hiroshima, who we then don't hear from again. Nor do I know why he kept referring to sets of three friends, to mirror the central three. I also thought his style was completely overblown - some of the sentences went on for pages...
Al...more
Al...more
IN THE MEANTIME is the finest book I've read this year. Robin Lippincott has managed, in a mere 170 pages, to tell the life stories of three compelling characters and friends--Kathryn, Luke, and Starling. Lippincott's tale begins with midwestern children who dream of escaping to New York City--an American ideal--to chase dreams and reinvent their lives. The friends come of age against the backdrop of WWII, details of which Lippincott creatively intertwines with his narrative. He paints vividly t...more
A very sweet, nostalgic story of three friends and how they live their lives - it was a quick read, and the author is obviously a very talented writer. The only criticism I have is the lack of variation in terms of structure - the majority of the sentences were overly long and complex and there would be whole paragraphs that turned out to be a single sentence. The book was perfectly fine, but perfectly forgettable at the same time.
I am not sure what the author was trying to accomplish with this book. First of all, it was extremely short. Secondly, nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. There were three main characters: Kathryn, Luke and Starling. Friends since they were children, the book skips at random to different points in their life for no apparent reason. At one bizarre point, the book jumps to a Japanese person names Seichi during the bombing of Hiroshima. There is no explanation for this non sequitor and it just ma...more
An interesting idea, though I felt that it left much to be desired. It was a short story that I think could have gone so much deeper. I can appreciate the friendship the three characters had, but it left me wanting more. In all, the story felt like the outline of a much better, more complex story waiting to be written.
Can't say it better than Nina Sankovitch (my favorite reviewer):
In The Meantime is a beautifully written novel about what we are given in life, and what we do with all that we have; what we squander, what we hold dear, and what we cannot hold onto, no matter how hard we try.
In The Meantime is a beautifully written novel about what we are given in life, and what we do with all that we have; what we squander, what we hold dear, and what we cannot hold onto, no matter how hard we try.
I loved that the three were friends for so many years, coming and going in each others lives, but always knowing they were there for each other.
Sound premise but it just didn't develop...I kept waiting for the characters to become adults with interesting lives and they just didn't....
Feb 03, 2012
Sidonie Ferguson
added it
A book of never ending sentences. I barely made it 10% into the book for its poor writing with the use of excessively long sentences.
Feb 28, 2009
Mark
marked it as to-read
Friend Cristina recommends. Synopsis -- three friends are followed throughout their lives, sounds good
Predictable, with few insights. The Luke character is a complete mystery and not in a good way. It stays superficial throughout. A disappointment.
The wonder of friendships beautifully rendered with thier flaws and tender love.
This book was sad the whole time, and made it seem like the characters lives were all a waste :(
a beautiful, beautiful effing book. i love this man.
Poignant story about 3 childhood friends who grow up a 1930's
midwestern town and stay very close throughout their adolescent years. They fulfill their dream of moving to New York City together as young adults. The book chronicles their friendship as they move into middle age and on. It was very good.
midwestern town and stay very close throughout their adolescent years. They fulfill their dream of moving to New York City together as young adults. The book chronicles their friendship as they move into middle age and on. It was very good.
This is just out in paperback---which quotes my OutSmart review! http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/this_...
this is spare, subtle writing. Expect no car crashes, just quiet conversation between friends that conceals as much as it reveals.
this is spare, subtle writing. Expect no car crashes, just quiet conversation between friends that conceals as much as it reveals.
I thought I would really enjoy this book, but ended up finding it frustrating. The characters were interesting, but I felt like I didn't have enough time to get to know them as well as I wanted to.
I've read all of Robin's work. OUR ARCADIA is still my favorite, but I liked this one, too. Kind of unraveled in the end for me, but I think that was his intention.
I’m biased -- he was a former teacher and mentor of mine -- but no matter. This is a finely conceived and executed piece of literature. Wonderful and true.
Wonderful book. Charactes are well-drawn. The book is traditional in its narrative, but Robin made it lyrical and compelling.
Jun 03, 2013
Jerrod
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
08 avr. 14:09
08 avr. 16:52