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37th out of 68 books
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17 voters
In Between Days
by
Andrew Porter (Goodreads Author)
“Andrew Porter is a born storyteller . . . He makes his own space instantly and invites you in. Hats off!” —Barry Hannah
From a commanding new voice in fiction comes a novel as perceptive as it is generous: a portrait of an American family trying to cope in our world today, a story of choices and doubts and transgressions.
The Hardings are teetering on the brink. Elson—onc...more
From a commanding new voice in fiction comes a novel as perceptive as it is generous: a portrait of an American family trying to cope in our world today, a story of choices and doubts and transgressions.
The Hardings are teetering on the brink. Elson—onc...more
Hardcover, 336 pages
Published
September 4th 2012
by Knopf
(first published January 1st 2012)
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I hesitated to read this book, as I thought it would be like a lot of family novels I’ve read recently, but I was wrong. Porter’s approach is unique and evocative. Nothing in this novel is what it would seem.
The story begins in the present day with the family finding out Chloe, the daughter. will be returning from her private college mid-semester for unknown reasons. Porter creates a mystery around this that carries through for most of the novel. Everyone, even the reader, is kept in the dark....more
The story begins in the present day with the family finding out Chloe, the daughter. will be returning from her private college mid-semester for unknown reasons. Porter creates a mystery around this that carries through for most of the novel. Everyone, even the reader, is kept in the dark....more
Not your typical family drama! Very well-written and fast-paced. I read it in one weekend and couldn't put it down. The characters stay with you for a long time afterward.
Aug 14, 2012
Kristen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone
Shelves:
debut-novels,
favorites
This novel is an impressive follow up to Porter’s first book, The Theory of Light and Matter. On its surface it’s a story about a family—a father, mother, son and daughter. The parents are divorced and the children have their own issues. The son is an aspiring poet with low self-confidence. The daughter is blinded by an infatuation with her college boyfriend. The parents’ lives are also far from perfect. The mother seems completely lost, torn between being a good mother to her children and tryin...more
6 likes · like · see review
One of the few book I've read this year where the characters stick and I will most likely reflect on them again. Good story! (A week or so after reading this, I've upgraded from 4 to 5 stars. I'm still reflecting on the characters - which could be due to my own membership in the 40-something with grown teen demographic. But there is a mundane tragedy to these characters that still resonates post-read)and I can see a film
This came recommended and did not disappoint. The plot was riveting and the characters were multidimensional and the family's journey and schism were artfully conveyed. I appreciated the implied commentary on middle-class American family life in the modern age and the political themes that the author weaves into the larger family story. Well written and smartly told...Recommended!
4 likes · like · see review
I'm still thinking about this finely drawn novel and it's characters a day after finishing. This novel made me feel every emotion for it's characters. At times I was jealous of them, at other moments I was angry with them, worried for them, and frustrated beyond belief with their choices. Early on in the novel, I felt a deep pull to discover what was really going on and to be further along; but at the end, I wished for even more pages and even more resolution.
In Between Days is a fascinating ac...more
In Between Days is a fascinating ac...more
This was one of the best books we read in my book club this year. The story goes back and forth between the mother, father, daughter and son of this middle class family drama. I enjoyed the author's clear writing style and realistic characterization. The setting of Houston was also new to me. A keeper!
I cannot remember where I read the review of this book, but the review was much better than the book. I enjoyed the author's writing and use of prose. But, these characters were not people I cared about---the only one with some redeeming value was Richard, and even he was annoying in dealing with his sexuality. The parents' marriage is falling apart and I could see why. The action centered around the daughter, Chloe, in her junior year of college. I just wanted to slap her. This is a quick read...more
4 likes · like · see review
I didn't expect to love this novel as much as I did. The story is about a disintegrating family and a daughter who disappears and their search to find her. The story never lagged at all and it got increasingly tense in the final chapters. Provocative and very well written. 4.5 stars.
The writing in this book is beautiful. The plot is an interweaving of perspective from one family faced with some difficult choices. The parents are divorced, their daughter is in trouble with the law and their son is stuck in a post-college slump. Lots of surprises and twists in the second half.
A rare find: a page turner that's also beautifully written. I had trouble putting this book down!
Първото ми впечатление още от корицата бе, че книгата ще е американска. До болка американска. Такава се и оказа, но съвсем не с лошо.
Защото цялата книга има структурата на бомба, която не знаеш кога ще се взриви - напрежението се натрупва и при подходящия катализатор просто избухва, оставяйки след себе си разрухата на последствията.
http://knigozavar.blogspot.com/2013/0...
Защото цялата книга има структурата на бомба, която не знаеш кога ще се взриви - напрежението се натрупва и при подходящия катализатор просто избухва, оставяйки след себе си разрухата на последствията.
http://knigozavar.blogspot.com/2013/0...
A portrait of a family's disintegration framed by some fantastic (for the most part) writing. The character development and dialogue were top notch. The people in this story are tangible and familiar. The plot has a firm foundations and the tension is set early and maintained throughout. In short, the thing's got heart and a lot of it.
My one grievance here is the overall narration itself. It didn't take long for me to tire of the passive tone of it all. It probably does not qualify as Passive Vo...more
My one grievance here is the overall narration itself. It didn't take long for me to tire of the passive tone of it all. It probably does not qualify as Passive Vo...more
The Short of It:
Nothing is easy when a man’s family falls apart.
The Rest of It:
I love dysfunction. Love it. I’d eat it up if it was on a plate in front of me. There is something fascinating about watching a family disintegrate before your eyes. Especially when you are doing it from the comfort of your home with happy “family” sounds in the background. The family portrayed in this book could be friends of mine, or the neighbors across the street. There is a realness to them that could not be igno...more
Nothing is easy when a man’s family falls apart.
The Rest of It:
I love dysfunction. Love it. I’d eat it up if it was on a plate in front of me. There is something fascinating about watching a family disintegrate before your eyes. Especially when you are doing it from the comfort of your home with happy “family” sounds in the background. The family portrayed in this book could be friends of mine, or the neighbors across the street. There is a realness to them that could not be igno...more
In Between Days is a difficult book for me to review because it brings about such conflicting emotions with each characters perspective. It was beautifully written especially the parts that were seriously disturbed. At one point in the book I had to put myself on a twenty-four hour hold I was so freaked. I would recommend it, but only if you are okay with a book that gets under your skin.
Riveting. Fast moving. A book you think about whilst at work. A book you give up plans to go home and read for. I was slightly disappointed in the ending but in retrospect, it makes good sense. Highly recommend it. You can't put it down.
1 like · like · see review
Loved, loved loved this novel! It was so well written, heartbreaking and powerful. I was pulled in right away by the story and the problems of this broken Houston family. I loved Chloe the most, even though I would not call many of her life decisions wise. I also liked how the author Andrew Porter kept everything focused on just the family's problems and their points of view. The weaving back and forth between perspectives keeps you riveted, but the really impressive part is Porter's ability to...more
Loved this novel! Don't be intimidated by the size - it's a quick read.
I loved this book. In some ways it reminded me of Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics, in that it was a modern thriller with an academic bent and a lot of very modern characters. We meet a Houston family with a lot of stereotype-manipulations afoot, facing a family crisis centered on college-age daughter Chloe, who returns home unexpectedly from her prestigious East Coast college.
The point when I liked the book less was when it strayed from this voice and into the territory of mor...more
The point when I liked the book less was when it strayed from this voice and into the territory of mor...more
This novel immediately grabbed my interest and held it very well until the very end. In Between Days portrays a middle-aged couple, recently divorced and their two children, one who is in post-secondary school and one who has graduated. The story is told from each of the four family members's perspectives, so we get a good sense of the sad state of the familial relationships. Parts of the story are thoroughly depressing: how a family can grow apart, grow resentful and just lose interest in one a...more
In Between Days is one of the most emotional, thought provoking novels I’ve read this year. Almost from the get go, the Harding family is in crisis mode. The recently divorced parents, Cadence and Elson, have just learned their daughter, Chloe, has been sent home from college. Chloe will not tell them why she was sent home and their son, Richard, is not much help.
There is a feeling from the start of distance between these characters. Elson, a once renowned architect, has turned to drinking and...more
There is a feeling from the start of distance between these characters. Elson, a once renowned architect, has turned to drinking and...more
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I hate how books like this make me feel – sort of like picking at a scab or chewing on an abscessed tooth. I couldn’t put it down, but it sure made me squirm. Porter’s spot-on depiction of the disintegration of a family has got to hit mighty close to home for many readers with young adult and twenty-something children, children because of whom we parents lie awake at night. So I can empathize with Cadence and Elson whose recent divorce has fractured the semblance of togetherness that they shared...more
In Between Days, Andrew Porter's first novel, is a family drama told from four different, alternating perspectives--mom, dad, brother, and sister. Elson (the dad) is a once-promising architect who now struggles with life after divorce, teetering on the edge of alcoholism and irresponsibility. Elson's wife Candace is unfulfilled by her role as mother to two young adults and regrets dropping out of college to marry Elson when she was young. While Elson and Candace grapple with their rocky relation...more
Easily one of the best novels I’ve read this year! An engrossing, well written story about a family falling apart and coming together. Set in current day Houston, Texas, the story is told through the four perspectives of the four different family members. There isn’t really one main character. You have Elson, a failed architect in the middle of a mid-life crisis, his son Richard, a gay poet who seems just as lost as his father, and his wife, Cadence, who is trying to go back to college after rai...more
5 likes · like · see review
Last year I had the privilege of discovering Andrew Porter when I read The Theory of Light and Matter (Vintage Contemporaries) which I reviewed for Amazon Vine. I found it to be one of the best books of short stories I'd ever read.
Mr. Porter has now written his debut novel, In Between Days. It is about a family that is imploding and is unable to stop the process. Elson, the patriarch of the family is an architect, once well-known and well-respected for his works. Of late, his popularity has dimi...more
Mr. Porter has now written his debut novel, In Between Days. It is about a family that is imploding and is unable to stop the process. Elson, the patriarch of the family is an architect, once well-known and well-respected for his works. Of late, his popularity has dimi...more
I only finished this b/c I was up in the middle of the night and had insomnia. I read bout 200 pages and then skimmed about 150 and read a few at the end.
It centers around a divorced couple whose college age daughter is put on probation for reasons unknown, however the story also sort of alternates between the dad, the mom, the gay brother and the college age daughter. The mom and dad are so boring--mom is sleeping with a professor; dad has a 27 y.o. girlfriend who is annoying, gay brother is at...more
It centers around a divorced couple whose college age daughter is put on probation for reasons unknown, however the story also sort of alternates between the dad, the mom, the gay brother and the college age daughter. The mom and dad are so boring--mom is sleeping with a professor; dad has a 27 y.o. girlfriend who is annoying, gay brother is at...more
Loved this book about a family coming apart at the seams. Mom and Dad are divorced after decades of marriage, college graduate son lives at home and can't quite figure out what to do with his life other than party and debate whether or not to go to grad school, and college-age daughter just returned home from school after being expelled (or, "on an indefinite break") under circumstances that her parents don't quite understand and she refuses to elaborate on.
Daughter (Chloe) is in love for the fi...more
Daughter (Chloe) is in love for the fi...more
I was trying to describe this book to a friend and the two words I kept using were "beautiful" and "intoxicating." Andrew Porter's writing style is elegantly hypnotic and the story is relentlessly tense. I loved all of the characters too, despite their flaws, and found myself rooting for them up until the very end. Try as I might, I can't think of a single criticism for this book. I loved it cover to cover and can't wait to read more by Andrew Porter.
Sadly on this day (p 122) here lies In Between Days, a book that sounded oh so good and started off in the first chapter just as good as the summary and the glowing reviews but failed to keep all that wonderfulness after the first "The truth was..." I was tired of hearing what the character thought truthfully instead of what he or she told another character.
I don't know. Something wasn't right. Something wasn't real enough for me, the characters seemed wooden and the thing with the daughter is...more
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Andrew Porter grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the youngest of three children. He received his B.A. in English from Vassar College and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is the author of the short story collection, The Theory of Light and Matter (Vintage/Random House), which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and the novel, In Between...more
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“– Хората са слаби – каза є накрая. – Колкото повече раста, толкова по-ясно го осъзнавам.”
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3 people liked it
“Ако не беше толкова мил, толкова внимателен, тя отдавна щеше да го е оставила, много преди нещата да станат сериозни, но нежността му я обезоръжава и я задържа. Кадънс имаше нужда от тази нежност, защото дълго време бе живяла без нея.”
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2 people liked it
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