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240th out of 814 books
—
661 voters
The Between
by
Tananarive Due (Goodreads Author)
A brilliant novel of horror and the supernatural in which a middle–class African–American family's very existence is threatened by inner and outer demons, now in a brand–new mass market edition, from acclaimed author Tananarive Due.
When Hilton was just a boy, his aged grandmother saved him from drowning by pulling him out of a treacherous ocean current, sacrificing her lif...more
When Hilton was just a boy, his aged grandmother saved him from drowning by pulling him out of a treacherous ocean current, sacrificing her lif...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
August 30th 2005
by HarperTorch
(first published May 1st 1995)
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I am a huge fan of Due's later novel The Living Blood and was a little disappointed with The Good House so I wasn't sure what to expect with this book. It's not as creepy as The Living Blood but it was good and scary. She has a knack for pacing that makes me read into the wee hours of the morning and her characterization is solid. Even her minor characters retain a sense of personal authenticity that is lacking in some genre fiction. I am reluctant to classify her as a writer of genre fiction be...more
Dec 13, 2011
Leah
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
fans of supernatural thrillers with *some* graphic violence
Shelves:
paranormal
The Between by Tananarive Due caught my eye whilst browsing the paperback section at my local library. The blurb on its back cover enticed me into taking it home:
Hilton was seven when his grandmother died, and it was a bad time. But it was worse when she died again..."I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
Due writes in vivid detail without overloading the page and her grasp of pace and tension are top-notch. I couldn't put the book down: I just had to know how it would all turn out.
The characters were t
...more
“Hilton was seven when his grandmother died, and it was a bad time. But it was worse when she died again.” From that very lovely opening, Tananarive Due crafts a pulse-thrumming tale of a man haunted by a “sinister fear” (45). The rhythmic quality of the writing draws Hilton’s consciousness from the page and his own increasingly confused sense of reality becomes the reader’s own. Italicized moments seep into the text between paragraphs, between “lucid” moments, into sentence ends. Some stretches...more
I wanted to read a book by a female author to balance out the number of books I've read by men recently. Tananarive Due avoids chick lit and black stereotypes and writes speculative fiction superbly, this is not a genre novel. The Between is reminded me of Dexter, the TV show, because both take place in Miami and the characters' occupations, a judge and a social worker, are central to the story. This book captures the cultural diversity of Miami and the characters are wonderfully fleshed out. Th...more
All through the novel THE BETWEEN by TANANARIVE DUE I felt sympathy for Hilton and his family. Hilton is a husband and father of two children, Kaya and Jamil. Hilton suffers insomnia because of unexplained dreams and/or nightmares. Often these horrible dreams will have many doorways down a long hall, sometimes there is a drowning and sometimes his grandmother, Nana, appears in the dreams. When Hilton awakens from the dreams, he is not himself. He is sad, aloof and at times angry and definitely t...more
Oct 23, 2010
Lisa (Harmonybites)
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Horror Fans
Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by:
The Complte Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List
Shelves:
contemporary,
fantasy,
horror,
science-fiction,
suspense,
ultimate-reading-list,
novels,
fiction
A true-page turner I devoured in a few hours that inhabits the gray spaces between dark fantasy and psychological thriller. Hilton James has felt since childhood that he needs to make his life count, because his grandmother lost her life saving him from drowning. Now his family is in danger; they've been getting death threats from a dangerous racist touched off by his wife's election making her the only black female judge in Miami--and Hilton seems to be losing it, caught up in disturbing nightm...more
Screaming, Hilton finds himself flung inside a dance of bright, hungry flames. When he moves, the hissing fire licks at his face and bare chest. He bats at the blaze as though it is a cloud of marsh mosquitoes, spittle running down his chin.
Then he sees her.
She is thin, tall, with an angular neck and her chin held high as she stands motionless in the wall of fire, which does not seem to touch her. She is a young woman Hilton has never seen before, but instantly he divines everything about her: s...more
Then he sees her.
She is thin, tall, with an angular neck and her chin held high as she stands motionless in the wall of fire, which does not seem to touch her. She is a young woman Hilton has never seen before, but instantly he divines everything about her: s...more
Opens up creepy and rolls right into a tragedy, setting the premise of guilt and redemption. More chunks of narrative summary than I like, and I wasn't crazy about the whole dream/not-a-dream shifting of reality, but troubled marriages are one of my sweet teeth, and this one even more so for the conflict coming up between two people who have devoted their careers to justice so everything should be happy forever, right? The scenes where the protag was losing it in front of his kids were especiall...more
this is the third novel i've read by due. all of her tales are consistently excellent. i stand by my original assessment. her words are easily cataloged in the tradition of octavia butler minus the impending sense of dread; the heavy macabre elements are lighter than butler but the universe woven by her words are just as intense. i admit there were about 75 pages that i really dragged on in this story. but over all it was a slow to digest food for thought.
so many doorways. between the world of...more
so many doorways. between the world of...more
Heads up: this solid first novel by Tananarive Due is only $0.99 on the Kindle Store.
Hilton James is a successful, overworked middle-class father and husband. His job seeps into his nights and weekends and his marriage isn't perfect, but he's proud of how much he has achieved since his ignorant, country childhood.
Then the threats begin and, with them, the dreams.
Hilton struggles to find what is real and what is an elaborate fantasy. As his wife and friends begin to fear for Hilton's sanity, a d...more
Hilton James is a successful, overworked middle-class father and husband. His job seeps into his nights and weekends and his marriage isn't perfect, but he's proud of how much he has achieved since his ignorant, country childhood.
Then the threats begin and, with them, the dreams.
Hilton struggles to find what is real and what is an elaborate fantasy. As his wife and friends begin to fear for Hilton's sanity, a d...more
From the 2013 Books Lover's Calendar on Tuesday, April 30, 2013:
Tananarive Due has gone on the write several other brilliantly inventive novels after this one, but in many ways this is her most chilling. When Hilton was a young child, his grandmother saved him from drowning. Now, as an adult, he has begun having deeply disturbing nightmares that suggest he was never meant to live. The story is all the more powerful because Due is so good at letting us know how much is at stake. Is there such a t...more
Tananarive Due has gone on the write several other brilliantly inventive novels after this one, but in many ways this is her most chilling. When Hilton was a young child, his grandmother saved him from drowning. Now, as an adult, he has begun having deeply disturbing nightmares that suggest he was never meant to live. The story is all the more powerful because Due is so good at letting us know how much is at stake. Is there such a t...more
Finished this supernatural thriller book in less than four days and must say aside from the wide open ending I found it quite enjoyable, a definite page turner but left with a little too many unanswered questions..This is a novel about a little boy raised by his grandma until one day he swims out too far and gets caught in a rip current, his grandma swims out to save him and essentially dies in his place..Ever since he has been plagued with nightmares triggered by near death experiences and some...more
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This is the first book I've ever read by this author and I have to say I'm very interested in reading more of what she has written. Her characters and descriptions are so rich you can almost smell and feel their experiences. This was a haunting tale that gives those of us that believe in other worlds another viewpoint about them. Definitely a great book.
True page turner. On the edge trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Thought I was the crazy one for a minute.
After reading this I am a die hard fan of Tananarive Due. Will read ANYTHING she writes.
After reading this I am a die hard fan of Tananarive Due. Will read ANYTHING she writes.
Absolutely riveting. And creepy. For days after, I struggled to recount my own dreams and pull false, terrifying messages from them. Ha. Officially going to read everything this woman has ever written.
Due is a very intriguing author, her works are dark and erotic with a lot of mystery thrills. Her endings tend to be a bit weak but the stories are still engaging and entertaining, and often time very eerie
I've read this book years ago and loved it. This was a page turner that lead me to read her Living Blood trilogy. If you enjoy supernatural thrillers you would enjoy this book and some of her others.
A horror novel - a young boy finds his grandmother in a heap on the kitchen floor, her skin cold to the touch. He runs to the neighbor for help; when he returns, his grandmother is cooking dinner, acting as if nothing is wrong. Months later, the boy is swimming out beyond the buoy despite his grandmother's admonitions to stay close to shore - he feels the undertow dragging him under, but he is saved by his grandmother, who sacrifices her life for his.
Fast forward - the boy is now a man with a f...more
Fast forward - the boy is now a man with a f...more
Excellent horror novel about a Black family in 90s Florida dealing with both a racist stalker bent on destroying their family and the father's continued descent into the world of spirits.
This book was very good. It had a very interesting plot. It would be difficult to pigeon hole the genre. It was very well written And a departure from most of the types of books that I read.
I really liked most of this book, but the ending was too abrupt. I prefer a little more explanation of the paranormal in books and this left many things unexplained.
I really enjoyed this book about a man floating between life and death. I wasn't sure where it was headed when I first started reading it, but ended up staying up to finish it.
I recently re-read this one when my public library finally added a copy to its collection. It was just as good and chilling as I remembered it. Excellent book.
Interesting and well written, but not as in depth into the surreal underworld stuff as I wanted.
This is my first read of Tananarive Due. I wasn't sure what to expect ... but, I enjoyed the mystical story that she told in this book. I've never thought about the people who live 'in between' until reading this book. It is a plot that hasn't been overly exposed in either literature, television or the movies.
I guess that I'll be looking for another Tananarive Due book to read now...
I guess that I'll be looking for another Tananarive Due book to read now...
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Reinforced my respect for the storytelling skills of Tananarive Due.
Nov 19, 2009
Kate
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
suspense and horror enthusiasts
Recommended to Kate by:
my co-worker Mark N.
This was my first Tananarive Due book I ever read. Recommended to me by a co-worker, I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into, since how he explained it to me is, "That it's a story that's equal parts suspense, horror, sci-fi and I think you'd like it."
So, I put it on reserve at the local library and once I started reading it I just got sucked into the life and dreams of Hilton James and went along for the thrill ride to the very end, which left me breathless.
Now I can't wait to check...more
So, I put it on reserve at the local library and once I started reading it I just got sucked into the life and dreams of Hilton James and went along for the thrill ride to the very end, which left me breathless.
Now I can't wait to check...more
Whooohooo read it again and again so much fun, much better than TV
Not my favorite Tananarive Due book, but the story was still good.
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Tananarive Due is a novelist and a creative writing teacher who has worked as a journalist. She won the American Book Award in 2002 for her novel The Living Blood.
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