What do you think?
Rate this book
In Between Days
“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 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—once one of Houston’s most promising architects, who never quite lived up to expectations—is recently divorced from his wife of thirty years, Cadence. Their grown son, Richard, is still living at driving his mother’s minivan, working at a local coffee shop, resisting the career as a writer that beckons him. But when Chloe Harding gets kicked out of her East Coast college, for reasons she can’t explain to either her parents or her older brother, the Hardings’ lives start to unravel. Chloe returns to Houston, but the dangers set in motion back at school prove inescapable. Told with piercing insight, taut psychological suspense, and the wisdom of a true master of character, this is a novel about the vagaries of love and family, about betrayal and forgiveness, about the possibility and impossibility of coming home.
From a commanding new voice in fiction comes a novel as perceptive as it is 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—once one of Houston’s most promising architects, who never quite lived up to expectations—is recently divorced from his wife of thirty years, Cadence. Their grown son, Richard, is still living at driving his mother’s minivan, working at a local coffee shop, resisting the career as a writer that beckons him. But when Chloe Harding gets kicked out of her East Coast college, for reasons she can’t explain to either her parents or her older brother, the Hardings’ lives start to unravel. Chloe returns to Houston, but the dangers set in motion back at school prove inescapable. Told with piercing insight, taut psychological suspense, and the wisdom of a true master of character, this is a novel about the vagaries of love and family, about betrayal and forgiveness, about the possibility and impossibility of coming home.
321 pages, Hardcover
First published September 4, 2012
182 people are currently reading
2697 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Porter
6 books336 followersAndrew Porter is the author of four books, including the short story collection The Theory of Light and Matter (Vintage/Penguin Random House), which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the novel In Between Days (Knopf), which was a Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writers” selection, an IndieBound “Indie Next” selection, and the San Antonio Express News’s “Fictional Work of the Year,” the short story collection The Disappeared (Knopf), which was published in April 2023 and longlisted for The Story Prize and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and the novel The Imagined Life, which is forthcoming from Knopf in 2025. Porter’s books have been published in foreign editions in the UK and Australia and translated into numerous languages, including French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Bulgarian, and Korean.
In addition to winning the Flannery O’Connor Award, his collection, The Theory of Light and Matter, received Foreword Magazine’s “Book of the Year” Award for Short Fiction, was a finalist for The Steven Turner Award, The Paterson Prize and The WLT Book Award, was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and was selected by both The Kansas City Star and The San Antonio Express-News as one of the “Best Books of the Year.”
The recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from the James Michener-Copernicus Foundation, the W.K. Rose Foundation, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Porter’s short stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, One Story, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, The Threepenny Review, The Missouri Review, American Short Fiction, Narrative Magazine, Epoch, Story, The Colorado Review, Electric Literature, and Texas Monthly, among others. He has had his work read on NPR’s Selected Shorts and twice selected as one of the Distinguished Stories of the Year by Best American Short Stories. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Porter is currently a Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Trinity University in San Antonio.
www.andrewporterwriter.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 396 reviews
October 19, 2019
As the 12 steppers say, you’re only as sick as your secrets. This slice of life story of a family at the breaking point is replete with secrets and sickness. Andrew Porter wraps up the breakdown of a family in accelerating suspense. You want to keep reading to discover if all the broken pieces can ever be picked up and repaired. This family is in so much pain. Each person is trying to find a way past the hurt as in the process, they unravel. We follow along with their introspective moments as they reveal their vulnerabilities. But can they ever translate their self awareness into empathy for others? Clearly this author has done his homework as far as the roles that are assumed in dysfunctional families. One child will act out in an effort to draw attention away from the parental discord in an effort to bring them together again. However, he does this with a twist, with an unexpected and unplanned outcome. Closed doors are opened. Behind one they will find sadness, so blue and lonely it makes them cry. Open another door and maybe find happiness only to slam it shut and move on. There’s a door in each of their heart’s so full that once opened everything comes tumbling down - frustration, hate and love. Always one more door to open. Somewhere in there the perfect life, the perfect self. This is one hungry family overwhelmed by their search for answers. They will either keep running without direction or freeze in doubt. Human drama at its best.
June 3, 2023
Andrew Porter is a wonderful - contemporary storyteller.
I enjoyed this book - the characters - the tension — but
I didn’t love it in the same way I did his recently published collection of short stories: “The Disappeared”.
3.5 rating up.
I enjoyed this book - the characters - the tension — but
I didn’t love it in the same way I did his recently published collection of short stories: “The Disappeared”.
3.5 rating up.
August 15, 2012
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 trying to start her life over. The father has turned to drinking and hanging out with people much younger than him. He was once a well-known architect in the city but all of that is in the past. We see these characters interacting with each other, but always in a guarded way. They all have their own secrets that they are choosing to keep from the others.
The tension in the family alone was enough to keep me reading, but Porter adds in something else, another plot about the daughter and her boyfriend. You learn in the first chapter that she has been kicked out of her college but never why. You don’t even know what really happened until close to the end. It’s more her boyfriend’s fault, it would appear, but that’s all you know. After a while, this began to drive me crazy, but not in a bad way. Porter keeps you interested enough in the characters other problems that you begin to forget about it, and then it comes up again. This was one thing that impressed me very much about this novel. Porter is telling a lot of different stories at once but you never feel confused because he never leaves one character for too long and he always keeps you thinking about this other plot. I don’t know how he did this exactly but it worked.
I would describe this book as a literary book, not a suspense, but it is extremely suspenseful. It is written in the third person while alternating between the different characters points of view. In some parts the story jumps to the past but always comes back to the present. Porter handles this skillfully. The ending is also quite amazing.
This book has been on my mind ever since I finished it. There is something about it I love I can’t describe. I felt the same way after finishing Porter’s short stories. His writing style is unlike anyone I can think of. His sentences are beautiful and clear and the situations he describes seem so ordinary at first and then they’re all of a sudden not. You can imagine his characters living across the street from you. Some of them might even be members of your family. I felt a surprisingly strong connection to each of these characters. Throughout the novel you can tell they love each other but also can’t live together. They keep coming together and pushing each other away. Here is one of my favorite lines from the end that sums it all up: “They were inextricably linked, the two of them, bonded like tissues in a single body. And no amount of separation or betrayal or even divorce could ever change that.” These people are bonded together by blood but they cannot live together. That is what this novel is about at its core.
On the negative side, the only problem with finishing a book this good is you always have to wait a long time for the author’s next one. I will be very excited to see what Porter does next!
The tension in the family alone was enough to keep me reading, but Porter adds in something else, another plot about the daughter and her boyfriend. You learn in the first chapter that she has been kicked out of her college but never why. You don’t even know what really happened until close to the end. It’s more her boyfriend’s fault, it would appear, but that’s all you know. After a while, this began to drive me crazy, but not in a bad way. Porter keeps you interested enough in the characters other problems that you begin to forget about it, and then it comes up again. This was one thing that impressed me very much about this novel. Porter is telling a lot of different stories at once but you never feel confused because he never leaves one character for too long and he always keeps you thinking about this other plot. I don’t know how he did this exactly but it worked.
I would describe this book as a literary book, not a suspense, but it is extremely suspenseful. It is written in the third person while alternating between the different characters points of view. In some parts the story jumps to the past but always comes back to the present. Porter handles this skillfully. The ending is also quite amazing.
This book has been on my mind ever since I finished it. There is something about it I love I can’t describe. I felt the same way after finishing Porter’s short stories. His writing style is unlike anyone I can think of. His sentences are beautiful and clear and the situations he describes seem so ordinary at first and then they’re all of a sudden not. You can imagine his characters living across the street from you. Some of them might even be members of your family. I felt a surprisingly strong connection to each of these characters. Throughout the novel you can tell they love each other but also can’t live together. They keep coming together and pushing each other away. Here is one of my favorite lines from the end that sums it all up: “They were inextricably linked, the two of them, bonded like tissues in a single body. And no amount of separation or betrayal or even divorce could ever change that.” These people are bonded together by blood but they cannot live together. That is what this novel is about at its core.
On the negative side, the only problem with finishing a book this good is you always have to wait a long time for the author’s next one. I will be very excited to see what Porter does next!
September 9, 2012
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. Only Chloe seems to know the answer and she’s not telling. You see each of the other characters trying to cope with this standoff in different ways. The parents, Elson and Candace, behave like typical worried parents, while the son, Richard, acts more like an enabler, supporting his sister and doing whatever she wants, no questions asked. Poter cleverly creates a division between the family, describing them as “two teams”: the parents on one team, the children on the other.
In the second half of the novel the division becomes more pronounced and the suspense intensifies. You see each character faltering and screwing up, despite their good intentions. When does helping someone turn into hurting them? When does loyalty become destructive? These are some of the questions this novel raises.
Overall, this was a powerful and well-written novel. The writing is smooth and the story never lags. I would recommend it to most adult readers who like a good literary suspense.
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. Only Chloe seems to know the answer and she’s not telling. You see each of the other characters trying to cope with this standoff in different ways. The parents, Elson and Candace, behave like typical worried parents, while the son, Richard, acts more like an enabler, supporting his sister and doing whatever she wants, no questions asked. Poter cleverly creates a division between the family, describing them as “two teams”: the parents on one team, the children on the other.
In the second half of the novel the division becomes more pronounced and the suspense intensifies. You see each character faltering and screwing up, despite their good intentions. When does helping someone turn into hurting them? When does loyalty become destructive? These are some of the questions this novel raises.
Overall, this was a powerful and well-written novel. The writing is smooth and the story never lags. I would recommend it to most adult readers who like a good literary suspense.
November 3, 2012
This was a very well written novel with a good plot and great characters. The four members of Porter's fictional Houston family are faced with more problems than most could handle and none of them gets off easy. I preferred the mother and daughter to the father and son but they all had their positive attributes and winning moments. I will be looking our for more from Porter and plan to read his first book.
June 15, 2013
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
September 27, 2012
One of those books I literally stayed up all night to finish. The author, Andrew Porter, writes oddly simple but beautiful sentences. His characters are desperate in a way that makes you want to hug them but the story is so tense it keeps you turning the pages. I couldn't stop until I finished it.
February 12, 2013
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 account of a modern family. We start in medias res with a splintered nuclear family of four. Moving both backwards and forwards, we discover exactly how this family broke down. The daughter Chloe returns home from college after being disciplined for actions that are hazy until three quarters of the way through the novel. The son Richard is a recent college graduate living at home, too fearful and fretful to actually try to be a writer. He struggles with his own feelings of inadequacy while also being pulled into his sister's questionable choices. The parents are newly divorced after thirty years of marriage.
Porter is deftly skilled in creating realistic characters and in shining a light on the complications of modern life. And he is equally skilled in creating a fast-paced and thrilling story. At various points, I thought I finally knew what was happening, only to be greatly surprised by what unraveled in the next chapter. I felt frustrated by certain plot devices and yet they seemed so incredibly true.
In Between Days is a fascinating account of a modern family. We start in medias res with a splintered nuclear family of four. Moving both backwards and forwards, we discover exactly how this family broke down. The daughter Chloe returns home from college after being disciplined for actions that are hazy until three quarters of the way through the novel. The son Richard is a recent college graduate living at home, too fearful and fretful to actually try to be a writer. He struggles with his own feelings of inadequacy while also being pulled into his sister's questionable choices. The parents are newly divorced after thirty years of marriage.
Porter is deftly skilled in creating realistic characters and in shining a light on the complications of modern life. And he is equally skilled in creating a fast-paced and thrilling story. At various points, I thought I finally knew what was happening, only to be greatly surprised by what unraveled in the next chapter. I felt frustrated by certain plot devices and yet they seemed so incredibly true.
October 23, 2012
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 first time and her boyfriend was the victim of some racism at school, resulting in a tragedy which implicates her and her boyfriend. The son (Richard) goes to great lengths to help and protect his sister, which I didn't really understand. On one level, I totally understood his desire to protect his sister, but on the other hand, his parents are frantic for information and he says nothing even though he knows a lot about the situation. He obviously had some anger issues towards his parents that prevented him from wanting to help them out.
Dad is a borderline alcoholic with a young new girlfriend, and mom is dating a younger man too while trying to sort out her own issues.
All in all, they are a pretty messed-up lot. The writing is strong, the story is interesting, and the way it all gets resolved in the end is not what I expected at all (in a good way!)
Daughter (Chloe) is in love for the first time and her boyfriend was the victim of some racism at school, resulting in a tragedy which implicates her and her boyfriend. The son (Richard) goes to great lengths to help and protect his sister, which I didn't really understand. On one level, I totally understood his desire to protect his sister, but on the other hand, his parents are frantic for information and he says nothing even though he knows a lot about the situation. He obviously had some anger issues towards his parents that prevented him from wanting to help them out.
Dad is a borderline alcoholic with a young new girlfriend, and mom is dating a younger man too while trying to sort out her own issues.
All in all, they are a pretty messed-up lot. The writing is strong, the story is interesting, and the way it all gets resolved in the end is not what I expected at all (in a good way!)
November 7, 2012
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 and was better than reruns on television on a rainy Friday, but not by much.
March 5, 2024
c'était absolument parfait pour ce que j'attendais à savoir un drame familial qui drame et qui familialise donc merci pour cela, c'est toujours très très chouette de se retrouver plongé dans un livre qu'on ne peut réellement pas lâcher, ils sont rares (pour ça j'adore le mot anglais "engrossing" qui veut dire captivant au point d'être englouti, je trouve son côté un peu GROUMPF et MIAM extrêmement pertinent par rapport à l'aspect quasi organique de la chose. bref)
la tension est très bien men��e, les informations révélées pile poil quand il faut, c'est super. un peu flemme par rapport aux zémotions des parents en plein divorce genre oui oui we heard that tune already mais vraiment la partie un peu thriller domestique : énorme bonne surprise. l'écriture fait très bien le job, c'est bien mené, pas de fulgurances non plus
la tension est très bien men��e, les informations révélées pile poil quand il faut, c'est super. un peu flemme par rapport aux zémotions des parents en plein divorce genre oui oui we heard that tune already mais vraiment la partie un peu thriller domestique : énorme bonne surprise. l'écriture fait très bien le job, c'est bien mené, pas de fulgurances non plus
August 8, 2012
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 raising her two grown children. The last storyline is the daughter Chloe’s, the novel’s main character, if there is one. I don’t want to give away any spoilers about her story, but at the start of the novel she is kicked out of college and this becomes the issue the other characters have to deal with.
It’s been a long time since I’ve read a novel that’s gripped me this much. I literally had trouble putting it down and finished it in less than two days. I love the author’s writing style. Everything felt very believable and the character’s lives were richly developed. I would recommend this novel to almost anyone and am now curious to read the author’s first book!
It’s been a long time since I’ve read a novel that’s gripped me this much. I literally had trouble putting it down and finished it in less than two days. I love the author’s writing style. Everything felt very believable and the character’s lives were richly developed. I would recommend this novel to almost anyone and am now curious to read the author’s first book!
June 8, 2012
I was fortunate enough to get my hands on an advanced copy of this terrific debut novel by Andrew Porter, who won the Flannery O’Connor Award for his short story collection, The Theory of Light and Matter. Like Porter’s short stories, the writing in this book is spare and beautiful and the pace is fast and intense. The family at the center of this book is at a crossroads. I won’t give away any spoilers, but suffice it to say their problems don’t get any easier as the story unfolds. Porter is skilled at showing each of the characters personalities and how they struggle with each other. It’s a dramatic story, filled with betrayal and redemption, but it’s just as much a story about family. I found all of the members of the family intriguing for different reasons, especially the daughter. All in all, a haunting story about redemption and loss, beautifully told.
November 19, 2012
This was the absolute perfect novel. It's well written, it's well revealed, it's pacing is perfect and you don't want to put it down. What is it about? It's about a family, dealing with a very dark period in their collective, and individual lives and how each one deals. It's universal in that Anna Karenina way of all unhappy families are the same, and then it's also completely individual. It's about losing yourself and finding yourself, it's about love lost and love gained, about the bonds between parents and kids, siblings, spouses, friends, etc. I can't imagine not finding something for everyone in this book. I don't really have the words to express how good it is (which is why I am a reader, not a writer), but I highly recommend it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
November 25, 2012
I loved Andrew Porter's short story collection, The Theory of Light and Matter, and this novel compliments it well. It's darker, more dramatic and more plot-driven than his stories but the style is similar. Porter writes eloquently in plain, simple language and has a subtle way of getting inside his characters heads and showing them to you. As a fan of short stories, I think I liked his collection a little better, but this is definitely a beautiful and moving book.
October 8, 2012
One of the best books I've read in the past few months. The writing seemed sharper than much of what I've read lately and the perspective on 21st century family life was fresh. Looking forward to the next one by this author!
April 18, 2013
Andrew Porter’s In Between Days explores the ramifications of one person’s actions on a family and how it transforms their relationships. In Between Days is told in the alternating viewpoints of the four members of the Harding family: two adults recently and bitterly divorced, Elson and Cadence, and their two adult children, Richard and Chloe. The main focus of the novel is the family’s search to uncover why seemingly perfect Chloe was expelled from her university. Despite establishing Chloe as the novel’s center, Porter develops each character distinctly and focuses on events in each of their separate lives. Throughout the novel, Porter uses the intrigue of Chloe’s mystery to examine the functionality of a fractured family, the strength of love, and the importance of independence.
Porter creates a substantially character-driven novel, as evidenced by his development of the dysfunctional family dynamic through each character’s storyline. While initially the four family members feel disconnected from the other characters and the reader, Porter slows cultivates them by fleshing out their stories and interpersonal relationships. Porter organically reveals traits about each character as they are pivotal and important to current plot points.
One of Porter’s greatest strengths is the strategic reveal of information. In utilizing flashback chapters, Porter tactically places nuggets of past information to propel the story forward, divulge crucial details regarding Chloe’s predicament, and reveal qualities about each character. These flashbacks feel organic because the reader learns information from Chloe as she becomes ready to process the moments leading up to her life-altering incident.
Despite being the main propelling force of the novel, Chloe’s storyline does not overshadow or marginalize the other character’s plotlines. Porter creates realistic and equally heartbreaking stories for each character. Both parents, Elson and Cadence, are beautifully characterized through the depictions of their struggles with the divorce, while attempting to navigate identities separate from their marriage. Richard, the son and college graduate, seeks to figure out his next step in life as he works at the local coffeehouse and drives the family van. Through detailing his exploration of his future and his relationship with his parents, Richard’s conflict with his sexuality and sense of identity in a broken family is artfully and honestly written. As they strive to learn what happened to Chloe, each character also struggles to learn how things can be now, after everything that has happened.
Porter’s novel is subtle, but profound. No one particular moment contains all the intensity of the story. Throughout the novel, pressure builds as past events are divulged; however, the pressure is always subdued as Porter shifts to another plotline just as information is revealed. In Between Days maintains a realistic and lifelike pace while enticing readers to continue reading in search for answers. Porter creates a supremely engaging novel with lots of heart and with a recognition and understanding about how certain events change lives in ways that things can never be the same again.
by Monica Petersen
Porter creates a substantially character-driven novel, as evidenced by his development of the dysfunctional family dynamic through each character’s storyline. While initially the four family members feel disconnected from the other characters and the reader, Porter slows cultivates them by fleshing out their stories and interpersonal relationships. Porter organically reveals traits about each character as they are pivotal and important to current plot points.
One of Porter’s greatest strengths is the strategic reveal of information. In utilizing flashback chapters, Porter tactically places nuggets of past information to propel the story forward, divulge crucial details regarding Chloe’s predicament, and reveal qualities about each character. These flashbacks feel organic because the reader learns information from Chloe as she becomes ready to process the moments leading up to her life-altering incident.
Despite being the main propelling force of the novel, Chloe’s storyline does not overshadow or marginalize the other character’s plotlines. Porter creates realistic and equally heartbreaking stories for each character. Both parents, Elson and Cadence, are beautifully characterized through the depictions of their struggles with the divorce, while attempting to navigate identities separate from their marriage. Richard, the son and college graduate, seeks to figure out his next step in life as he works at the local coffeehouse and drives the family van. Through detailing his exploration of his future and his relationship with his parents, Richard’s conflict with his sexuality and sense of identity in a broken family is artfully and honestly written. As they strive to learn what happened to Chloe, each character also struggles to learn how things can be now, after everything that has happened.
Porter’s novel is subtle, but profound. No one particular moment contains all the intensity of the story. Throughout the novel, pressure builds as past events are divulged; however, the pressure is always subdued as Porter shifts to another plotline just as information is revealed. In Between Days maintains a realistic and lifelike pace while enticing readers to continue reading in search for answers. Porter creates a supremely engaging novel with lots of heart and with a recognition and understanding about how certain events change lives in ways that things can never be the same again.
by Monica Petersen
October 17, 2012
Excellent narrative flow. Maintained engagement and suspense (!) throughout the novel. Well-written, like his prior book of short stories. Sort of a classic narrative and yet totally contemporary with its uncertainties, the existential angst of the characters, and the unresolved sense of the world.
October 22, 2012
Psychologically complicated story about choices and consequences. Lots of cliffhangers that keep you turning the pages. Nice clear writing, memorable characters, a surprising if perplexing ending. 4 1/2 stars.
November 7, 2012
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.
September 22, 2015
In Between Days by Andrew Porter is a young adult book about a girl trying to save her boyfriend from a horrible decision that changes both their lives. The Hardings lives have altered completely in the past few months; father Elson and mother Cadence have recently divorced after thirty years of marriage, their son Richard is trying to find his way as a lost poet, and their daughter Chloe has recently come home from college with troubling news that changes the course of her life. Her boyfriend, Raja, has been involved in an incident with his friend and they are being tried, along with Chloe being used as a witness and as a suspect for being involved in the "accident". Chloe goes through many extreme motives to help her boyfriend, and no one knows how far she will take things, not even herself.
In Between Days was a book I loved reading, it kept me on my toes and peaked my interest through every chapter as to what was going to happen next with all the chaos going on around everyone. The suspense and the plot of each individual character is what made this book so descriptive and well written. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes a book about finding love within a family after heartbreak, betraying and forgiving one another, and trying to figure out if being home is the right place to be. Andrew Porter is a very talented author and knows how to grab the attention of his readers. I would like to read more books by him and see how else he will grab my attention.
In Between Days was a book I loved reading, it kept me on my toes and peaked my interest through every chapter as to what was going to happen next with all the chaos going on around everyone. The suspense and the plot of each individual character is what made this book so descriptive and well written. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes a book about finding love within a family after heartbreak, betraying and forgiving one another, and trying to figure out if being home is the right place to be. Andrew Porter is a very talented author and knows how to grab the attention of his readers. I would like to read more books by him and see how else he will grab my attention.
October 29, 2012
Like "Less Than Zero," but for the 'aughts - and far better written. Tells the story of a family that's caught in the days "in between" a divorce, a daughter's expulsion from college, and then evasion of the authorities, and a brother's life-defining career decision. Initially, you think that the story is about the divorce. In fact, the novel opens with the husband, Elson's, perspective. But the core of the novel is really about the relationship between Richard and his sister Chloe. This novel was moody, and brooding. Melancholy, and with little clarity or answers given. You make your own judgements about everything, and Porter, the author, is there merely to record. I should also note that I read this during a weekend of Santa Ana winds, which, I think, also added to my feelings of moodiness as well as the comparisons to "Less Than Zero." This is a great first novel from Porter, and I am excited to read more.
December 16, 2013
"Don't judge a book by its cover" they always say, so then I want to do just that. And yeah, the simplistic cover, with lush foliage and the solitary figure sitting by the pool was way too reminiscent of my favorite way to pass the summer days at my parents house, so I just HAD to read it. And I was NOT disappointed!! Porter had such an eloquent way of telling a story of suburban family that had elements of "typical" family life so delicately intertwined with details that revealed human struggles at the core. Each character was well developed allowing the reader to understand and at times sympathize with aspects of each. Porter also had a flawless way of propelling the story forward by leaving the reader in suspense while momentarily pausing to flashback to a significance scene often explaining the characters present state of mind - truly remarkable story-telling! Anxious to read another book by this talented writer.
June 28, 2012
Andrew Porter can write the American family in a way few other can. He has a sympathy and understanding of his characters--even as he puts them through the grinder--that moves you through the novel not with them, but as them.
IN BETWEEN DAYS kept me on the edge of my seat, sometimes to the point of falling off. It's one of those books where you never know exactly what's going on, what's happened, or what's coming next.
A few times I had to put the book down and look around the room, to force myself out, away. To remind myself it wasn't real. It feels very real. Make your skin crawl real. I recommend the book both in spite of and because of that very fact.
IN BETWEEN DAYS kept me on the edge of my seat, sometimes to the point of falling off. It's one of those books where you never know exactly what's going on, what's happened, or what's coming next.
A few times I had to put the book down and look around the room, to force myself out, away. To remind myself it wasn't real. It feels very real. Make your skin crawl real. I recommend the book both in spite of and because of that very fact.
September 12, 2012
As much as I despised Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, I loved In Between Days by Andrew Porter.
This is a character driven story and while I didn't agree with or even understand the choices the characters made, I was compelled to stay with them through their journey. I needed and wanted to know where their decisions and choices would lead them. I actually felt as though Mr. Porter might have felt the same way while writing this. That he also didn't know where they were going. And I loved this about this book.
This is a character driven story and while I didn't agree with or even understand the choices the characters made, I was compelled to stay with them through their journey. I needed and wanted to know where their decisions and choices would lead them. I actually felt as though Mr. Porter might have felt the same way while writing this. That he also didn't know where they were going. And I loved this about this book.
January 13, 2015
Just beautiful. You want to read this.
February 2, 2019
Много хубава, дълбока от психологическа гледна точка книга. Драмата на всеки един главен герой е описана прекрасно от неговата гледна точка, а самите герои са пълнокръвни. В книгата има всичко, което може да те привлече - прецизен, изтънчен и образен стил на писане, любов, съспенс, психо драма... Жалко е, че този писател е написал само две книги досега и съм щастлива, че България е сред малкото страни в света, където са преведени и издадени и двете. Ясно ми е, че ставам поредният читател, който чака с нетърпение следващата му книга.
June 19, 2014
Много интересен роман за привидно простички ежедневни ситуации - отношенията в едно разпадащо се семейство, предадени през погледа на всеки един от членовете му; доверие, приятелство, любов, измяна, отговорност и границите им, изпитанията, съмненията, изборът, разкаянието...
Хареса ми начинът на разказване - книгата започва в ситуация, която е критична и търпи развитие, без да са зададени ясно причините й и редица други параметри - много от тях остават неизяснени до самия край, което идва да покаже, че самата ситуация, dдаваща тласък на голяма част от развитията, сама по себе си не е толкова важна; по-важно се оказва това, което тя предизвиква в живота на всеки един от героите. После истприята бива стъпка по стъпка разказана през погледа на героите (без повествованието да върви от 1л.ед.ч.), като постепенно се наслагва, надгражда, дават ни се част от предисторията, както и развитието. Отделните глави и части на книгата сякаш се гонят, догонват, задминават...
Много пъти съм отбелязвала, че не харесвам чисто отворени финали - такива, в които читателят сам решава как свършва книгата. Този не е такъв, но все пак го приемам като 'отворен', защото в процеса на разказване авторът не съди героите си, не ги хвали, нищо, просто представя историята и от време на време мислите на някои от тях; емоционалната страна на нещата не е застъпена до много голяма степен, което оставя отворен краят: дава възможност на читателя да реши кое счита за 'правилно', каква реакция би била подходяща в редицата гранични ситуации, с които се сблъскват героите в този роман; дава ти възможност да мислиш; да си представиш как самият ти би постъпил в определени случаи...
А моите си заключения няма да споделя, защото са прекалено лични. В крайна сметка, всеки пречупва всичко през собствения си поглед и възприятия, на фона на своя си опит.
Хареса ми начинът на разказване - книгата започва в ситуация, която е критична и търпи развитие, без да са зададени ясно причините й и редица други параметри - много от тях остават неизяснени до самия край, което идва да покаже, че самата ситуация, dдаваща тласък на голяма част от развитията, сама по себе си не е толкова важна; по-важно се оказва това, което тя предизвиква в живота на всеки един от героите. После истприята бива стъпка по стъпка разказана през погледа на героите (без повествованието да върви от 1л.ед.ч.), като постепенно се наслагва, надгражда, дават ни се част от предисторията, както и развитието. Отделните глави и части на книгата сякаш се гонят, догонват, задминават...
Много пъти съм отбелязвала, че не харесвам чисто отворени финали - такива, в които читателят сам решава как свършва книгата. Този не е такъв, но все пак го приемам като 'отворен', защото в процеса на разказване авторът не съди героите си, не ги хвали, нищо, просто представя историята и от време на време мислите на някои от тях; емоционалната страна на нещата не е застъпена до много голяма степен, което оставя отворен краят: дава възможност на читателя да реши кое счита за 'правилно', каква реакция би била подходяща в редицата гранични ситуации, с които се сблъскват героите в този роман; дава ти възможност да мислиш; да си представиш как самият ти би постъпил в определени случаи...
А моите си заключения няма да споделя, защото са прекалено лични. В крайна сметка, всеки пречупва всичко през собствения си поглед и възприятия, на фона на своя си опит.
December 31, 2012
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 bumbles gracelessly through life without much concern for anyone around him. Cadence tries to be the more responsible parent but fails at this, having no support system around her and no friends. Richard is trying decide whether or not to follow his dream of being a writer and seems pre-occupied with this for most of the novel. In the middle of it all, Chloe is the one who suffers the most, becoming the center of a criminal investigation involving her boyfriend.
Porter’s strength is his ability to present these characters without judgement. You care about them despite their flaws and moral lapses. As a study in character, there is tremedous depth to this novel. The central message seems to be that no family is perfect but even in a family as imperfect as this one there are bonds that can’t be broken. The story is tight and suspenseful, but at the end of the day it is Porter’s tender depictions of his characters that make this a memorable novel.
There is a feeling from the start of distance between these characters. Elson, a once renowned architect, has turned to drinking and bumbles gracelessly through life without much concern for anyone around him. Cadence tries to be the more responsible parent but fails at this, having no support system around her and no friends. Richard is trying decide whether or not to follow his dream of being a writer and seems pre-occupied with this for most of the novel. In the middle of it all, Chloe is the one who suffers the most, becoming the center of a criminal investigation involving her boyfriend.
Porter’s strength is his ability to present these characters without judgement. You care about them despite their flaws and moral lapses. As a study in character, there is tremedous depth to this novel. The central message seems to be that no family is perfect but even in a family as imperfect as this one there are bonds that can’t be broken. The story is tight and suspenseful, but at the end of the day it is Porter’s tender depictions of his characters that make this a memorable novel.
May 25, 2013
цялото ревю: http://bit.ly/14LFMvD
За „американската мечта" копнее цял свят. В наше време тя се е превърнала в синоним на щастливия финал от приказките, но е възможна дори и без намесата на фея-кръстница. Писателите, които преди време са обичали да пишат как чрез честен труд и упоритост обикновените хора могат да я постигнат и да заживеят спокойно и щастливо, днес предпочитат да я правят на пух и прах, да разбиват на парчета самодоволното отражение на перфектното щастие. И да ни показват празнотата и фалша под лустросаната повърхност.
„Между дните" на Андрю Портър е такава книга. Макар да не изпитвах онази болка, с която четях „Теория за материята и светлината" тази книга също на места ми действаше като емоционален шамар – шумно, оглушително, зашеметяващо. Роман за разпада на едно семейство е отвратително клише. Всъщност това тук не е просто разпадането на едно семейство – това е роман за разпадането на връзките между хората изобщо. Как всеки от нас потъва в собствения си свят, съсредоточава се върху себе си и постепенно губи връзка с другите. А това води до отчуждение и самота. Самота, която ранява.
За „американската мечта" копнее цял свят. В наше време тя се е превърнала в синоним на щастливия финал от приказките, но е възможна дори и без намесата на фея-кръстница. Писателите, които преди време са обичали да пишат как чрез честен труд и упоритост обикновените хора могат да я постигнат и да заживеят спокойно и щастливо, днес предпочитат да я правят на пух и прах, да разбиват на парчета самодоволното отражение на перфектното щастие. И да ни показват празнотата и фалша под лустросаната повърхност.
„Между дните" на Андрю Портър е такава книга. Макар да не изпитвах онази болка, с която четях „Теория за материята и светлината" тази книга също на места ми действаше като емоционален шамар – шумно, оглушително, зашеметяващо. Роман за разпада на едно семейство е отвратително клише. Всъщност това тук не е просто разпадането на едно семейство – това е роман за разпадането на връзките между хората изобщо. Как всеки от нас потъва в собствения си свят, съсредоточава се върху себе си и постепенно губи връзка с другите. А това води до отчуждение и самота. Самота, която ранява.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 396 reviews