Customer Reviews

The Between

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

How many chances do we get at life? What happens when we are meant to die and, yet we live? In Tananarive Due's novel The Between, the answer may not be what you think.

Hilton battled nightmares of his grandmother's death for years. After therapy, he was able to rest without the haunting images invading his slumber. Now, five years after he had his last night horror, the images return when his family is threatened by a racist who has set out to destroy them. Hilton's reality becomes a jumbled mess each time he wakes up. He finds he has done things he doesn't remember doing and has not done things he recalls. This thwart of his reality threatens to send him over the edge.

I have heard so many things about Tananarive Due's novels, though I had only read her book The Black Rose. I had no idea how enthralling her fiction could be. The writing is that of the most divine quality. The story makes you look over your shoulder. The idea makes you stay up late trying to surmise the existence of Hilton. The characters jump off the page and haunt your dreams. I found myself, long after the last page had been turned, wondering what it was like to live in the Between.

Reviewed by Candace K

It is usually pretty easy to differentiate an author's first work from their subsequent works. I read Tananarive Due's My Soul To Keep first and finished The Between months later ... They were equally superb.

The Between is a suspenseful first novel which chronicles the confusing life (death?) of Hilton, a man who, at age 8, nearly drowned but was saved by his grandmother. As an adult he suffers from horrendous nightmares and soon becomes unable to distinguish them from his waking hours. Coupled with having to protect his family from a psychotic, racist, ex-convict who is after his prosecutor wife, Hilton and the reader are tossed into a world of dreams/reality, life/death, sanity/insanity ... death/life.

This was a chilling and thrilling tale. I am usually not one who automatically sees movie potential in a book but I think this one would be a tortuous theme for the silver screen.

I anxiously (and nervously) await another novel by Tananarive Due !

It is usually pretty easy to differentiate an author's first work from their subsequent works. I read Tananarive Due's My Soul To Keep first and finished The Between months later ... They were equally superb.

The Between is a suspenseful first novel which chronicles the confusing life (death?) of Hilton, a man who, at age 8, nearly drowned but was saved by his grandmother. As an adult he suffers from horrendous nightmares and soon becomes unable to distinguish them from his waking hours. Coupled with having to protect his family from a psychotic, racist, ex-convict who is after his prosecutor wife, Hilton and the reader are tossed into a world of dreams/reality, life/death, sanity/insanity ... death/life.

This was a chilling and thrilling tale. I am usually not one who automatically sees movie potential in a book but I think this one would be a tortuous theme for the silver screen.

I anxiously (and nervously) await another novel by Tananarive Due !!

First...let's get this out of the way...The Between is not My Soul To Keep but it is a good debut novel and is written in the same vain and style as MSTK. I am an avid fan of books by Tananarive Due as she is a phenomenal and talented writer. I highly recommend that you read The Between prior to reading MSTK and then of course you have to read MSTK to witness Ms. Due's growth as a writer.

The Between introduces us to Hilton James and his family. As Hilton grows older, his life seems to unravel, and it seems he's falling apart and those around him can't dare save him. Hilton experienced a traumatic event during his childhood that continues to haunt him and recently appears to be negatively impacting him and his relationship with others. It seems that his grandmother saved him from drowning when he was a kid, but she perished in the process. As we travel with Hilton through his world we are led into a complex maze that appears not to let go once you're in it. The Between is a hauntingly, beautiful debut novel which requires your patience and attention to detail in order to absorb and comprehend this somewhat ambitious and complex storyline. You're immediately drawn in Hilton's world as you delve into the madness and experience life from Hilton's perspective. You're frightfully afraid for Hilton's family as the madness jumps off the pages and into your life. You fall in love with Hilton's family and want to take them to safe cover as you scarily explore plot twist and outcomes that result from Hilton's actions in his efforts to protect his family. The Between's storyline was quite compelling so you automatically turned the pages to see what would happen next; however I must admit that the ending left more questions that answers for me.

Once again, Ms. Due gives us a solid suspense plot, voice to a loving middle-class African-American family, well developed characters, vivid situations and writing that touches all of our senses. I especially like that Ms. Due gives us a genre that is not often explored by AA authors and her storylines are always fresh and unique! I highly recommend The Between and My Soul To Keep as I think that as long as you keep an open mind and read the books in order you will enjoy both of these books immensely!

I am a new fan of Ms. Due. When I first read the Between, I did not get it. Then I decided to pick it up again and read it. I am beginning to get it. In a month or so. I am going to read it again. I am sure I will get it. Ms. Due is a very sophisicated writer. She is obviously a thinker, with a great imagination.

The reason I did not give it a 5 is because I wish she would have given us more history of Nana and her ancestors. I desperately wanted to know how they became people who lived in "the between."

My grandmama use to tell me about ghosts of family members who visited her occasionally. I use to laugh like crazy, and say "grandmama you were just dreaming" Grandmama would cut a serious look at me and say "girl don't tell me what I saw. I know what I saw, and I ain't crazy!" I could not laugh anymore because grandmama believed what she said.

Interestingly enough, my dear grandma is now with the ancestors. A while go, I woke up from a sound sleep saying "grandmama I am coming." I heard her call me just as clear. She would call me by name whenever she wanted something. I stood in the middle of the floor dazed for a while. I remembered that grandmama was dead. But I know I heard her voice calling me in my head, while I slept.

I don't know if I believe in ghosts or not, but my mind isn't necessarily closed to their existence.

Ms. Due I am a fan for life. Thanks.

Let me start with, I read "My Soul to Keep" first. Absolutly, the best book I ever read. So, I ran out and bought "The Between". I thought it was a great book, all the way to the end. But that last page left me hanging; a little disappointed. I'm not sure I got it. I hate I've missed it and would love to give it a second look. If anyone is interested in sharing their thoughts, please email me.

Ms. Due, I can't wait for "Dawit, Part II"

This is a great psychological thriller mixing traditional African and Caribbean spirituality with modern social problems. The main character Hilton thinks he's going insane with nightmares about death and threats to his family, but he is really tuning in subconsciously to the realm of "The Between"- between life and death. Tananarive Due incorporates fascinating concepts from Ghanaian and Haitian mythology to construct this haunting dimension, in which life and death converge to affect waking reality in disturbing ways. Meanwhile, the action of the story involves a white supremacist who is supposedly stalking Hilton's wife, a prominent black judge. But the racist villain might only be a tool for darker forces yearning for an underworld-style vengeance on Hilton, who has an unknown genetic affinity with such forces of life and death. I agree with a few other reviewers that these supernatural phenomena are a bit under-explained in the narrative, while the hereditary angle in which Hilton may have passed things on to his children is introduced but dropped inconclusively. However, the characters are uniformly well-drawn and empathetic, and overall this is a winning suspense novel with a very creative ethnic twist on the supernatural. [~doomsdayer520~]

Ms. Due definately has a career ahead of her as a best selling novelist. If works like this are any indication, Science Fiction will be taken to an entirely new level. I'm not normally a fan of the Genre but I can't wait to read anything Ms. Due writes.

This book keeps your interest from page 1. Makes you afraid to fall asleep at night, and sticks with you for a long time. I suggest you get a Tananarive Due shelf in your library and fill it up with everything she writes.

It is usually pretty easy to differentiate an author's first work from their subsequent works. I read Tananarive Due's My Soul To Keep first and finished The Between months later ... They were equally superb.

The Between is a suspenseful first novel which chronicles the confusing life (death?) of Hilton, a man who, at age 8, nearly drowned but was saved by his grandmother. As an adult he suffers from horrendous nightmares and soon becomes unable to distinguish them from his waking hours. Coupled with having to protect his family from a psychotic, racist, ex-convict who is after his prosecutor wife, Hilton and the reader are tossed into a world of dreams/reality, life/death, sanity/insanity ... death/life.

This was a chilling and thrilling tale. I am usually not one who automatically sees movie potential in a book but I think this one would be a tortuous theme for the silver screen.

I was tantilized by this book. It started really good and got really exciting and then it got a little boring and then it just went to downright confusing. I am glad Hilton didn't have a bad ending, but I never understood what all his turmoil was about. I read 'My Soul to Keep' and both of these books were excellently written, but they both had weak endings. I would like to see a strong ending for a really good book. It was a good read.