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    Between
    Between
    Between
    Audiobook10 hours

    Between

    Written by Angie Abdou

    Narrated by Meredith Orlow

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    ***Author has a PhD in English literature from the University of Calgary and teaches English and creative writing at the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada ***Author's first novel, The Bone Cage, was a finalist in CBC's Canada Reads competition. Vero and her husband Shane have moved out of the sweet suite above his parents' garage and found themselves smack in the middle of adulthood?two kids, two cars, two jobs. They are not coping well. In response to their looming domestic breakdown, Vero and Shane get live-in help with their sons?a woman from the Philippines named Ligaya (which means happiness); the children call her LiLi. Vero justifies LiLi's role in their home by insisting that she is part of their family, and she goes to great lengths in order to ease her conscience. But differences persist; Vero grapples with her overextended role as a mother and struggles to keep her marriage passionate, while LiLi silently bears the burden of a secret she left behind at home. Between offers readers an intriguing, searing portrait of two women from two different cultures. At the same time, it satirizes contemporary love, marriage, and parenthood by exposing the sense of entitlement and superiority at the heart of upper-middle-class North American existence through a ubiquitous presence in it: the foreign nanny. Angie Abdou comically and tragically tackles the issue of international nannies by providing a window on motherhood where it is tangled up with class, career, labor, and desire. "Between is not a novel that you'll forget easily with its dark humor, its lifelike characters, and a story of many complicated relationships that lead to a jaw-dropping conclusion. Pick this book up -- you won't be able to put it down." -Jowita Bydlowska, author of Drunk Mom "In Between, Angie Abdou doesn't take the predictable road. She deftly steers us into the deepest of emotional potholes, lands us in the ditch, and then finds a way back out again. This book is hilarious and disturbing, and an honest look at marriage and parenthood and the ways that entitlement and sex can drive wedges between us." -Farzana Doctor, author of Six Metres of Pavement "In Between, it is the women who share the greatest burdens, yet still find it difficult to connect across lines of class and culture. Abdou has stared fraught subject matter in the face and handled it with grace and humour. Her refreshing novel sympathetically reveals women as they are, flaws and all." -Quill and Quire "Between asks nuanced questions of and avoids pat answers on a thorny dilemma facing many families today." -The Globe and Mail "Darkly funny and elegantly written ... Abdou is an important voice in Canadian fiction, and this strong new work will enlarge her already substantial body of devoted readers." -Vancouver Sun
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateApr 7, 2015
    ISBN9781490687421
    Between
    Author

    Angie Abdou

    Angie Abdou is the author of seven books and co-editor of Writing the Body in Motion: A Critical Anthology on Canadian Sport Literature. Her first novel, The Bone Cage, was a Canada Reads finalist. Her two memoirs on youth sport hit the Canadian best-seller list. Abdou is associate professor of Creative Writing at Athabasca University and a nationally certified swim coach.

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    Reviews for Between

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      When Vero, a white, middle-class housewife is immobilized by motherhood her husband Shane convinces her to hire a live-in nanny from the Philippines and Ligaya moves in. Guilty about the privilege that allows her to have help, Vero tries to equalize their relationship although, of course, she really cannot. Vero is just more powerful than Ligaya due to race and class and while Vero can pretend that she sees Ligaya as a peer she is just as smug and entitled as any other woman in her position. I became invested in their fraught dance and I admired how understandable, and at times funny, Abdou made this common, yet complex story. Halfway into the book, however, Shane convinces Vero to vacation at a sex resort and I definitely stopped laughing. When Vero and her husband become sexually engaged and friendly with another heterosexual couple it turns ugly. This section of the book left me cold and I read it over and over to understand its connection to the last part of the book when Ligaya and Vero seem more at peace with each other. Is Abdou proposing that due to gender, to the fact that they are both powerless at times and more powerful at others there is some understanding that can occur? Is it even true? Overall, a complicated book with powerful dynamics around race and class that will leave me ruminating about its message for some time. Thank you to Edelweiss for allowing me to review this book.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this novel. It spoke of important social topics including the labour issues of foreign female employees, feminist politics, motherhood, and sex and drugs. For me it hit home that a lot of women continue to be trapped in the primary role of caregivers once they have children. Their whole life changes, but the man’s life aka the father’s life seems to continue mostly the same as before the children. Women are still expected to “do it all.”The story takes quite the interesting turn when Vero and Shane vacation at a Hedonism resort. I felt the women at the resort were the sex objects/slaves for the men’s pleasure and it seemed most of them including Vero felt pressured to perform. That did not sit well with me but I am not familiar with Hedonism.The ending of the novel disappointed me as I felt it did not wrap things up to my satisfaction. I was very invested in the characters and would have liked to know a bit more of how their lives turned out. Maybe we will find out in a part two?Overall an engaging thought-provoking story and well worth the read.
    • 5/5
      Thank you to Arsenal Pulp Press for sending me an advance copy of this book.The ability of a writer to craft a story showing the ills of a society around themselves is a fantastic gift to have. Angie Abdou is one such writer. She has crafted many a good book illuminating many feelings, issues and concerns in our society, using a great combination of serious prose and humour. Many of her fans have been patiently waiting for her novel Between for some time now and they will not be disappointed.