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. ( )

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. ( )

Angie Abdou's Between presents the intricacies of two women's relationships in such a nuanced and layered story that it reads like a page-turner but could be used as a textbook in economics and gender studies classes: so smart.

Many more details about this novel are discussed here, on BuriedInPrint. ( )

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. ( )