This is between us : a novel

Chronicling five years of a troubled romance, This Is Between Us offers an intimate view of one couples strugglefrom the illicit beginnings of sexual obsession to the fragile architecture of a pieced-together family. Full of sweet moments, emotional time bombs, unexpected humor, and blunt sexuality, the daily life of this man and woman, both recently divorced, with children and baggage in tow, emerges in all of its complexity. In this utterly engrossing debut novel, Kevin Sampsell delivers a confessional tale of love between two resilient people who have staked their hearts on each other. From Publishers Weekly This well-written but often frustrating novel chronicles five years in a relationship between an unnamed narrator and his unnamed lover, who are hipsters living in Oregon. Each has a child from a previous relationship. Each works, vaguely and unseriously. And each has a rich history of past lovers who pop into the present tense with regularity (the narrator makes out with an old girlfriend in a bar and semi-stalks others by driving past their houses). The gossamer-thin plot charts the ebb and flow of love, but this is no conventional narrative. Instead, Sampsell frames his book as one long address by the narrator to his loverone consisting of telling moments and epiphanies rendered in precise, poetic prose, more like a journal or memoir than a novel. In between these, the book ranges from the banally familiar (the egocentric fascination of romantic love, the pangs of disintegration) to the willfully perverse, particularly sexual memories and fantasies both absurd and disturbing (but not particularly erotic). This sad sack of a narrator overshares in the extreme, no doubt in the pursuit of some kind of honesty, but emerges as too thoughtless and even amoral for his musings on love to have much resonance. (Nov.) From Booklist Bookseller and short story author Sampsell presents a textbook angst-laden, workshoppish first novel about a man and a woman navigating a modern relationship, with little plotline to hold it together aside from their experiences together. The unnamed narrator and his unnamed love interest explore the boundaries of their connection while each juggling a kid, vague jobs, old lovers, and contemporary mores that make great allowances for selfish, petulant behavior. The observation, Sometimes we try to make sad things beautiful, sums up the virtually nonexistent story as it dresses up the unfocused bad behavior of its carefully constructed protagonists, who each actually operate as the others antagonist while simultaneously declaring love and devotion. The characters depictions may resonate uncomfortably close to home with some while turning off others who prefer deeper introspection and stronger redeeming qualities. The contemporary, carelessly cruel, and occasionally befuddled relationship depicted echoes the supposed ennui of current society. --Julie Trevelyan This Is Between Us, Kevin Sampsell's utterly engrossing debut novel, is a confessional tale of love between two resilient people who have staked their hearts on each other. Chronicling five years of a troubled romance, This Is Between Us offers an intimate view of one couple’s struggle—from the illicit beginnings of sexual obsession to the fragile architecture of a pieced-together family. Full of sweet moments, emotional time bombs, unexpected humor, and blunt sexuality, the daily life of this man and woman, both recently divorced, with children and baggage in tow, emerges in all of its complexity. In this utterly engrossing debut novel, Kevin Sampsell delivers a confessional tale of love between two resilient people who have staked their hearts on each other. Chronicling five years of a troubled romance, This Is Between Us offers an intimate view of one coupleâ€TMs struggleÂ-from the illicit beginnings of sexual obsession to the fragile architecture of a pieced-together family. Full of sweet moments, emotional time bombs, unexpected humor, and blunt sexuality, the daily life of this man and woman, both recently divorced, with children and baggage in tow, emerges in all of its complexity. In this utterly engrossing debut novel, Kevin Sampsell delivers a confessional tale of love between two resilient people who have staked their hearts on each other