‘The In-Between’ by Christos Tsiolkas
The In Between is a love story between two men who have met in their 50’s. Having both endured broken relationships they are in search of comfort, love and understanding.
I was totally absorbed in the story from the first page. Perry is excited, getting ready for a date. He has met Ivan through an internet dating service. They are worlds apart in their social background. Perry, the son of Greek immigrants, lives in inner-city Melbourne and has an academic background. He was previously involved with a married man living in Europe. Ivan, from the suburbs, is of Serbian heritage and a landscape gardener. He has a daughter and a granddaughter.
The In Between is the story of their lives over several years. Each chapter focuses on a particular event. Sometimes the story describes their life together, and sometimes their past lives.
Tsiolkas is unafraid to describe desire and wanting to be loved in very physical terms, so the love-making scenes are both graphic and visceral. Personally I found this integral to the development of both Perry and Ivan’s story. It adds to the emotional desire of wanting to be loved and accepted, warts and all.
The descriptive writing Tsiolkas uses is very evocative of time and place. I found myself in both Melbourne and in later chapters Athens, seeing the sights, the sounds and smells.
This is a masterful novel of the desire to be loved and accepted. It has moments of exquisite beauty and tenderness revealing the loneliness of past hurts and the redemption of finding another who has also been wounded.
Purchase in store or online.
