Amy Liptrot – The Instant
Blurb:
Wishing
to leave the quiet isolation of her Orkney island life, Amy Liptrot
books a one-way flight to Berlin. Searching for new experiences,
inspiration and love, she rents a loftbed in a shared flat and looks
for work. She explores the streets, nightclubs and parks and seeks
out the city's wildlife - goshawks, raccoons and hooded crows. She
looks for love through the screen of her laptop.
Over
the course of a year Amy makes space for something to happen, hoping
for the unexpected. And it comes with an erotic jolt, in the form of
a love affair that obsesses her.
The
Instant is a frank and luscious look at the addictive power of love
and lust. It is also an exploration of the cycles of the moon, the
flight paths of migratory birds, the mesmerising power of Neolithic
stonework and the trails followed behind by a generation who exist
online.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
* Book to be reviewed in audio form for October 2022’s Reading in Bed (Book Review Podcast).
Upon recommendation from a friend I read Amy Liptrot’s debut novel ‘The Outrun’ and was left spellbound about Liptrot’s journey to sobriety and home to Orkney where she reconnects with the natural world, finding peace and meaning.
The Instant is its sequel taking the reader into what happens next with her journey. Most of the book is set in Berlin which I did find surprising as I was expecting if I am honest more about her life in the Orkney recovering from the madness of her life in London, but instead seeking new experiences in another major city.
My knowledge of Berlin I have to state is a lot less than London although I have being there once more years ago than I care to admit so I found this quite hard to compare upon personal experiences unlike London and therefore found it harder book to relate and although the book is as vivid as the Outrun with the sections such as the section about butterflies, the book with her sex scenes were a bit too close to the knuckle if I am honest.
Like the best bits of the Outrun, the essay style of this book is at its best writing about the moon, raccoons, being a modem nomad on the internet and her uneasy relationship with technology were striking moments and like stated elsewhere were excellent sections and in some ways would have made this a worthy sequel.
Even if the book is flawed, and this is far from a perfect book, The Instant is a strong book showing the next step of recovery isn’t always sweetness and light, and for every step forwards, there is always every chance you could fall backwards and the Author’s relationship she falls into only for it to fall apart left me feeling uncomfortable in places.
And perhaps that was the point behind the book in this short book (180 pages or so which I think made the wise move of not hanging around).
8/10
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