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emmacampbell's review against another edition
3.0
A sweet and poignant story. Definitely an English teacher's book, with references to The Simple Gift, shifts in form and multiple perspectives. Lots to talk about with a class!
diemnhun's review against another edition
5.0
Reading the last few pages of Between Us has left me feeling helpless and powerless. I want everyone to read this book now.
beebeeeight's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Murder
tien's review against another edition
5.0
Wow - my heart just hurts so bad...
There are 3 perspectives and at times, some are told in verse and these are just the more powerful especially as they are usually in portrayal of pain; heartbreaks, loneliness, suffering, anything & everything! They are Anahita (a teen girl indetention centre prison), Jono (a teen boy with mixed parentage), and Kenny (Jono's father, a Vietnamese immigrant, who works security at above mentioned facility). Each are carrying their own pain. Each are, or aren't, managing their pain. Somehow, their paths crossed and an imaginary line that shouldn't even be there is crossed. Will this destroy them or can they see their way through to a better place?
This is a novel that there is no way I could have read in one sitting because it was just really painful. And yet at the same time, I needed to get to the end just to know how it ends (I couldn't suppress my hope for a positive ending). Full kudos to the author because I really could feel the pain of everyone in this novel. Let's just say it's a realistic ending so I'm sort of okay.
There are 3 perspectives and at times, some are told in verse and these are just the more powerful especially as they are usually in portrayal of pain; heartbreaks, loneliness, suffering, anything & everything! They are Anahita (a teen girl in
This is a novel that there is no way I could have read in one sitting because it was just really painful. And yet at the same time, I needed to get to the end just to know how it ends (I couldn't suppress my hope for a positive ending). Full kudos to the author because I really could feel the pain of everyone in this novel. Let's just say it's a realistic ending so I'm sort of okay.
missusb21's review against another edition
5.0
Powerfully moving, compassionate and real.
4 and a half stars.
4 and a half stars.
emkoshka's review against another edition
4.0
The way Australia has treated asylum seekers and refugees in the past decade will surely go down as one of the great criminal shames of our history. This young adult novel does its bit to explore the mandatory detention system from the perspectives of three people: a young female Iranian detainee, a Vietnamese detention centre worker and his teenage son. Their lives increasingly intersect and intertwine, underlined by the tension, uncertainty and casual brutality and absurdity of life in detention. It's a quick read but one that I had to put down several times because of its intensity. Atkins doesn't shy away from revealing some of the horrors of life in detention (self-harm and suicide attempts, depression, dehumanisation, deprivation) but I suspect what she alludes to is only the tip of the iceberg. As she writes in the Acknowledgements section, the Border Force Act has effectively silenced anyone who works in detention centres from speaking out about what they witness there. Hello, authoritarianism. How ironic that Australia is narrowing into the very type of country that so many of our asylum seekers and refugees have fled in pursuit of freedom, equality and hope. The greatest threat to our national security is not the people we deprive of rights and freedoms, lock away and forget, but the complacency with which we willingly give up our own rights and freedoms.
colwellcat's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing. This was heartbreaking but also heartwarming. I will be recommending this widely.
vivienh's review against another edition
5.0
I read this all in one day! The start of the story quickly places the reader in the middle of events, and it's really fast and easy to get into.
I liked reading from Ana's POV the best, she was sensitive, caring and her story was really upsetting. Her experience in Iran, from the free underground to the violence, was quite eye opening. And, her life in Wickham Point, and also comparing it with Nauru and Christmas Island... I felt like Jono, learning it all for the first time.
Jono was a little dense about the detention centre, but this also probably made it accessible for younger readers to understand the asylum seekers' stories. His Vietnamese background was really interesting, especially since it was drawn from the author's own experiences. Jono was a little stupid at times, and was really rude to his father, but at his core he was a good kid.
Kenny seemed a little distant, and his voice a little too immature, sounded like a younger adult rather than a father. But you can tell that he tries.
The mixture of prose and verse, during harder or more difficult times, was a really interesting choice. It drew the line of symmetry between Jono at the start of the novel, compared with Ana at the end of the novel.
Realistically, their relationship wouldn't have worked out, but Jono not being able to apologise, and Ana having to carry that betrayal with her. The ending was sad.
I hope that some day in the future, Jono visits his mum and Laura in Sydney. And they can talk. And they Jono and Ana can bump into each other, now on different footing. And just talk.
I liked reading from Ana's POV the best, she was sensitive, caring and her story was really upsetting. Her experience in Iran, from the free underground to the violence, was quite eye opening. And, her life in Wickham Point, and also comparing it with Nauru and Christmas Island... I felt like Jono, learning it all for the first time.
Jono was a little dense about the detention centre, but this also probably made it accessible for younger readers to understand the asylum seekers' stories. His Vietnamese background was really interesting, especially since it was drawn from the author's own experiences. Jono was a little stupid at times, and was really rude to his father, but at his core he was a good kid.
Kenny seemed a little distant, and his voice a little too immature, sounded like a younger adult rather than a father. But you can tell that he tries.
The mixture of prose and verse, during harder or more difficult times, was a really interesting choice. It drew the line of symmetry between Jono at the start of the novel, compared with Ana at the end of the novel.
Realistically, their relationship wouldn't have worked out, but Jono not being able to apologise, and Ana having to carry that betrayal with her. The ending was sad.
I hope that some day in the future, Jono visits his mum and Laura in Sydney. And they can talk. And they Jono and Ana can bump into each other, now on different footing. And just talk.
teatales's review against another edition
5.0
Oh wow. What a heart shattering book. So, so important. I don't have enough words. Please read this book.
cw: racism, xenophobia, islamophobia, misogyny, graphic descriptions of violence, self harm and suicide, death, drugs and alcohol
cw: racism, xenophobia, islamophobia, misogyny, graphic descriptions of violence, self harm and suicide, death, drugs and alcohol
ireadbooksnotminds's review against another edition
4.0
What I loved was how all three of the main characters in this book are People of Colour. It would’ve been just as easy for Atkins to write Jono and Kenny as white, but since Atkins herself is a biracial Vietnamese-Australian, I think it’s safe to assume that Jono’s cultural background and heritage were a nod to her own.
What I didn’t love so much—There is no closure, there is no closure, there is no closure. URGHHHH. I’m so disappointed. I really loved Ana and Jono as a couple, and I understand that circumstances that were out of their control are of course stronger than their attraction to each other, but the lack of a real closure between the two of them in the end made me so sad.
Immigration and racism have been tackled in Australian YA books before, but this is one of the only ones I know that specifically tackle the issue of detention centres in Australia and the poor treatment of the people in them. This book comes out in less than a month, so as a heads up, some books that I found similar to this and this reminded me of are When Michael Met Mina by Randa Abdel-Fattah (known as The Lines We Cross in the U.S.), The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, The Things I Didn’t Say by Kylie Fornasier, and How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon.
Thank you, Black Inc Publishing, for sending me an ARC! Look out for this in stores on Feb 1.
What I didn’t love so much—
Immigration and racism have been tackled in Australian YA books before, but this is one of the only ones I know that specifically tackle the issue of detention centres in Australia and the poor treatment of the people in them. This book comes out in less than a month, so as a heads up, some books that I found similar to this and this reminded me of are When Michael Met Mina by Randa Abdel-Fattah (known as The Lines We Cross in the U.S.), The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, The Things I Didn’t Say by Kylie Fornasier, and How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon.
Thank you, Black Inc Publishing, for sending me an ARC! Look out for this in stores on Feb 1.
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