I am currently working on expanding our school library's senior section after years of a dismal and uninspiring selection of books that our older readers never checked out. My job has been to seek out much more diverse, gripping and modern books that will get them into reading by appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible. This really appealed to me because of its fantastic narrative and sense of atmosphere, combined with believable characterisation and its page-turning nature. It's hard to get young people into reading and if the library is not stocking the kind of book that they might grow up to buy as adult readers then we are not really meeting their needs. I can imagine this provoking lots of discussion after finishing it and a long queue of people trying to reserve it as they've heard so much about it. Will definitely be buying a copy and know that it's going to be a very popular choice. An engrossing read that kept me up far too late to finish reading it. It certainly stood out from the other books that I was considering and I look forward to converting more Bella Pollen fans in future!

I should have given up when the incubus turned up in chapter one. But as ever, my stupid persistence kept telling me to give it a chance. I feel bad being so negative. After all, this is the author's memoir, so criticizing anything about it feels kind of wrong. But honestly, I didn't enjoy this. Some of that was due to the style. It was delivered in a smug tone that I just didn't like. It was overwritten, trying too hard. Then there were some elements relating to race, nationalities, and descriptions of people that I believe the author intended to be amusing (at least I hope so), but I didn't find those funny at all. Reading somebody's memoir is all about getting to know that particular person, and in this case, the author and I just didn't click.
At times, I felt I was reading short fictional stories rather than an autobiographical account. It seemed like a collection of stories from somebody extremely privileged and I just couldn't muster up any empathy. Not many people can just take off when they feel boxed in, in particular when you're a mother.
The best part of this was right at the end when the author talks about her relationship with her father. If there had been more of that same poignancy and the same level of sincere feelings that I could have related to, I would have enjoyed this a lot more.
So, sadly, this wasn't for me, but if you're looking for something a bit different and very quirky, and you can relate to the privileged POV, you will enjoy this a lot more than I did. The second star is basically on the account of the parts about the father - daughter relationship. Apologies for my negativity.
I received an ARC via NetGalley.

I loved Summer of the Bear so was quite eager to read this. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. The incubus I could deal with but then I just found the rest of it so irritating and "first world problem" that I could not finish. Memoirs are tough because you can be seen as criticizing someone's heritage, parents, or life choices but it's also true that sometimes you just don't want to know. That was the case here for me.

This was a fun memoir to read. The authors style of writing is very entertaining and I think shows us quite well her struggle with who she is and what she wants out of life. The stories she gives us throughout of her experiences, the people she meets and the places she visits are wonderful and very descriptive. Sometimes very funny, but always truthful to her life and what she is feeling at the time.
Her story which at times seems a bit unbelievable, just furthers our perception of who she is and who she wants to become, all of the while showing us her conflicts between, family life and the independence of being a writer and seeking out interesting stories. One becomes invested in the lives of all of the characters we read about.
The book has a few pages of graphic art and prose, which give us certain details of her life, in a condensed yet clear view of what is going on.
The author grew up going back and forth between two places, the UK where when young, the family visited an Island off the west coast of Scotland and also London and in the USA, New York, where they lived when she was young and then later in the American Mid West, very rural and the closest neighbors could be quite eccentric.
The author gets herself into some very interesting situations, from Italy to Mexico, not to mention the beginning of this book where she has visitations from and incubus.
Well worth reading as it was so interesting.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Grove Atlantic and Grove Press for the ARC of this book.

While it can be difficult to review a memoir or a biography because it’s written in the context of someone’s personal life and experiences, rather than fiction, a memoir or biography can be entertaining as fiction, if written well, and gives its readers the opportunity to know the writer better, both in the events he or she shares about her his or her life, or how he or she perceives them in the way the author writes.

Bella Pollen’s biography, Meet Me in the In-Between, shares the oddities of herself and her family, right from a supposed incubus, a male demon believed to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women, to a drunken South American caique whose reactions to an black afro wig reveals him to be a white supremacist.

And that’s only the beginning of the book!

While these stories in of themselves are odd, almost seemingly fictional, and seem entertaining enough to incur a raised eyebrow of interest; the writing style of the narrative, while not necessarily poorly written, are distracting enough because the writing seems over-written.

Pollen, however, is quick in her sarcasm and wit, her agility in name-calling and comparisons, as well as her blunt insights, which tend to tumble out is great spurts, easily classifying her as a troublemaker, of which the author seems easily proud.

Even the description of her mafia-style husband and family is painted with almost deliberate animation and volume.

The accompanying illustrations in the book, too, add a welcome aesthetic and a window to the author’s canny imagination.

If you have time to read a 336-page memoir of the crazy antics in the life of a woman whose writing is both wacky and stream-of-consciousness, then this book is for you.
 
***
Characters: 3 stars
Plot: 3 stars
Language/Narrative: 3 stars
Dialogue: 3 stars
Pacing: 3 stars
Cover Design: 3 stars
***
Zara’s Overall Rating: 3 stars
***

Note: Also included the author bio and links to connect with author through social media.

This book is gonna be hard to review because I really, really did not enjoy it. At all. But I dislike giving memoirs a negative review because, well, this is somebody's life I am talking about and I just don't feel particularly comfortable being negative about that.

The book and me started on the wrong food -because it starts with a sex ghost. An honest-to-god sex ghost that is visiting Bella Pollen in her sleep and wakes her up and makes her orgasm. This reoccuring visitation is her starting point to evaluate her life and her choices and what made her end up at this place - being haunted. Then, we go back in time to her childhood in New York and her father buying a parrot - a parrot that happens to be racist towards their maid, and towards Bella herself because she has decided that a preccocious child wearing a afro-wig is the kind of child she wants to be. And it turns out, while I enjoy quirkiness in novels, I apparently do not enjoy this kind of quirkiness in memoirs, especially if it told this matter of factly. The rest of the book stays this removed from normality, chronicling her life with her maybe-mafiosi ex-husband, her relationship with Mac, her quinessentially English second husband, a weirdly long interlude about her obsession with wanting to cross the Mexican/US-American border on foot, and other mostly weird stories about her life in the "In-Between".

My main issue with the book, however, regardless of its quirkiness, is Bella herself. I think I would have been fine with the quirkiness, if she had been more self-aware, or honest maybe? It always feels like she is putting on a show, a show that she thinks will make herself look good. But that did not happen for me; I found her to be very close to insufferable. She is beyond privileged and never aknowledges it, I mean, who has the money to start their own designer brand at the age of twenty without having a degree or anything related? Who has the money to own a house in the American West AND a flat in London? Most of all, she is mean in the way she decides to describe everybody she encounters, especially those in more difficult situations. For example, she describes one of the women to employs to clean for her as having a face like a fish -I can't recall what kind of fish, but the point still stands - that was uncalled for. I think I could have lived with that meaness, if it had been counterbalanced by humour or wit or humility, but as it stands it made me deeply uncomfortable.

I am still giving this book two stars because for some reason it was in points compulsively readable and she has a way of painting vivid pictures of the world she encounters, even if she chooses to be mean about it.

Both author and illustrator made this book a must read. To see someone go through so much, especially when they didn't have to, is extraordinary.

MEET ME IN THE IN BETWEEN BY BELLA POLLEN

Thank you to Net Galley, Bella Pollen and Grove Press for providing me with my digital copy for a fair and honest review.

This memoir begins with the author waking up at 4:00 AM waking up from a nightmare, which she suffers from having frequently. Or is she being haunted and visited from what she describes as an incubus? The author then goes on to a tirade about thinking how seeing a shrink wouldn't be helpful.
This book seems full of gibberish, as it goes on and on to talk about nothing that makes much sense. Maybe somebody else might be a better fit for this book. This wasn't a good fit for me.
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This is the first e-book I have ever read (yes, I know it is 2017) and also the first book I have ever requested an advanced copy of from NetGalley, and I'm really fortunate to have such an enjoyable first experience. (I love holding and smelling a tangible object while reading and was not sure how transitioning to a Kindle would go, but had surprising positive results!)

I will admit, yes, that a lot of times I choose a book based on it's cover, and I would lie if I told you otherwise with Meet Me in The In-Between. Having only read half of the blurb, I had no idea this piece was a memoir until about 1/4 of the way through. I randomly Googled the author after instantly falling in love with her writing, and became even more awestruck. The 4 am ghost visits, the pet bird that drinks like a sailor, marrying into a mafia family, secret underground trafficking tunnels via Mexico, stranger danger in the park... not fictitious after all as I had so quickly assumed! Bella Pollen is a treat. I would love to read anything and everything else she has written. My favorite line, in reference to her father who lived over an hour away at the time: "It's no accident that we are sometimes accidentally in the same place at the same time." When they show up solo at the same movie theatre to see the exact same film, as Bella is in labor. And they share popcorn and make small talk instead of rushing to the nearest hospital. That is a fucking gold mine of a movie scene right there, folks. You can't make that shit up.

This book was OK..the perfect brain candy. It didn't tax me too much and wasn't too serious.

I adored this heartfelt book. It was great getting to know the author and all what has gone on in her life. I just want to hug her

3.5

"When some nosy, insensitive small-talker asks me what I do, I take a deep breath and muster as much dignity as possible before replying."
"I do my best."

This is the kind of lines that you will find when you read this book. Super quirky, ironic and as the author says "zero-politeness". The memoir starts with author's childhood memories, her being the mid child among three, a world full of sibling fights and playing favourite of parents.
I loved that part, the childhood.

Then author is torn between her parents divorce, moving around, school/college, new found freedom, drugs, sex etc and also her demon- DEPRESSION.

Her marriage to Giacomo, an Italian with a big family where his father is a Godfather, is narrated in a very amusingly hilarious way. But somehow she has masked the heartaches/disappointments that build up in a marriage and has tried to put forth what she really enjoyed in front of us.
Last part is more about her second marriage, its struggle, being a super mom , trying to open the border crisis in Mexico and her relationship with her Father.

Summing up, it was altogether a enlightening read (a memoir always is!). I liked that she talked about her problems, with an optimism and a complete acceptance which really is great and only a powerful soul can do that. Yet, some parts in the middle were completely off for me and I couldn't understand it much. Narration was great and I am happy that I feel acquainted with Bella Pollen through her memoir :)

ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

I thought this book was okay. I would recommend it for people who enjoy reading about the supernatural and memoirs.

I also had a passion. In my free time I liked to torture dolls and stuffed animals. Run-of-the-mill stuff really- singeing their hair, twisting off their heads. My parents encouraged it.”

When I first started reading I thought, oh- is this going to be a new age memoir? It’s not, keep going through her struggle with her night visitor, it all makes sense. I spent many nights when I should have been asleep laughing. I love her childhood and her eccentricities. She’s a child I would have loved to befriend and who can’t help but laugh when she admits to adults what she wants to be when she grows up? Living on two sides of the pond after her parent’s split, her world seems richer for it in experience. Her burning, fiery love affair with the smoldering Giacomo turns hilarious when his ‘titty squeezing’ daddy enters the scene. It’s either laugh, or cry! That these folks are actually real is just more solid proof that life is stranger than fiction. It’s as though she has entered the twilight zone but with the Godfather as the main attraction.

Escaping to the American West has to be the cure to what ails her, courting her past in solitude is just what she needs. But the locals she encounters are even wilder than anyone before them. Just how do you confront yourself, squelch your panics, lock out your sleep demons, channel your creative side, and be a good mother and wife at the same time? Maybe she becomes more vagabond than supermom, and it’s the raw honesty and hilarity of her journey that endears the reader to Pollen. I was tickled reading about her childhood and her adult years aren’t any less fascinating. Just how the heck does she find herself with smugglers in Mexico, surely she’s too delicate to journey into the country to learn about the perils migrants faced? Making editors and friends alike laugh, she does just that. The woman’s got grit, she does- but not so surprising when the reader remembers the earlier chapters of little blue-eyed girl walking to and from school, channeling Pam Grier in her beautiful Afro wig.

Her mother and father are interesting too, and there are losses and heartbreak but there seems to remain a ‘twinkle in the eye’ sort of humor that flows through her veins, and may well have come from her father. A beautifully written memoir about a woman who is just like any of us, trying to be a good wife and mother, struggling with her inborn hunger for periods of solitude, trying to be creative while filling her roles in life, winning and failing because she is human. Relationships are never happily ever after, we are all a work in progress, we can’t always keep up with each other or ourselves. Somehow, Pollen is able to use humor to keep the reader riveted, even when writing about the loss of her father. Wide eyed, wild, messy, honest and raw but never boring! Lovely.

Publication Date: June 6, 2017

Grove Atlantic

Grove Press