Home Books The Instant

The Instant

The Instant

by Amy Liptrot

Canongate ·2022 ·180 pages
Maybe Someday
Maybe Someday
I Index
46/99
Top of the Pile

78/99

Critics' Rating Index

Bottom of the Pile

14/99

Readers' Rating Index

n/a

Scholars' Citation Index

66/99

Volume of Reviews

70/99

Volume of Reader Ratings

Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.


About This Book

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.


Reviews

"It is a literature produced by a writer with too many tabs open on their laptop, and because of that, it is the truest thing I've read in a long time."

Evie Wyld· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Her writing is contemplative, but comes with pleasing flashes of grit and humour ..."

Fiona Sturges· The Guardian Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"This gap could be read as a pose, a coolness, a circling over events as if from a great height."

Rozalind Dineen· Times Literary Supplement Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"While it lacks the stark transcendence of The Outrun, The Instant does evocatively capture – and indeed honour – much that we try to shrug off when it comes to the often calamitous pursuit of lasting intimacy."

Hephzibah Anderson· The Guardian Read review ↗ Near the Top

"The city remains at a remove ..."

Mia Levitin· Financial Times Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"There is great depth of feeling in her writing, without ever being mawkish ..."

Sarah Gilmartin· The Irish Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

Preview


Reader Reviews

0 reviews

Sign in to write a review.

No reader reviews yet. Be the first!