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The Instant
Wishing to leave behind the isolation of her Orkney island life, Amy Liptrot books a one-way flight to Berlin. She rents a loftbed in a shared flat and starts to look for work - and for love - through the screen of her phone.
The Instant tells of the momentous year that follows, encountering the city's wildlife in the most unexpected places, tracing the cycles of the moon, the flight paths of migratory birds and surrendering to the addictive power of love and lust.
The Instant tells of the momentous year that follows, encountering the city's wildlife in the most unexpected places, tracing the cycles of the moon, the flight paths of migratory birds and surrendering to the addictive power of love and lust.
199 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2022
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2204 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 334 reviews
March 15, 2022
I can't really explain why I liked this, because the subject matter wasn't very special and I found the part about the break up even a bit overly dramatic to be honest. It's just that I like Liptrot's writing style very much,the way she looks at things, her descriptions of Berlin, and her love for nature (this time in the midst of a city).
April 15, 2022
22nd book for 2022.
This is just a self-indulgent book about the author's year in Berlin where she packed tea in a warehouse with other foreigners, looked (ineffectually) for raccoons at night, and mostly seemed concentrated on picking up men on Tinder.
There is very little about Berlin or nature in this book, and I could neither relate nor care about the author's sex life so the book was a wash for me.
Two-stars for a couple of nice passages about birds, but really that's too generous.
2-stars.
This is just a self-indulgent book about the author's year in Berlin where she packed tea in a warehouse with other foreigners, looked (ineffectually) for raccoons at night, and mostly seemed concentrated on picking up men on Tinder.
There is very little about Berlin or nature in this book, and I could neither relate nor care about the author's sex life so the book was a wash for me.
Two-stars for a couple of nice passages about birds, but really that's too generous.
2-stars.
July 18, 2022
I don’t have many kind things to say about this so I will keep things short... I guess I liked the nature parts? Not a patch on The Outrun (which I also had some issues with but is definitely a more cohesive read and a better book overall).
February 7, 2022
The Outrun is about Liptrot's journey to sobriety and home to Orkney where she reconnects with the natural world, where she finds peace and meaning. In The Instant, we accompany her to Berlin, a city in which she attempts to put into practice everything she has learned getting sober. Unlike London, which was her home for many years, nobody in Berlin knows her, so she can start again with a clean state and begin to figure out how to reintegrate back into urban life, and whether she even wants to.
I find her writing so interesting because she writes so matter of factly about things which largely go unsaid by most people. She writes with such vulnerability and realness about loneliness, rootlessness and attempting to become yourself. This is no spiritual manual. It's not otherworldly at all. This is rooted in day to day, pragmatic reality. How do you fit sobriety into a life that was largely built around the anaesthetising effects of alcohol? How do you connect to people without that buffering layer between you and the world? How do you navigate the pain of love and loss unmedicated? How do you know when your behaviours are healthy or dangerous when you're starting all over again? It is apt that she chose to do this in a city where she could not speak the language. This and the natural world that she uses to orient herself here, tracking the raptors and the scavengers in the liminal urban spaces, become a metaphor of what she is doing for and to herself in a wider sense.
I find her writing so interesting because she writes so matter of factly about things which largely go unsaid by most people. She writes with such vulnerability and realness about loneliness, rootlessness and attempting to become yourself. This is no spiritual manual. It's not otherworldly at all. This is rooted in day to day, pragmatic reality. How do you fit sobriety into a life that was largely built around the anaesthetising effects of alcohol? How do you connect to people without that buffering layer between you and the world? How do you navigate the pain of love and loss unmedicated? How do you know when your behaviours are healthy or dangerous when you're starting all over again? It is apt that she chose to do this in a city where she could not speak the language. This and the natural world that she uses to orient herself here, tracking the raptors and the scavengers in the liminal urban spaces, become a metaphor of what she is doing for and to herself in a wider sense.
April 21, 2022
(2.5) Liptrot had the makings of a few great personal essays here – had the material been honed. One on the urban wildlife of Berlin (goshawks and raccoons) and her own feral search for love in a mid-30s gap year. Another about the addictive speed of Internet-age existence versus the ancient ways of Orkney. Perhaps a third on the phases of the moon and the patterns her life has taken. But I wasn’t convinced by the attempt to smoosh all three together. The end of a summer romance just doesn’t strike me as weighty enough to warrant a whole book.
I was also annoyed by the habit of referring to everyone else as B (apparently adopting Andy Warhol’s classification of himself as A and whoever he was engaging or conversing with as B) – how better to earn the frequent putdown of memoirist navel-gazing than by denying others a full, separate existence?! The passages in italics – addressed to her ex-lover, or describing dreams, or giving generic observations – often made me cringe. Yet Liptrot can write a top sentence. Here are a couple of examples:
I was most interested in the account of being a digital nomad, and in the way sex and Internet addiction replaced alcoholism (the subject of her first memoir, The Outrun) for her. It’s also interesting as a time capsule of just pre-Brexit Europe. Though this is short and highly readable, I’ve preferred her work in more condensed bursts, e.g. her essays in Antlers of Water and Women on Nature.
I was also annoyed by the habit of referring to everyone else as B (apparently adopting Andy Warhol’s classification of himself as A and whoever he was engaging or conversing with as B) – how better to earn the frequent putdown of memoirist navel-gazing than by denying others a full, separate existence?! The passages in italics – addressed to her ex-lover, or describing dreams, or giving generic observations – often made me cringe. Yet Liptrot can write a top sentence. Here are a couple of examples:
“I had the skeleton of a good life but there was no heart.”
“The internet is always offering an elsewhere. I spend my days being distracted, attention pulled from this to that. I’m doing well to get anything done at all. … I could be anywhere or nowhere.”
I was most interested in the account of being a digital nomad, and in the way sex and Internet addiction replaced alcoholism (the subject of her first memoir, The Outrun) for her. It’s also interesting as a time capsule of just pre-Brexit Europe. Though this is short and highly readable, I’ve preferred her work in more condensed bursts, e.g. her essays in Antlers of Water and Women on Nature.
March 13, 2022
I could’ve done with this book a few years ago. As someone who once decided to let go of a special relationship, hurting someone else, it’s strange to read such an emotionally charged and messy personal account of heartache. So I can’t relate to that side of Amy Liptrot’s experience. But I can relate to that bodily feeling of loneliness she talks about, as she makes the move from Orkney to Berlin, alone, in search of art, ideas, nature, love, people, a different scene.
I’ve not experienced anything approaching intimacy for coming in on five years now, partly from choice, partly from fear. (We all have our baggage.) I’ve found loneliness is something you an adapt and acclimatise yourself to, a self-imposed exile. You may not want to be alone, but you’re also unwilling to give it up because the alternative has grown so alien. It’s a weird contradiction to live with. How to get over this?
I like how she uses wild geese as a symbol for that which knows no borders or boundaries. It reminds me of one of my favourite haikus:
Migrating geese —
The things we thought we needed
Darken the garage
Holding onto and letting go become major themes from the second half of the book to the final page. The sight of birds and the elusiveness of urban raccoons (she has this thing about raccoons, I don’t know) become part of the metaphor of the internal push and shove of trying to move on from a torn apart heart, failing and then trying again.
It’s a raw, searching story, hovering just above the ground, its feet never quite touching the surface. I don’t rank it on the same level as The Outrun, which is still her best book, I think. But this just happens to be the book I needed to read, even if it did come a little late.
I’ve not experienced anything approaching intimacy for coming in on five years now, partly from choice, partly from fear. (We all have our baggage.) I’ve found loneliness is something you an adapt and acclimatise yourself to, a self-imposed exile. You may not want to be alone, but you’re also unwilling to give it up because the alternative has grown so alien. It’s a weird contradiction to live with. How to get over this?
I like how she uses wild geese as a symbol for that which knows no borders or boundaries. It reminds me of one of my favourite haikus:
Migrating geese —
The things we thought we needed
Darken the garage
Holding onto and letting go become major themes from the second half of the book to the final page. The sight of birds and the elusiveness of urban raccoons (she has this thing about raccoons, I don’t know) become part of the metaphor of the internal push and shove of trying to move on from a torn apart heart, failing and then trying again.
It’s a raw, searching story, hovering just above the ground, its feet never quite touching the surface. I don’t rank it on the same level as The Outrun, which is still her best book, I think. But this just happens to be the book I needed to read, even if it did come a little late.
March 26, 2022
Cementing her place as the #1 contemporary writer whose work I avidly follow, Amy Liptrot’s The Instant is another deeply affecting book that is at once a meditation on nature and the moon, a gut wrenching personal evocation, and her foray into experimental writing narratives. All of this works for me and I was held once again by her stunning prose and her very particular eye that makes her writing that little bit more unique than other writers of her oeuvre.
I think it’s especially important that Amy has written on internet life, on app dating, on waiting for life to begin and realising that the planets actually won’t align and you have to get out and cobble together something worth living for yourself. This resonates with me. Particularly as regards dating and love and being an ‘internet person’, Amy writes with a sophistication and nuance that is more often than not missing when we read and think about app dating. The vulnerability and difficulties of finding connection in our digital world is often the butt of jokes. Amy upends this and her open heart and sensitivities are more visible here than in The Outrun. Here Amy doesn’t have monumental moments where she knows she is on the right path. Accepting small victories, setbacks, rejections, aspirations and the everyday are the moments to remember in this book.
Reading The Outrun, the searing text and epic world made it seem like Amy too was otherworldly. I envisioned a woman with her shit together, I found myself sometimes saying ‘I wish I was like Amy’ and ‘she is just so cool’. The Instant brings her down to earth in the most beautiful way. The beauty in the everyday. How does someone whose presence emanates Celtic myth and the Atlantic Ocean cope packing boxes of tea? How could someone like that ever be rejected? By documenting her struggles, her successes, Amy evolves - her writing evolves - her reality evolves. And so do we, the reader.
A stunning, must-read from an outstanding artist.
I think it’s especially important that Amy has written on internet life, on app dating, on waiting for life to begin and realising that the planets actually won’t align and you have to get out and cobble together something worth living for yourself. This resonates with me. Particularly as regards dating and love and being an ‘internet person’, Amy writes with a sophistication and nuance that is more often than not missing when we read and think about app dating. The vulnerability and difficulties of finding connection in our digital world is often the butt of jokes. Amy upends this and her open heart and sensitivities are more visible here than in The Outrun. Here Amy doesn’t have monumental moments where she knows she is on the right path. Accepting small victories, setbacks, rejections, aspirations and the everyday are the moments to remember in this book.
Reading The Outrun, the searing text and epic world made it seem like Amy too was otherworldly. I envisioned a woman with her shit together, I found myself sometimes saying ‘I wish I was like Amy’ and ‘she is just so cool’. The Instant brings her down to earth in the most beautiful way. The beauty in the everyday. How does someone whose presence emanates Celtic myth and the Atlantic Ocean cope packing boxes of tea? How could someone like that ever be rejected? By documenting her struggles, her successes, Amy evolves - her writing evolves - her reality evolves. And so do we, the reader.
A stunning, must-read from an outstanding artist.
September 28, 2021
Grateful to receive an advance copy of this from National Book Tokens - Caboodle Firsts
This was not something I would normally read and sadly wasn’t really my cup of tea. I felt as though I’d picked up someone’s diary or notes on their obscure dreams or travel notes. There’s lots of searching for wildlife and a place to be but I found it a bit too rambling. There are random quotes in italics throughout. The detail of birdwatching is a lot but I guess that’s to bring you into the moment and to feel the passion and wondering of the writer. She doesn’t give names to anyone she meets and simply calls everyone “B” meaning she is “A” which I found impersonal. The story didn’t feel to me that it went anywhere. Unfortunately I think this was a bit too arty for me.
This was not something I would normally read and sadly wasn’t really my cup of tea. I felt as though I’d picked up someone’s diary or notes on their obscure dreams or travel notes. There’s lots of searching for wildlife and a place to be but I found it a bit too rambling. There are random quotes in italics throughout. The detail of birdwatching is a lot but I guess that’s to bring you into the moment and to feel the passion and wondering of the writer. She doesn’t give names to anyone she meets and simply calls everyone “B” meaning she is “A” which I found impersonal. The story didn’t feel to me that it went anywhere. Unfortunately I think this was a bit too arty for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2022
When it comes to non-fiction, my favourite genre is a cross between nature writing and memoir. The Outrun is a favourite example of this type of work in which Amy charts her return to sobriety on her home island of Orkney. In The Instant, loneliness drives her to Berlin for a year. Here she plunges herself into the depths of a new city and a search for love until it seems that she is almost subsumed. There is no obvious fear, no worry about potential harm or heartbreak, just a relentless pursuit of “new experiences, inspiration and love”
As the moon waxes and wanes above her, Amy obsessively scrolls the internet, goes on multiple dates, works in a factory, stays sober in a nightclub, bicycles through the city looking for urban racoons and spots goshawks in Berlin’s parks. There is an untethered quality to the Amy in this book that’s reflected in the writing which shifts focus with each chapter. There’s a tension too between the wish for freedom, but the craving to be coupled and in the desire for human connection as a ‘digital nomad’
The Instant feels experimental and unapologetically different. It won’t be for everyone, but I enjoyed this curious little book which is dedicated to the “heartsick.”
As the moon waxes and wanes above her, Amy obsessively scrolls the internet, goes on multiple dates, works in a factory, stays sober in a nightclub, bicycles through the city looking for urban racoons and spots goshawks in Berlin’s parks. There is an untethered quality to the Amy in this book that’s reflected in the writing which shifts focus with each chapter. There’s a tension too between the wish for freedom, but the craving to be coupled and in the desire for human connection as a ‘digital nomad’
The Instant feels experimental and unapologetically different. It won’t be for everyone, but I enjoyed this curious little book which is dedicated to the “heartsick.”
September 20, 2022
Empezó muy bien. La invitación de mudarse a Berlín por unos días me resultó muy atractiva y la forma de la protagonista de aplacar sus miedos a través de sus paseos por la naturaleza contagiosa. Pero, porque hay un pero, la forma de enredarse al final lo deslució un poco todo.
El instante empieza muy bien, con un viaje que lleva a la protagonista -la propia autora- desde las Islas Orcadas a Berlín, a una ciudad en la que poco a poco encuentra su hueco. Y también el amor, esencial para alguien que como ella se siente incompleta sin una pareja. Puedes sentir su desesperación y angustia por buscar y no encontrar. Y es quizá una de las características de este libro que más me ha gustado, la capacidad de Amy Liptrot para transmitir esa desazón.
Una desazón e inquietud que parece compensar con su observación de la naturaleza. Querréis saber todo sobre los azores y probablemente también sobre los mapaches cuando lo leáis. Querréis conocer a Ernst Hackel y escaparos de noche a Tempelhofer Feld. Querréis darle valor a esa forma de ver una ciudad que, sin embargo, para ella parece convertirse también en una obsesión.
Y es que sobre obsesiones y adicciones, diría yo, va la cosa. Sobre aquello de los que intentamos huir o que intentamos cambiar y que parece perseguimos si no de la misma manera, mutando para no ser reconocido. Algo así le ocurre a la protagonista al final de esta historia, un final que se estira demasiado, que se hace largo, que resulta forzado, que te deja un sabor agridulce.
Como me ha gustado volver al barrio de Kreuzberg. Como cambia una historia cuando reconoces los lugares en los que trascurre, que cercana y personal parece volverse. Que pena que el último tercio no haya resultado ser como los dos primeros.
Deseaba otro final, uno en el que su protagonista lograra reinventarse y empezar de cero. Y al no encontrarlo he sentido cierta decepción. Una decepción que aunque no debiera influir en mi crítica, porque responde únicamente a mis expectativas, ya lo ha hecho.
El instante empieza muy bien, con un viaje que lleva a la protagonista -la propia autora- desde las Islas Orcadas a Berlín, a una ciudad en la que poco a poco encuentra su hueco. Y también el amor, esencial para alguien que como ella se siente incompleta sin una pareja. Puedes sentir su desesperación y angustia por buscar y no encontrar. Y es quizá una de las características de este libro que más me ha gustado, la capacidad de Amy Liptrot para transmitir esa desazón.
Una desazón e inquietud que parece compensar con su observación de la naturaleza. Querréis saber todo sobre los azores y probablemente también sobre los mapaches cuando lo leáis. Querréis conocer a Ernst Hackel y escaparos de noche a Tempelhofer Feld. Querréis darle valor a esa forma de ver una ciudad que, sin embargo, para ella parece convertirse también en una obsesión.
Y es que sobre obsesiones y adicciones, diría yo, va la cosa. Sobre aquello de los que intentamos huir o que intentamos cambiar y que parece perseguimos si no de la misma manera, mutando para no ser reconocido. Algo así le ocurre a la protagonista al final de esta historia, un final que se estira demasiado, que se hace largo, que resulta forzado, que te deja un sabor agridulce.
Como me ha gustado volver al barrio de Kreuzberg. Como cambia una historia cuando reconoces los lugares en los que trascurre, que cercana y personal parece volverse. Que pena que el último tercio no haya resultado ser como los dos primeros.
Deseaba otro final, uno en el que su protagonista lograra reinventarse y empezar de cero. Y al no encontrarlo he sentido cierta decepción. Una decepción que aunque no debiera influir en mi crítica, porque responde únicamente a mis expectativas, ya lo ha hecho.
June 16, 2022
This is not a long book. Though it took me longer to read it than it should have, because I had to keep stopping. I was never engaged with this read. The writing style and the subject (s) were all over the place and honestly just not that interesting.
This one got 2 stars from me because there were 3 passages that were insightful, intriguing, and rung true for me. But other than that, this book read like someone with Asperger syndrome was narrating it. Actually that's not completely accurate, because those with this syndrome are alot more focused on their subject. This book was anything but. To say this was self indulgent would be the understatement of the century. It was much more than that though. In a word? It was B-O-R-I-N-G..
It reminded me of an author who is dying to get out of their contract, but are still required to pen one more book. So they just throw something together in order to be done with it. And they do it in one very long run on sentence. That was this book for me.
Simply put, this book has a lot of words. Does a lot of talking, but it's not really telling you anything you'd really care about once you close the book. Or even as you're reading it... The fact this book's Kindle version is $10 and it's not even on KU, is an insult to my wallet and my time that I'm never getting back.
So, as I'm sure you have accurately realized by now, no, I didn't like this book at all.
I could not and would not recommend this read.
This one got 2 stars from me because there were 3 passages that were insightful, intriguing, and rung true for me. But other than that, this book read like someone with Asperger syndrome was narrating it. Actually that's not completely accurate, because those with this syndrome are alot more focused on their subject. This book was anything but. To say this was self indulgent would be the understatement of the century. It was much more than that though. In a word? It was B-O-R-I-N-G..
It reminded me of an author who is dying to get out of their contract, but are still required to pen one more book. So they just throw something together in order to be done with it. And they do it in one very long run on sentence. That was this book for me.
Simply put, this book has a lot of words. Does a lot of talking, but it's not really telling you anything you'd really care about once you close the book. Or even as you're reading it... The fact this book's Kindle version is $10 and it's not even on KU, is an insult to my wallet and my time that I'm never getting back.
So, as I'm sure you have accurately realized by now, no, I didn't like this book at all.
I could not and would not recommend this read.
August 17, 2022
Stepping outside her comfort zone of a quiet life on the island of Orkney and heading to Berlin, Amy Liptrot is in search of new experiences and literary inspiration and also for love. Once there she rents a small bedroom in a loft and immerses herself in city life.
The process of trying to find love and companionship is much more complex nowadays, dating apps give a glimpse into the digital shadows that people leave online. But she is there for the natural world too, following the cycles of the moon in each of the short chapters of the book as well as learning how to spot the goshawks that inhabit the city. She also spends hours out at night and very early in the morning searching for the racoons that live there too.
But this is a brief memoir about love too. She finds a man over there and they fall for each other in an intense way. Her future is changing in ways that she is not sure of, but that feeling of losing control is almost addictive.
This is so very different to her previous award-winning book, The Outrun. That was her story of turning back from alcohol addiction and using the natural world as a crutch to help her through the difficult parts. This is very different. To begin with, there is much more sex in here than you would normally find in a book located in the natural history section of your bookshop, but she still has that magical way of writing that her debut had.
The process of trying to find love and companionship is much more complex nowadays, dating apps give a glimpse into the digital shadows that people leave online. But she is there for the natural world too, following the cycles of the moon in each of the short chapters of the book as well as learning how to spot the goshawks that inhabit the city. She also spends hours out at night and very early in the morning searching for the racoons that live there too.
But this is a brief memoir about love too. She finds a man over there and they fall for each other in an intense way. Her future is changing in ways that she is not sure of, but that feeling of losing control is almost addictive.
This is so very different to her previous award-winning book, The Outrun. That was her story of turning back from alcohol addiction and using the natural world as a crutch to help her through the difficult parts. This is very different. To begin with, there is much more sex in here than you would normally find in a book located in the natural history section of your bookshop, but she still has that magical way of writing that her debut had.
April 18, 2022
I love Liptrot’s writing so much. In her first book The Outrun, she returned to Orkney and discovered the healing powers of nature as she overcame addiction. Here, she is lonely in Orkney and desperate for love and children. She travels to Berlin and, still focussed on the natural world, has her heart painfully broken. Both books are life-affirming in gentle, subtle ways and show how beautiful nature writing and memoir can be. The depiction of heartbreak here is crushing. I highly recommend the audio book, read by the author herself with that lovely accent.
December 29, 2022
это то, чему жизнь учит любого порядочного хоббита: слез с горы - напиши книжку. даже если твоя гора - пригорочек, а не Ородруин, во-первых, скажи спасибо, во-вторых ещё раз скажи спасибо, а в третьих - у каждого своя гора, жизнь везде и на твоём участке жизни тоже.
Эми Липтрот поехала в Берлин и влюбилась. и опять спокойно и ясно рассказывает, как жить насквозь через эти обстоятельства. очень ясный подробный автофикшн без травмочек и расчлененочек, но с луной, Интернетом и енотами (отдельный кайф - иллюстрации, спасибо DALL•E за наш взрыв мозга)
Эми Липтрот поехала в Берлин и влюбилась. и опять спокойно и ясно рассказывает, как жить насквозь через эти обстоятельства. очень ясный подробный автофикшн без травмочек и расчлененочек, но с луной, Интернетом и енотами (отдельный кайф - иллюстрации, спасибо DALL•E за наш взрыв мозга)
January 10, 2023
И вот героиня ходит по Берлину, есть фалафель и косит под Энди Уорхолла. Невыносимо скучный эгоцентризм
February 12, 2023
Nadat ze op de Orkney-eilanden vrede vond met haar nuchtere zelf (zie Liptrot's debuutroman De Uitweer) trekt Amy Liptrot naar Berlijn om een verloren stuk van zichzelf én de liefde te zoeken.
Opnieuw schrijft ze daarover een helder en vlot boek over zoeken in en naar jezelf, verbinding vinden met de natuur (ook in de grootstad) en gebruikt ze metaforen uit haar natuurbeleving om haar woelige en onrustige binnenkant vorm te geven en te duiden.
In Berlijn zijn haar natuurlijke ankerpunten havikken en wasberen, dieren die je uitsluitend in het wild verwacht, maar zich in deze grootstad prima weten te redden. Ook in Berlijn voel je dat Liptrot haar eilandbestaan niet zomaar los kan laten: ze blijft zoeken naar open water om in te zwemmen en ontwikkeld een nieuwe fascinatie, ditmaal voor verkeerseilanden.
Liptrot schrijft met een open blik en heldere pen en geeft de lezer zo toegang tot haar diepste (universele) zielsroerselen: onzekerheid, hunkering naar liefde, eenzaamheid en conflicterende realiteit van internet en sociale media versus de buitenwereld en de natuur. Haar overpeinzingen staan met beide voeten in dit tijdsgewricht, zijn goed uitgewerkt en relevant.
Haar omgang met de liefde krijgt wel iets aandoenlijks en de gedichtjes die er uit voortvloeien vonden we niet echte een meerwaarde. Maar ach, dat vergeven we haar graag omdat de rest van het boek wel absoluut lezenswaardig is.
Opnieuw schrijft ze daarover een helder en vlot boek over zoeken in en naar jezelf, verbinding vinden met de natuur (ook in de grootstad) en gebruikt ze metaforen uit haar natuurbeleving om haar woelige en onrustige binnenkant vorm te geven en te duiden.
In Berlijn zijn haar natuurlijke ankerpunten havikken en wasberen, dieren die je uitsluitend in het wild verwacht, maar zich in deze grootstad prima weten te redden. Ook in Berlijn voel je dat Liptrot haar eilandbestaan niet zomaar los kan laten: ze blijft zoeken naar open water om in te zwemmen en ontwikkeld een nieuwe fascinatie, ditmaal voor verkeerseilanden.
Liptrot schrijft met een open blik en heldere pen en geeft de lezer zo toegang tot haar diepste (universele) zielsroerselen: onzekerheid, hunkering naar liefde, eenzaamheid en conflicterende realiteit van internet en sociale media versus de buitenwereld en de natuur. Haar overpeinzingen staan met beide voeten in dit tijdsgewricht, zijn goed uitgewerkt en relevant.
Haar omgang met de liefde krijgt wel iets aandoenlijks en de gedichtjes die er uit voortvloeien vonden we niet echte een meerwaarde. Maar ach, dat vergeven we haar graag omdat de rest van het boek wel absoluut lezenswaardig is.
April 29, 2023
Amy Liptrot's writing is beautiful, thoughtful and poignant. Apparently I react to relationships (more specifically, the end of) in a similar way, so I found her story insightful. I preferred The Outrun, but I'll definitely read Amy's future books.
April 11, 2025
Received this free through Caboodle.
Cross between extended naval-gazing and a Berlin travel guide. Mainly I was just gently uninterested.
Cross between extended naval-gazing and a Berlin travel guide. Mainly I was just gently uninterested.
October 25, 2023
Ik beken, ik lees graag "memoirs" of stukjes levensverhaal. Ik kijk wel eens graag binnen in het leven van een auteur, om te zien hoe hij/zij de gevoelens of ervaringen die ik misschien herken, verwoordt. Hoe vertalen ze de dingen des levens in woorden?
Zo ook dus bij Amy Liptrot van wie ik eerder "The Outrun" las, haar verhaal van hoe ze afkickte van drank, een rauw en eerlijk relaas. Ik keek dus wel uit naar de opvolger "The Instant".
Geen raakpunten tussen haar en mij in dit nieuwe boek, geen gelijke ervaringen, geen herkenning, het leven van deze generatie is op een aantal vlakken wel zeer verschillend van wat ik mij herinner.
Omdat ze zich eenzaam voelt in dit digitale tijdperk, vertrekt ze voor een jaar naar Berlijn om relaties aan te gaan. Maar ook hier is er vooral het leven online, een lief zoeken gebeurt via Tinder, of je nu in Berlijn bent of in Timboektoe, vriendschappen spelen zich virtueel af.
In haar zoektocht naar een lief, stelt ze zich al de passie voor en wel in die mate dat ik me afvroeg of ze een lief zocht voor het lief of om de persoon? Zoekt ze eigenlijk zichzelf?
Enfin, ze vindt een lief, maar na de zomer is de relatie reeds voorbij. De toekomst die ze zich voorstelde samen met hem valt dus weg. De pijn die ze voelt is dus niet alleen om het verlies van deze relatie, maar ook om het verlies van dit toekomstbeeld.
Het ergerde me allemaal een beetje. Ik vond het nogal "ik ik ik", ik miste de doorleefdheid van haar vorige boek, ik miste het ontsnappen uit het alledaagse, ik miste vooral herkenning.
Ik denk dat ik voor het eerst echt met de generatiekloof heb kennis gemaakt.
Zo ook dus bij Amy Liptrot van wie ik eerder "The Outrun" las, haar verhaal van hoe ze afkickte van drank, een rauw en eerlijk relaas. Ik keek dus wel uit naar de opvolger "The Instant".
Geen raakpunten tussen haar en mij in dit nieuwe boek, geen gelijke ervaringen, geen herkenning, het leven van deze generatie is op een aantal vlakken wel zeer verschillend van wat ik mij herinner.
Omdat ze zich eenzaam voelt in dit digitale tijdperk, vertrekt ze voor een jaar naar Berlijn om relaties aan te gaan. Maar ook hier is er vooral het leven online, een lief zoeken gebeurt via Tinder, of je nu in Berlijn bent of in Timboektoe, vriendschappen spelen zich virtueel af.
In haar zoektocht naar een lief, stelt ze zich al de passie voor en wel in die mate dat ik me afvroeg of ze een lief zocht voor het lief of om de persoon? Zoekt ze eigenlijk zichzelf?
Enfin, ze vindt een lief, maar na de zomer is de relatie reeds voorbij. De toekomst die ze zich voorstelde samen met hem valt dus weg. De pijn die ze voelt is dus niet alleen om het verlies van deze relatie, maar ook om het verlies van dit toekomstbeeld.
Het ergerde me allemaal een beetje. Ik vond het nogal "ik ik ik", ik miste de doorleefdheid van haar vorige boek, ik miste het ontsnappen uit het alledaagse, ik miste vooral herkenning.
Ik denk dat ik voor het eerst echt met de generatiekloof heb kennis gemaakt.
September 7, 2022
An easy 5 ⭐️’s
This book is just beautiful, from the description, to the facts that left me feeling like I learned something every time I picked this up, to the tragic route that love can take. This book really touched me, and you automatically felt things for Amy. She writes in such a unique way, making her own real life experiences so poetical. The pictures she paints of Berlin has me wanting to go back there again asap, especially to go and notice the small things she picks up on.
This is one for the travellers, the nature lovers, and the heartbroken.
This book is just beautiful, from the description, to the facts that left me feeling like I learned something every time I picked this up, to the tragic route that love can take. This book really touched me, and you automatically felt things for Amy. She writes in such a unique way, making her own real life experiences so poetical. The pictures she paints of Berlin has me wanting to go back there again asap, especially to go and notice the small things she picks up on.
This is one for the travellers, the nature lovers, and the heartbroken.
May 21, 2022
‘Stadsnomade is een filosofische overdenking over de huidige tijd, vastigheid versus vluchtigheid, liefde in tijden van Tinder, rouw, en de rustgevende kracht van de natuur,’ aldus de tekst op de achterflap. En dat is een best goede omschrijving, al is dit persoonlijke relaas ook nog zoveel meer. Er spreekt heel veel verlangen en melancholie uit dit boek. Ik liet me er graag door meeslepen.
May 10, 2022
2,5 -- 'How can I make this about me, me and me?' is kind of how the book is written. Even though she touches a few times on current societal issues (like refugees, climate change etc), (which she shouldn't have had to per se, since it is not the theme of her book after all), it felt like she only did to show the reader that she cares. But doesn't reflect on the issues at all and after mentioning them very quickly continues her reflections about her shit love life and her personal issues. So leave those marks out or say something important about them. If you want to make it about you, make it really about you and leave the big issues out. Besides that, I don't really know who she is, even though it is only about her spending a 'lost' year in Berlin and having a shit love life.
The bird parts where nice.
The bird parts where nice.
June 9, 2022
Conflicted. I enjoyed a lot of the writing, cared for Amy as a narrator, and finished this in two sittings. This book held a lot of space for me to wander through my own thoughts and past. At the same time something felt missing, possibly the major thing. Perhaps the absence is what created the space? I don’t know. I both want to recommend this book and think it missed an ingredient or two. Tricky! 3.5ish stars but I don’t regret the time I spent with it and I now want to read The Outrun.
May 22, 2022
Did not reach the heights I expected, given that Liptrot's debut, The Outrun, is somewhat dazzling. This book is centred, rather than on the nature of her adopted city of Berlin, upon her obsession with finding a partner, with far too many intimate details about her sexual life thrown in.
June 4, 2023
Having read the author’s previous book The Outrun, I was very excited to pick up a copy of The Instant.
It’s a totally different book to The Outrun, which detailed the author’s journey to sobriety on a small Orkney island called Papa Westray.
In The Instant, Amy is still living in sobriety, but she is single, a bit lonely and missing the hustle and bustle of a city life. She decides to leave Orkney for Berlin.
You can take an Orkney girl to a city, but you can’t take Orkney out of someone that easily! The theme of nature was highly prevalent in Liptrot’s The Outrun, something that I loved. We have beautiful wildlife and scenery in Orkney and it was magnificently depicted by the author.
In The Instant, set in Berlin, Amy was still very observant of nature: looking out for goshawks (Berlin has the highest density of goshawk territories anywhere in the world!), searching for raccoons (apparently there is lots of them in Berlin) and observing the phases of the moon.
Amy met someone in Berlin and she fell for him hard. With raw honesty she describes her heartbreak when that person broke up with her. She returned to the UK heartbroken a year after she left the country for Berlin.
However, at the end of the book there is a glimpse of future happiness…
I really enjoyed this audiobook, which was read by the author herself. It made me feel somehow connected to Amy’s endeavours in Berlin and beyond.
I truly recommend this book to everyone (and The Outrun – if you haven’t read it, then you simply must!).
It’s a totally different book to The Outrun, which detailed the author’s journey to sobriety on a small Orkney island called Papa Westray.
In The Instant, Amy is still living in sobriety, but she is single, a bit lonely and missing the hustle and bustle of a city life. She decides to leave Orkney for Berlin.
You can take an Orkney girl to a city, but you can’t take Orkney out of someone that easily! The theme of nature was highly prevalent in Liptrot’s The Outrun, something that I loved. We have beautiful wildlife and scenery in Orkney and it was magnificently depicted by the author.
In The Instant, set in Berlin, Amy was still very observant of nature: looking out for goshawks (Berlin has the highest density of goshawk territories anywhere in the world!), searching for raccoons (apparently there is lots of them in Berlin) and observing the phases of the moon.
Amy met someone in Berlin and she fell for him hard. With raw honesty she describes her heartbreak when that person broke up with her. She returned to the UK heartbroken a year after she left the country for Berlin.
However, at the end of the book there is a glimpse of future happiness…
I really enjoyed this audiobook, which was read by the author herself. It made me feel somehow connected to Amy’s endeavours in Berlin and beyond.
I truly recommend this book to everyone (and The Outrun – if you haven’t read it, then you simply must!).
June 27, 2022
Actual rating 4,5
From Orkney to Berlin - what happens when someone from this tiny northern Scottish island goes to an urban capital city, what things do they notice, how does their perception change your perception on a city you know?
Amy Liptrot recounts her year spent in the German capital in wonderful, wonderful prose that I could have read in for many pages more. So personal, so astute, full of her observations on life and wildlife in Berlin (never thought I‘d enjoy reading about it, but I really did) - the goshawks, nightinggales, raccoons, also the moon and space featured heavily, perfectly fitting into the very intimate narrative that also felt like reading someone‘s diary.
A lovestory, heartbreak, a return back home - this had it all and it really moved me.
From Orkney to Berlin - what happens when someone from this tiny northern Scottish island goes to an urban capital city, what things do they notice, how does their perception change your perception on a city you know?
Amy Liptrot recounts her year spent in the German capital in wonderful, wonderful prose that I could have read in for many pages more. So personal, so astute, full of her observations on life and wildlife in Berlin (never thought I‘d enjoy reading about it, but I really did) - the goshawks, nightinggales, raccoons, also the moon and space featured heavily, perfectly fitting into the very intimate narrative that also felt like reading someone‘s diary.
A lovestory, heartbreak, a return back home - this had it all and it really moved me.
May 8, 2022
2.5 stars rounded up. This is a book with a lot of promise. Liptrott is a talented writer and uses words in a strong, enticing way. Unfortunately what let the book down for me is I think she focused on the wrong things. Her essay style sections written about the moon, searching for raccoons, being a modern nomad and her relationship with technology were interesting and could have easily (and successfully) have made up the book. Instead there was a lot of focus on relationships with multiple people called ‘B’ (have to be honest no idea what this was about) and also far too much about her sex life and break up which to put it bluntly I really had no interest in reading about. Overall a book full of potential but just didn’t quite live up to the fantastic work it could have been.
April 2, 2022
Opening lines: ‘I’ve been getting text messages from the moon.’
April 1, 2023
That. Was. Amazing.
September 25, 2023
Really enjoyed reading this. Many interesting thoughts, particularly those sections in italics in between narration, even if I wasn't too sure where they were coming from.
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