Inside

Written by Alix Ohlin

Narrated by Tandy Cronyn

A critically acclaimed, award-winning author, Alix Ohlin pens a masterpiece of emotional complexity with Inside. In this literary tour de force, a therapist named Grace attempts to help a man recover from his failed suicide attempt. Meanwhile, Grace's teen patient Annie runs away from home to reinvent herself in New York, and Grace's ex-husband leaves the comfort of a successful relationship to attempt to help native peoples in the bleak Arctic. ''A skillful storyteller attractively quick-witted and wry.''- J. M. Coetzee

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781470301095

Alix Ohlin

ALIX OHLIN is the author of six books, including the novels Inside and Dual Citizens, which were both finalists for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, Best American Short Stories, and many other publications. Born and raised in Montreal, she lives in Vancouver, where she chairs the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia.

Reviews for Inside

[thebookjunky · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"Let me out!" (response to the book "Inside").
The novel is arranged into chapters focusing on several different characters in different years; it hops back and forth between years and character viewpoints. I like that style, for it promises various insights that sometimes are dependently available only with the distance of time and other events.
Two of the characters are therapists, and the others are intricately enveloped by a therapy fog that feels like a displaced novel of the 70s. When the reader has to suspend disbelief as a coping mechanism for the implausibility of some events, then one expects to be rewarded for the effort. But instead, more stupidities ensue.
Like the characters in the novel who had trouble committing, I had difficulties committing to the characters.
Two stars, elevated to three for occasional gem flashes of prose stylings.

[loveofreading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed Alix Ohlin's novel, which centres on the lives of four troubled and complex characters. The book is a Giller finalist, but I've been persuading people who typically avoid reading "literature" to read this book. The book is very accessible and is a touching and page-turning read. The application of psychology, and the desires we humans feel to help others, [to save others], is key for the novel. The book looks at very real and terrible issues, such as suicide, teen pregnancy, sexuality, and one's self-worth.The narratives are very distinct and will draw the reader into the troubled lives of Grace, Mitch and Annie. Inside is a touching and memorable read that stuck with me long after I finished it. The book is well-written and the plot lines of the characters support each other while also stand on their own as their own realistic and slightly tragic story.There is a darkness to everyone, even if you can't see it. The book puts a lot of weight on that you can't always see what's going on inside a person. You can't know their darkest secrets and what's weighing them down. You can't always help someone, no matter how hard you try. The world is a bitter and difficult place and not everyone copes well with the problems life deals us.The characters were easy to imagine in my mind. I felt like I knew them and sometimes, that I was suffering along with them. As someone who has seen and dealt with friends and family who have suffered silently and alone with depression, anxiety, and the like, this novel really hit home with me.This book was fantastic and a worthy contestant for the Giller! Ohlin is a talented writer, capable of weaving an intense and emotional story that will stay with you. I expect she will continue to provide wonderful pieces of Canadian literature.

[cecilturtle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ohlin's project is quite ambitious: retracing the complex lives of three characters through various ages. She does this with some success, delving into the inner thoughts and emotions, explaining behaviours and heart-aches through experiences, tenuously linking the lives of the characters as they touch each other in seemingly profound ways.Curiously, however, that is not enough. There is too much explaining about who the characters are and where they come from, but they don't grow into who they are; they are merely the product of their experiences. There is a reflection on life and death, its mysteries, but that ultimate question: "what are birth and death?" is left unanswered, leaving the book without substance and the end flat.While I enjoyed reading it, and felt kindly towards the characters and their plights, this is not a book that will stay with me.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a story about taking control of your life, and living with the choices you make. It's about how we can never know what is really happening "inside" others.This book didn't read like a novel; it was more a set of three inter-connected stories. I found that most of the characters lacked depth, and some of the situations were too contrived. Not bad overall, but not great.

[romonko · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This finalist in the 2012 Giller Prize contest is a worthy entrant in this pretigious contest. I truly enjoyed it. Ms. Ohlin's characterizations were wonderful! The story is about four very strong characters. The time runs from 1996 to 2006, and the story is set in Montreal to New York to Inuvik to Los Angeles and Rwanda. A lot to cover in a not so very big book. But Ms. Ohlin does this handily. Her characters are totally believable and we get a front-row seat to all four characters' innermost thoughts and their motivations. I really don't know how Ms. Ohlin manages to do all this in 257 pages, but she does. And she manages to draw us into her storytelling web so that we actually feel like we are living with her characters. I highly recommend this book and fully understand why it was chosen as the iBooks book of the year. Totally engrossing as well as lyrically written.

[schatje_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book has been shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.There are three interconnected story strands: that of Grace, a well-meaning but rather inept therapist in Montreal; that of Annie, a young client of Grace’s who yearns to be an actress; and that of Mitch, Grace’s ex-husband who is also a therapist. There is not a linear plot: chapters move among the various characters and cover about a decade, although not chronologically.I had difficulty keeping track of the characters, especially when a character might not be encountered for several chapters and then might be found in an earlier time period. I think I should have made notes to help me remember a character and his/her circumstances when he/she was next encountered. Admittedly, this may be more a factor of my middle age rather than a failing of the author.All of the characters are deeply flawed. They all try to understand others, to get “inside” their heads, because, as Grace notes, “There is a difference between the facts of a person and the truth of him.” They all allow others “inside” their lives and try to help them. Some are motivated to travel far from home, to Rwanda and Nunavut, to help others. However, Grace, Annie and Mitch are selfish and rather pathetic, so it is not difficult to predict that their attempts to help will not always meet with success. Grace realizes that “your actions radiated out to change not just your own life, but those of the people around you.” Sometimes everyone suffers because of the efforts of someone trying to be helpful.What the characters often seem to lack is self-knowledge; they don’t always spend sufficient time getting “inside” their own heads to examine their motivations. The reader is taken into the hearts and minds of Grace, Annie, and Mitch, but the three of them frequently are not fully aware of their own feelings and thinking processes. Of course, that’s what makes them totally human characters.This is a good book, but I’m not convinced that it is worthy of the prizes for which it has been nominated.

[peggygillman · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a book whose writing felt like it was liquid. The story wove three tails together and, frankly, was a bit of a throw away one. I enjoyed reading it but it isn’t sticking in the memory. 10/8

[ctpress_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Just selected for the Canadian Giller longlist book prize. In Inside we follow mainly three persons, the first two are both therapists - Grace and then her ex-husband Mitch - and the third is Karen, who runs away from home and is one of Graces patients. The novel shift back and forth in time.There are several themes in the novel - one is about listening/responding/connecting - the other about helping each other or should I say the inability to offer real substantial help in many situations - hence the occupation as therapists of course - and the dramatic opening scene - these themes are very thoughtfully brought together in the intertwining stories - although it takes some time.There's a lot of sleeping together - but very little real love of the kind where you give all to one person. Not the two-persons-becoming-one kind of love. The search for intimacy, for a real friend/husband/wife to understand you and listen to you is there, unsettling, as an ache in the characters. How much should one invest in the relationship?And of course. How do you help when the other persons doesn't seem to want your help. What do you do? All three persons have these problems (and also the fourth one - in Rwanda). The novel addresses this in a profound way. Although the stories are sad the novel offers hope in the end I think - for some of the characters at least.