Porter’s novel is a gorgeously written, meticulously observed elegy so well-captured I would have believed it if it were called a memoir. Told from the perspective of an adult Steven striving to understand what happened to his father, the book captures carefully the ways in which people are unknowable.
Many mysteries populate the book. What role did Steven’s father’s homosexuality play in his disappearance, to say nothing of the total destruction of his academic career? How does Edwyn, years later, look back on what happened? How much did mental illness wrought Steven’s father’s decline? And what, exactly, was the nature of Steven’s father’s obsession with Proust?
While some of these questions are answered, many are not. Porter convincingly evokes the relation of the unanswered to grief, the ways in which the uncertain ghosts of the past continue to haunt those forced to trudge on in the present. While Steven’s father might be at the forefront of the novel, he is not the only ghost who populates its pages. Some immensely poignant scenes in the novel involve Steven’s childhood friend Chau, with whom he shares some wonderful moments before the two are inevitably thrust apart by life.
Porter, aside from just telling the story, manages to artfully convey the mood. His images of Steven’s father’s parties are beautiful and melancholic, positively Gatsby-esque. His characters also remain believable, round yet always out of reach. While Steven’s father might be the center point of the narrative, Porter refuses to consign Steven’s mother to the dust bin. He does a wonderful job of demonstrating the often-ignored love she bears both her spouse and son, of showing the selfish side to Steven’s father’s pursuit of love. Additionally, Porter is keenly aware of the blurred boundaries of queer identity, careful to show the way people often fail to fit into the boxes used to for political advocacy.
The Imagined Life could easily be a slow read, but I found it gripping—the sort of book, in fact, which I could not put down. A keen, lovely, and painful read, I would recommend it to anyone looking to slip, for a little while, into another world.

Really liked the author’s writing style, it felt like a friend telling me the story. It was also a very interesting and compelling read. The middle was a little slow and repetitive at times but the ending was perfect. All in all, a very satisfying read. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

“In the imagined life, so much is different”. Steve embarks on a search to learn the truth about his father who disappeared when Steve was twelve years of age. Now an adult, married with a young son, he has decided it’s time to learn more about his father and to deal with longstanding emotions that are affecting his marriage. He sets out on a road trip to talk to his uncle and old friends and colleagues of his father. Set in a backdrop of academia and its inherent pressures, Steve starts to understand relationships he grew up around as well as prejudices about homosexuality that were prevalent.

The story is well told and nicely written. Mr. Porter does a good job of going back and forth between the late 80’s and the present. As he learns more about his father, Steve also understands more about himself. “I’d lived my entire life in a constant state of fear, worried the people I loved most would abandon me, not wanting to ever relive what I’d experienced with my father”. It’s a moving story of love and acceptance. Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy

Porter’s book is beautifully and sensitively written, reminiscent of Garth Greenwell or the last years of Updike. The book does a remarkable job of weaving Steven’s firsthand memories of his father with the secondhand tellings he gets from his father’s friends and colleagues as he tries to piece together what led to his father’s disappearance. It gently layers this on top of Steven’s own family strife. In contrast to what might be an unreliable narrator, Steven is honest about what he doesn’t know and what he questions. I like how, even as the adult Steven looks back, the memories are shared through the filter of a twelve-year-old’s mind—there are quotes heard through open windows, and things he didn’t understand that he does now as an adult. Everything is woven tightly in this story and nothing is forced.

Thank you NetGalley for helping me discover a new favorite author.

“The Imagined Life” felt so real and personal that I really thought this was a memoir at one point and had to double check that it was, in fact, a fictional story.

Just to recap, this story is about Steven trying to uncover who his father really is (maybe was?) ever since his father left the family when Steven was 12 years old. He reflects on his own childhood memories and reaches out to those close to his father to try to put everything together, while reflecting on his own relationship with his wife and son.

The way Porter describes Steven’s conflicted and tremulous perspective of his father growing up kept reminding me of my own relationship with my parents, especially my father. Every chapter peeled back a layer of childhood, parenthood, love, and trauma. The pacing never felt dull or rushed. A bittersweet story that hits a bit too close to home, but perhaps one I needed to read.

Wow, I just finished an amazing read. The Imagined Life by Andrew Porter was a five star read for me. Don’t miss this one.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ebook. Steve Mills, like many grown men in his situation, is obsessed with his father who left the family when Steve was young and had very little contact with him afterwards. Steve, who is falling away from his own wife and son, tries to understand his very charismatic professor father, by interviewing his old friends and colleagues today. And every interview shows his father in a new light, but mostly raises more questions than answers.

First, thank you to #NetGalley and to #aaKnopf for the opportunity to read and review "This Imagined Life" by Andrew Porter. Thank you, equally, for introducing me to the writing of this author (I am now going through each of his books, including his highly acclaimed short story collection - The Disappeared - and enjoying them immensely. I love this writer.

This novel is a 5-star without question and I read it in conjunction with his book "In Between Days" which shares some similar themes about family secrets, fatherhood, growing up, forgiveness, and acceptance. I won't go into the plot of the book (that can be read anywhere and I don't want to inadvertently add spoilers) -- but I can say, confidently, that he is one of my favorite new authors and I recommend THIS book wholeheartedly. It will be on shelves on 4/15/2025. I absolutely consumed it and will likely grab the audiobook if and when it comes out. Such a gem!! Thanks to all.

Evocative of the covered decades in California, The Imagined Life recasts a man’s journey from youth to adulthood as he searches for his long lost father. Long lost in many ways - through memories, in understanding, and physically from his family. Beautifully written with passion and depth.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the opportunity to read this ARC.

It's a brilliantly written book! The prose so beautiful, you travel forty years with our protagonist in search oh his father.. Porter's poetic prose vividly paints each decade beautifully.. highly recommend

Having lived in California, once upon a time, I could easily envision parts of this story set in the era of the 70’s and the years that followed. This was, for me, a very moving read.

This covers another time, when women were meant to be wives who catered to their husbands, and tended to their family, but also the blooming of the era of ‘free love’ to some extent.

A story of a husband, wife, and a son who live in California, whose lives begin to change as the cultural movement begins to blossom into a combination of cultural, sexual and more liberal attitudes about sex and morals.

A very engaging read, and a glimpse into another time, a journey for the son to find a path to reach his father, and perhaps to make amends.


Pub Date: 15 Apr 2025


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor

A sensitive, cinematic account of childhood trauma and its survival. This is finely drawn stuff, narrated carefully and perceptively. I found it a little long, a little repetitive, both in the portrait of the father and also in the Californian scene setting. And let’s not forget Fleetwood Mac. Definitely too heavy a hand there.
Nevertheless, this is an interesting author and a compelling piece of work. I’m now waiting for the TV version.

This novel was astounding, Andrew Porter captured Steven Mills at different points of his life coping with a father who had difficulties with his life. This left a lasting impact on Steven which ultimately led to a quest for answers, forgiveness, and acceptance. Andrew Porter brought the reader effortlessly into this family drama. It was well written, the reader felt emotions along with all the characters. Thank you Netgalley for this early opportunity to read this gem. I hope is soars on the charts!

I loved this novel. Andrew Porter, as in all his other books, is able to capture grief, hope and guilt with poignancy.

This novel is told in dual timelines; Steven Mills as a 12 year old and Steven Mills as an adult. As a child, he worshiped his erratic father who behaved mercurially and stayed emotionally distant from Steven. Steven's father was a Professor of English at St. Agnes College, a liberal arts college in southern California. Professor Mills and his wife loved to have parties at their home and as time progressed, the parties got more openly raunchy. Steven's dad had a close friend and the two of them would live in the pool cabana for weeks on end. It was obvious to me that Professor Mills was bisexual or gay. In contemporary jargon, he was queer. He was also mentally ill, quite possible bi-polar. Steven's mother loved her husband very much and did not know what to do. The point of no return or the epicenter of the novel is when Professor Mills is denied tenure.

If anyone has lived through academic settings as a professor or spouse you will know how important tenure is. It is a lifeline, one that can keep you adrift but is always there to reel you in. Tenure means that you have freedom of speech and that basically you can't be fired unless you commit a travesty such as a felony. Tenured faculty are the heads of departments and deans. Though most professors have annual reviews, tenure protects them from losing their jobs. If one doesn't get tenure, it is much more difficult to secure another job in academia.

Right after being notified that he was denied tenure, Professor Mills leaves his wife and young child. He provides no indication as to where he is going or if he will ever return. As an adult, Stevens sets out to solve the mystery of his father. His own life is at a standstill as he and his wife have just separated and he is on leave from his college teaching job. Steven goes up and down the coast of California talking to his father's friends and former colleagues trying to piece together who his father was. Everyone has a story for Steven but no one has the answer to the looming question Steven has - 'Who was my father'?

Steven eventually realizes that finding the essence of a person is nearly impossible. Others have opinions, bits of memory and some even have convoluted stories. Steven is trying to find something that cannot be found. As he travels, both actually and metaphorically, it appears that there are more questions about his father than answers. Once Steven realizes that unknowable essence of another, he can be free.

The story is beautifully written, evoking strong emotions throughout, with its rich narrative. The poignancy of Steven's search, and his realization that his father is basically unknowable, creates sympathy and grief, Though short in length, this novel has great depth, wonderful characterizations, and a fluid narrative.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalleu for an Advanced Review Copy of this novel.

this was a good book! It had a lot of deep themes of family, growth, guilt, adult relationships, and love. I think the author did a good job with writing this, and it kept me interested and it was heartwarming and sad at the same time

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

The Imagined Life is a masterfully woven tale about family, identity, and the search for answers that often leads to even more profound questions. Steven Mills’ journey up the California coast in search of his estranged father is a physical and emotional odyssey that captures the complexities of reconciling the past with the present.

The novel’s strength lies in its dual timeline structure, seamlessly blending Steve’s present-day conversations with evocative glimpses into his 1980s childhood. These moments are bittersweet, layered with nostalgia and the growing realization that the past was not as idyllic as it seemed.

As Steve unravels the mystery of his father’s disappearance, the story transforms into more than just a search for a missing man—it becomes a profound meditation on identity and legacy. With every revelation about his father’s brilliance, charisma, and flaws, Steve is forced to confront the ways his father’s choices shaped his own life. The emotional depth of these discoveries is heartbreaking and illuminating, leaving readers to reflect on their own familial ties and the stories they inherit.

The novel doesn’t offer easy resolutions, but that’s precisely what makes it so impactful—its truths are as messy and complex as life itself.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a melancholic novel about growing up and into who you are, and how our parents shape who we become. The central relationship focus is that between a father and son, which is probably the relationship dynamic I seek out least in the fiction I read, but this specific relationship was so intricately plotted and beautifully written, I found myself drawn all the way in. The writing is really lovely, tender and spiky at the same time. The plot revolves around a man whose marriage and relationship to his son are faltering, so he decides to investigate his relationship to his own father, who disappeared when he was twelve.

4.5 ⭐️

Wow, I really enjoyed this book! The Imagined Life follows Steven as he searches for his missing father. As the reader, we follow Steven as he reflects on and comes to terms with trauma that he endured as a child. The writing is beautiful and the story is heartbreaking and I enjoyed all of it.

This is my first book by Andrew Porter, but it certainly won’t be my last.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced copy of this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. The Imagined Life is a though-provoking work of literary fiction unlike any that I've read . Steve, who is on the cusp of turning 12 at the beginning of the book, lives with his parents in California in the early 1980's. To Steve, his parents marriage and his father's job as a professor seem solid but beneath the surface of a charmed life is a world that Steve won't understand for years. His parents throw pool parties, in which his father's colleagues come over to drink, swim and party. He starts noticing more and more men at the parties and a relationship developing between his father and one of the other male academics. When Steve is 12, his father takes him out of school for the day to see a movie in Los Angeles and its the last time he sees his father. The story delves into Steve's adult life with marriage on the brink of breaking and a son of his own. Forty years after his father's disappearance, he sets out to find out what happened to his father. by visiting his uncle and former colleagues of his father's. The Imagined Life tells Steve's story with realistic and touching language.

This novel truly packs a punch. *The Imagined Life* follows our protagonist, Steven, as he investigates his father's disappearance during his early adolescence in the mid-'80s. Like many neglected latchkey kids of that generation, he narrates his parents' complicated relationship as if he were a fly on the wall—left to his own devices.

Now an adult, Steven reflects on his past. He shares many similarities with his father: he is queer or not quite straight, is a writer, has lost his job, and is currently separated from his family. This prompts him to seek answers about what really happened back then. With his mother now deceased, he turns to relatives and old colleagues of his father to help fill in the gaps.

As Steven narrates his journey, we gradually piece together both his father's life and Steven's own experiences. This slow revelation to readers mirrors his own learning process. Through this investigation, he hopes to break free from his father's patterns and stop his cycle of self-sabotage.

If you loved the movie *Aftersun* as much as I did, you should definitely check out this novel. It’s filled with cultural references to movies, books, and music that explore similar themes of nostalgia, loss, memory, complicated relationships, and redemption. I highly recommend this read. Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley.