Intimacies

Books | Fiction / Psychological

3.5

(151)

Katie Kitamura

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK OF 2021LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTIONONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE 2021 READSAN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER A BEST BOOK OF 2021 FROM Washington Post, Vogue, Time, Oprah Daily, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlantic, Kirkus and Entertainment Weekly“Intimacies is a haunting, precise, and morally astute novel that reads like a psychological thriller…. Katie Kitamura is a wonder.” —Dana Spiotta, author of Wayward and Eat the Document“One of the best novels I’ve read in 2021.” – Dwight Garner, The New York TimesA novel from the author of A Separation, an electrifying story about a woman caught between many truths.An interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she is looking for a place to finally call home. She's drawn into simmering personal dramas: her lover, Adriaan, is separated from his wife but still entangled in his marriage. Her friend Jana witnesses a seemingly random act of violence, a crime the interpreter becomes increasingly obsessed with as she befriends the victim's sister. And she's pulled into an explosive political controversy when she’s asked to interpret for a former president accused of war crimes. A woman of quiet passion, she confronts power, love, and violence, both in her personal intimacies and in her work at the Court. She is soon pushed to the precipice, where betrayal and heartbreak threaten to overwhelm her, forcing her to decide what she wants from her life.

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More Details:

Author

Katie Kitamura

Pages

240

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

2021-07-20

ISBN

0399576169 9780399576164

Community ReviewsSee all

"I love getting a peek of someone’s thought processes, almost like reading their diary but even that is more composed and curated than this is. Lots of stream of consciousness, exploring related memories as they pop up, it’s a meandering story that to some might seem meaningless and like it goes nowhere, but I thought it a great exploration of connections between people and the randomness of how they can come to exist."

CaitVD

"A quiet story about the ambiguity an interpreter faces at The Hague for cases of war violence"

Diane Morello

"So so so enjoyed this character study. My book club and I enjoyed discussing all the different perspectives on intimacy in this novella. "

Jana

"Very character-driven, but also rather dry and detached."

Ricki Marking-Camuto

"There was very little intimacy in this book. I am still waiting for the climax, yet it never happened. Most of the characters lives never come together, just seems like a bunch of non-related stories. I was waiting for it to all come together, but it never happened. I got sucked in by a pretty cover, that is why it got 3 stars."

Mariella Arroyo

"quick good read"

Mohini

"I found this book read like an independent film, one that follows the days in the life of the character in what feels like real time, rather than really tells a specific story. I found its strength in its strong prose and Kitamura’s beautiful ability to capture the true-to-life grays of the nuance of humanity and real life. I felt the back of cover description left me expecting a clearer plot with both more depth and more storyline resolution. And the ending, in some ways, fell short for me. I’d sensed a shift in the protagonist’s sense of self and place and then felt the ending land more tritely than I expected. It was worth the read I only wished I’d better grasped the approach ahead of time."

C B

Courtney Butler

"This book was not necessarily a favorite of mine, but I would not hesitate to recommend it to others. The topic of the international criminal court is one I find extremely fascinating, and I was excited to find a work of fiction on the topic. The book is very much that genre of "more vibes less/no plot", which I tend to like but know is not everyone's favorite."