Oct 11

Oct 11 Intimacies

Author: Katie Kitamura
Publisher: Riverhead
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

A novel from the author of A Separation, a taut and 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 explosive political fires: her work interpreting for a former president accused of war crimes becomes precarious as their relationship is unbound by shifting language and meaning.

This woman is the voice in the ear of many, but what command does that give her, and how vulnerable does that leave her? Her coolly impassioned views on power, love, and violence, are tested, both in her personal intimacies and in her role at the Court. She is soon pushed to the precipice, where betrayal and heartbreak threaten to overwhelm her; it is her drive towards truth, and love, that throws into stark relief what she wants from her life.

TL;DR Review

Intimacies is a sharp, taut novel that was very different from what I expected based on the synopsis. It’s much more about tension, power, and character than events or plot.

For you if: You like books that examine character, but without much plot or resolution.

Full Review

I read Intimacies because it was longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award. It was my first book by Katie Kitamura and very different from what I’d expected.

The story is about a woman who’s moved to The Hague to take a temp job as a court interpreter with the UN’s International Court. She’s lacking a sense of home and looking to put down roots somewhere. Throughout the book’s ~200 pages, we see her interpreting for a political criminal, grappling with a teetering new relationship, and navigating new and old friendships.

The synopsis on the book’s cover makes it feel like it’s going to be twisty and full of drama, but it’s not. The book is more about tension and power dynamics than anything that actually happens. In fact, this is true to the point that I found it frustrating. Doors were opened and never closed. Weird things happened for no reason. I waited hopelessly for patterns to be explained. From what I’ve heard, this isn’t unusual for Kitamura. I think if I’d known that, I would have enjoyed the book more. But as it happened, I felt a little misled and unmoored.

Still, the strength of Kitamura’s prose and examination of power and character can’t be denied. I think I’ll plan to reread it, now knowing what to expect.