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The Quantum State of LanguageThe distinction between an image and an ikon, I think, lies at the heart of this novel. An image traps the gaze in its uniqueness, or unexpectedness, or beauty, or even its horror. But an ikon is meant to generate and entirely different sort of experience, one that goes beyond the object being looked at. As such, an ikon exists in two states simultaneously, both as a presence and as the mark of an absence, that is, of a transcendent reality. Or to put it more simply:...
3.5⭐️ rounded up!“The fact that our daily activity hinged on the repeated description—description, elaboration, and delineation—of matters that were, outside, generally subject to euphemism and elision.”Our unnamed protagonist (who is also our narrator) has recently taken up a one-year contractual position as an interpreter with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, moving from New York to The Hague, and is still in the process of adjusting to her new life. She is professionally tasked
a narrative becomes persuasive not through complexity but conviction This book was listed in Barack's best of list. Roxane Gay praised it as well. Or at least, she gave it 4 stars. These are people whose book lists and recommendations I vibe with so you can imagine my surprise when I found myself rather ambivalent about it. The story starts with our nameless protagonist. She is working as an interpreter for The Hague. She has recently moved the from New York and suddenly, she needed
Katie Kitamura writes with a very European literary sensibility - a sparse style, with emotions held in check, and main characters who are rather withdrawn. I love that. It is all very measured and controlled, and I am constantly assured that she knows exactly the effect of every action, phrase, and word she chooses. An unnamed narrator moves from New York to The Hague for a job as an interpreter at the International Court. She is finding her way in the city, deciding whether she wants to stay a...
Not sure what to think of this book. It is one of those stories that is very language and character driven. This is all about interiority set against acts of translation, the men who commit war crimes, a complicated relationship, a woman without a home. Quite fascinating, really with a beautiful ending.
5 "derealized, implosive, exceptional" stars !!! For the last two days my heart has been in my throat. I slept so poorly and I was filled with such existential angst. This short novel shook me to my inner core and I intuit that this novel will continue to flutter and flutter and flutter..... Ms. Kitamura has written a small masterpiece of the life of a young Japanese woman who is anchorless, receptive and interior. The heroine is both astute and naive and she is flailing for roots, for a home an...
‘We interpreters were only extras passing behind the central cast and yet moved with caution, we had a sense of being under observation.’The full feel of Intimacies by the wonderful Katie Kitamura reminds me of a coffee company I once worked for that, instead of doing one thing well, did a dozen things that resulted in mediocrity. When this novel hits it really connects and there is so much good going for something that stumbles out and is, unfortunately, less than the sum of its parts while sti...
Having read “A Separation”, by Katie Kitamura….a slim novel that I found quite compelling—I did the ‘happy-dance’ when a ‘Little Library’ in my neighborhood had this bright pink thin hardcopy - looking as new as in any bookstore I’ve ever seen…. “Intimacies”….was mine to take home and read. I enjoyed my quiet time reading this book. The only noise in my house was Phil & Lil….(our parakeets were making little sounds in the background). I was drawn in from the first page. “It is never easy to mov...
What happens when words lose context? They just become sounds, utterances, as meaningful as a line in a dictionary.That's what happens to our narrator, a woman who works as an interpreter in the International Court at The Hague. While interpreting for a case that brings a war criminal into her daily life, words are translated, the meaning slipping away in an immediate, dissociative numbness.What happens when people lose their context? For example, if the colonial label was removed from a group o...
(4.5) Kitamura’s is writing that epitomises the phrase ‘deceptively simple’. Intimacies is a brief, seemingly straightforward novel that’s made complex, rich and endlessly fascinating by its storytelling. It’s a precise study of how we move through the world, written so instinctively it seems to reveal momentous truths without effort.The narrator, an interpreter from a rootless and itinerant background, has moved to The Hague to take up a year-long contract at the International Court of Justice
Now longlisted for the 2021 US National Book Awards and the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award. One of Obama’s 2021 Summer picks – and given its subject matter that implies a real authenticity to the novel which in my view is more than matched by the power of its writing.The author has said that this book was initially inspired by listening to Charles Taylor (ex president of Liberia) defend himself against war crimes at The Hague. Later she visited the International Criminal Court there to observe the tria...
