Intimacies

Can't say enough about this book–I loved it. Almost sparse prose, but it pulled me in quickly, and I haven't read such an un-put-downable book in quite a while. It's amazing how many different kinds of connections (or intimacies) she covers in so few pages, with so few characters. This one is going on my to-be-read-again pile and I'll definitely be picking up her other books.

“One day you are living an ordinary life with its ordinary ups and downs, and then that life is ripped apart, and you can never feel entirely secure again. You spend your days looking over your shoulder; your understanding of the world is changed. You see it as a brittle place, full of hostility.”

“I'm sure they have it under control. They probably already have a suspect. There are CCTV cameras on that block. Nothing goes undetected anymore. I always hated the cameras. I thought it was the sign of a surveillance state. But now, I find they make me feel a little bit safer. I suppose this is how people become conservative. ... Being a property owner changes your perspective of things, whether you like it or not. Even the smallest apartment is enough to do the job. It's difficult not to be contaminated by it. There's a difference between living in theory and living in practice.”

took awhile to get going, but it only got better and better as it raced toward its finale. despite that there were many moments throughout that were written so plainly and not complementary of the grand personal story it was trying to tell. an empty museum of a book that toys with your heart when you know it could've absolutely annihilated it.

I enjoyed immersing myself in this story a lot. It is introspective and interior, quiet but full of feeling. The writing is sharp, the descriptions spare but enough. I did not know anything about the Hague going in, nor about the International Criminal Court, but it was really interesting being in the unnamed narrator's head as she went about her interpreting work in the Court; and of course, her friendships with the few people she knew in a place that never quite felt like home, including the sister of a man who had been robbed and beaten outside another friend's apartment. The narrator's reactions to things were so visceral and snap-judgmental, and in that I related a lot to her. (I've been pretty judgy myself lately, call it a reaction to the world “opening back up” and realizing that Covid has really screwed up how I feel about myself, and about supposedly “normal” social situations. I'm working on it; the first step towards fixing a problem is admitting you've got one, eh?) I didn't think I would, but I liked where it ended.