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Loading... A Kind of Intimacy (original 2009; edition 2010)by Jenn Ashworth
Work detailsA Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth (2009)
 curlysue | Apr 12, 2013 |  I feel like I read a totally different novel to other people, in the sense where I can't see any subtlety or indeed any novelty here. I feel like I've read the whole story before, partially because it's populated by stereotypes. Fat woman with tragic past has mental illness and struggles to integrate into society, quickly developing a one-sided "connection" and proceeding to act according to the rulebook for stalkers which must be out there somewhere. Reminded me of Before I Go To Sleep (S.J. Watson), The Mermaids Singing (Val McDermid)... and goodness knows what else. I mean, I'm sure I've read this exact storyline in the newspaper or online at some point. I could predict every twist and turn. And what really confuses me is when someone recognises this and it somehow doesn't stop them really enjoying the book, like this Guardian reviewer: 'Its tone however remains with noirish cartoon, burlesque. This is disturbing. The "fat woman" stereotype grates. Evoking the pathos of an early loss, it unsettles the humour without deepening the story's empathy. Annie's long history of sexual abuse, her self-marketing to the "fat porn" industry, possible infanticide and low self-estimate are equally disturbing... Yet who wouldn't kill for a comic gift like Jenn Ashworth's? Laugh-out-loud humour is outrageous and prodigal, especially in the ensemble dinner-party scene and the suspenseful final chapters.' Yep, and at least half the humour revolves around her being fat, socially awkward, and clearly mentally ill. Hooray for ableist, fat-shaming social norms, amirite? (  ) shanaqui | Apr 9, 2013 | Annie moves into a new house and immediately feels a 'connection' with her new neighbour Neil. Sadly she reads all kinds of things into the situation that are just not there. Her lies are lavish and her actions seem odd. As the story unfolds we discover more of her past, and the life of abuse she had led. This story is painfully sad,yet not without its moments of black humour. The feeling for Annie is nothing other than a deep sadness at her suffering and struggle. (  ) pamjw | Oct 16, 2012 | A Kind of Intimacy is a definite page turner. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. It was amazing to be inside of this woman's mind. She was so delusional but it felt honest. You could really tell that she believed in these things. This is a very well done portrait of an unstable mind. ( ) tap_aparecium | Sep 28, 2010 | An extraordinary and delightfully creepy book. Annie, the central character, is a study in spookiness and yet, to all but the most hard-hearted, it is hard not to sympathise at least a little with her immense sexual and emotional vulnerability - at least, until her troubling past emerges and clashes with the obsession she has for her new neighbour. Ashworth handles the sense of stealthily impending doom with real accomplishment. Looking forward to her next book. (  )1  Booksloth | Jan 26, 2010 | no reviews | add a review
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Annie moves into her new home bringing little else but her cat and a collection of cow-shaped milk jugs. She's hoping for a clean slate, but there's something familiar about the next-door neighbour - she's convinced she's seen him somewhere before. She narrates her own increasingly bizarre attempts to ingratiate herself with her new neighbours, to learn from past mistakes and achieve a ??rtain kind of intimacy' with the boy next door. A Kind of Intimacy traces the dark possibilities of best intentions going awry and gives an unsettling glimpse into a clumsy young woman who has too much in common with the rest of us to be written off as a monster. An intense and intriguing novel that never quite lets the reader get comfortable.… (more)
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Wikipedia in English
Now switch scenarios and imagine yourself as that madwoman, and that you’ve moved into that nice little neighborhood. You’ve not only moved there, but you want to belong, you want to mingle, you want to make friends................
I can compare A Kind of Intimacy's unreliable narrator, anti-heroine Annie Fairhurst to Stephen King’s Annie Wilkes from Misery. Need I say more?