Reviews - A Kind of Intimacy

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

31 reviews for:

This book so so well written, it's like I had Ashworth's character Annie sitting right next to me as I read. Annie's voice came through the pages so loudly it's like a I was getting punched in the face (in a good way of course), she was completely believable and not overdone like I was afraid was going to happen. She progressed slowly throughout the book, becoming more and more crazy and even more self obsessed and indulgent. I couldn't put this book down, I read it in just under two days and that is only because I had to work. I just had to see what next crazy thing Annie was going to do next. Well done, this is my top read of this year.

hannahlivre's review against another edition

5.0

Completely amazing book! Longer review to come, but I just want to say that this novel, with a scary, funny, twisted narrator was absolutely brilliant.

knitreadlife's review against another edition

5.0

Annie Fairhurst is one of the most appalling. and enthralling characters I have come across in a while...Once started, this compelling study of delusion is unputdownable right to the fabulous punchline.

jev2112's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

stephasaurusss's review against another edition

3.0

A 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. Very well done portrait of an unstable mind.

athenenoctua11's review against another edition

3.0

This is a very engrossing read and the narration in the first person is very easy to follow which makes it harder to let go of the book. It's not because you're really enjoying it though, but almost as though you are so uncomfortable with it, you want to get it over with asap.
Before I read this, I browsed through some reviews and got the impression that learning of Annie's past history would make her a more sympathetic character and that I would end up feeling sorry for her - Wrong! As it turned out, the more I read about her past the more repeling and insane she became and the more I felt sorry for the people that had to deal with her. Her past was no explanation for her insane behaviour with her neighbours, if anything it showed that she was already pretty erratic in the first place. Her behaviour is of a textbook sociopath and that makes it harder for the reader to relate to.

As other reviewer pointed out, I felt that her skewed view of the world could have been delivered in a more subtle way (I recently read Gillespie and I and there's an example of how amazing a dubious character can be). Annie is rarely ever a dubious character, her inconsistencies were so evident from the start that I felt even a little patronised by the author.

There was one thing that I really did not like and felt it was of poor taste:

Spoiler

it is hinted that baby Grace died smothered by Annie and I felt this was a heavy stereotype against overweight people, as there are so many jokes and cartoons out there portraying obese women who smothered their dogs without noticing. It felt to me a little over the top.