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thehannahwilkinson 's review for:
Intimacy
by Ita O'Brien
If you listened to our episode on Want then you’ll know that we had mixed feelings on it. Possibly it suffered as a result of the high expectations we went into with and unfortunately I think this one falls into the same category.
Ita O’Brien is an intimacy coordinator extraordinaire… She’s been behind some of the most groundbreaking scenes in some teeny-tiny little shows you MAY have heard of, like Sex Education and Normal People, so I was intrigued by this non-fiction read. Described as a ‘field guide’ to discovering desires, communicating needs and cultivating truly intimate relationships it was an interesting premise so I was excited to learn!
If you’re after a juicy behind the scenes memoir about what Paul Mescal is like in the flesh then you’ll be disappointed… it’s structured more like a professional manifesto meets industry guide and to be fair it does tell you a lot. There’s some really fascinating insight into how intimacy coordination became an actual thing in film and TV (which, let’s be honest, it should have been all along), and I really appreciated O’Brien’s calm but passionate tone. You can tell she genuinely cares about making performance spaces safer and more respectful.
That said… this wasn’t the kind of page-turning non-fiction I was expecting. It’s quite academic in parts and gets a bit repetitive. I found myself zoning out at times. I wasn’t quite sure who it was written for… as someone who isn’t in the industry it felt more like something I’d read for a media studies course.
The proof copy we received did lack some finer details in the exercises that were included in each chapter which didn’t really allow me to get the full benefit from those sections. Possibly a finished copy would have left me feeling differently.
It’s obviously important, and thoughtfully done, but maybe not the most engaging read unless you’re already in the industry or aspire to be.
Ita O’Brien is an intimacy coordinator extraordinaire… She’s been behind some of the most groundbreaking scenes in some teeny-tiny little shows you MAY have heard of, like Sex Education and Normal People, so I was intrigued by this non-fiction read. Described as a ‘field guide’ to discovering desires, communicating needs and cultivating truly intimate relationships it was an interesting premise so I was excited to learn!
If you’re after a juicy behind the scenes memoir about what Paul Mescal is like in the flesh then you’ll be disappointed… it’s structured more like a professional manifesto meets industry guide and to be fair it does tell you a lot. There’s some really fascinating insight into how intimacy coordination became an actual thing in film and TV (which, let’s be honest, it should have been all along), and I really appreciated O’Brien’s calm but passionate tone. You can tell she genuinely cares about making performance spaces safer and more respectful.
That said… this wasn’t the kind of page-turning non-fiction I was expecting. It’s quite academic in parts and gets a bit repetitive. I found myself zoning out at times. I wasn’t quite sure who it was written for… as someone who isn’t in the industry it felt more like something I’d read for a media studies course.
The proof copy we received did lack some finer details in the exercises that were included in each chapter which didn’t really allow me to get the full benefit from those sections. Possibly a finished copy would have left me feeling differently.
It’s obviously important, and thoughtfully done, but maybe not the most engaging read unless you’re already in the industry or aspire to be.