Intimacies (2021) by Katie Kitamura

American author Katie Kitamura

Book Review

Intimacies (2021)

by Katie Kitamura

  Intimacies by American author Katie Kitamura netted a National Book Award Longlist nomination this year.   It's a novel about a woman who was taken a year long contract to work as a French interpreter at the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands.  While there she experiences the vicissitudes of interpreting for defendants accused of War Crimes (it's draining!) and has an ambivalent relationship with a separated but still married Dutch guy.

   My main attraction to Intimacies were the chapters dealing with the work of being a court interpreter at a court handling war crimes, probably the heaviest duty type of crime you could possibly work as a court interpreter.  In my work in Federal Court, I deal with court interpreters every day and  I know that they are incredibly proficient in what they do but that they have their own perspective, different than that of prosecutors, defense attorneys, court staff and security staff.  No one ever asks what an interpreter thinks about what they are interpreting, but surely they must have interesting thoughts.

  In that sense, I found Intimacies incredibly interesting, in the depiction of the Americanish expatriate translator and her Dutch boyfriend, less so, but overall it was an interesting listen, clearly deserving of the longlist nom.   Did you know she is married to Hari Kunzu?  Isn't that crazy.  If anyone reading this has read both Kitamura and Kunzu, they will get how crazy that it.  What fun they must be at dinner parties.