A Kind of Intimacy edition by Jenn Ashworth Literature Fiction eBooks
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Annie is obese, lonely and hopeful. Armed with self-help books, her cat and a collection of cow-shaped milk jugs, she moves into her new home and sets about getting to know the neighbours, especially the man next door. She ignores her neighbour's inconvenient girlfriend, but it's not quite as easy for Annie to dismiss her own past. As Annie's murky history of violence, secrets and sexual mishaps catches up with her, she cannot see that she has done anything wrong. She's just doing what any good neighbour would do, after all...
A Kind of Intimacy edition by Jenn Ashworth Literature Fiction eBooks
Annie Fairhurst, the narrator of this clever, black-humored character study, hooks the reader from the opening scene, which opens with Annie sending a van containing all her possessions to a new address, after which she strips off all her clothes and viciously attacks the "bloody sofa" which she has left behind. It is the sofa on which her husband proposed to her more than a decade ago. When she arrives at her new house, she envisions herself as Jackie Kennedy, "getting out of an aeroplane. She's tiptoeing down the steps her hair like sculpted soap, waving gently..." Clearly this main character, who has problems with anger and with her perception of herself, has a lot to learn, but the reader quickly discovers that she plans to work on her issues--with advice from virtually every self-help book ever written.Author Jenn Ashworth takes the concept of irony to new heights in this psychological novel which rivals Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy in its intensity, and it is in her irony that this novel achieves something that McCabe's novel does not--it is pathetically funny at the same time that it is terrifyingly slow in its revelations of Annie's past life. In the first six pages, Neil, Annie's new next door neighbor, asks her if "the family," especially her little girl, have arrived yet. Annie asserts that he must be confused. Every remark and every action from this point on capitalizes on the reader's understanding of real life as the author shows it being played out in conversations among the neighbors and other residents of the community, while Annie twists and manipulates what she sees and hears so that her reality will be what she wants it to be. Her obsession with the unfortunate Neil, who is happily living with Lucy, a young woman whom Annie abhors, leads her into many unneighborly acts, and she eventually comes to the attention of the association's Neighborhood Watch.
All the conversations between Annie and everyone else are classics of dramatic irony. The reader recognizes bits of the truth while the real story of Annie and her past are withheld for most of the book, thereby sustaining suspense while drawing the reader into Annie's twisted world. The cumulative picture of Annie's mind as the plot develops further becomes positively terrifying--and pathetic. When the author finally begins to reveal details of Annie's past, the reader still cannot help wondering how the author will ever reconcile the information gleaned from several seemingly conflicting scenes. The conclusion is sly-brilliant, even-with the full impact coming very gradually.
Ashworth's eye for the character-revealing detail is unerring, as is her control of Annie's "voice." A couple of obvious examples of foreshadowing are a bit clumsy, but overall, the author's control of her details and her pacing are meticulous. Ashworth manages to depict a main character with a perverted sense of self and gross ignorance of the social conventions, at the same time satirizing the very suburban society which Annie wishes to be part of--a major achievement pulled off with panache and darkly humorous flair. Mary Whipple
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A Kind of Intimacy edition by Jenn Ashworth Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
In the vein of Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith, "A Kind of Intimacy" grabs hold of the reader from the start and doesn't let up to the very end. Impressive, considering that the narrative is basically the thoughts and ramblings of a delusional overweight girl whose paranoid thoughts eventually reach drastic proportions. Annie Fairhurst moves into a new apartment and meets her next door neighbor Alan, whom she immediately believes has a romantic interest in her despite the fact that he lives with a sexy young nineteen year old. Annie is continually reading self-help books and sets out to get to know her neighbors (in a cringing housewarming party scene that sets the reader on edge). She develops a friendship with an older woman who is in charge of the neighborhood watch and sets about to intimidate Alan's young girlfriend. In the meantime, bits of information trickle in concerning Annie's former husband and child and her shady past. The author manages to evoke both sympathy and derision for Annie, an admirable feat. A path turner and a masterpiece of psychological fiction.
Annie Fairhurst, 27 and newly single has just relocated to a British suburb with her cat, Mr. Tips. Annie is an obese and socially awkward young woman, who actually seems content with her size and who she is. It is important to her to make a good impression with the new people she meets, so she has immersed herself in personal development books about socializing and making conversation. She's vague about her past, and when she does talk about it, you are never quite sure if she is telling the truth.
In her efforts to make friends and get to know her neighbors she decides to throw a housewarming party. She sends out 30 invitations, prepares a hedgehog centerpiece with pickled onions for eyes, and raisins for the irises, sets out her cow shaped milk pitcher, among other treats, and is ready for the party to begin. She thought the centerpiece would make for some good conversation. Although the party is a disaster in the eyes of those she was trying to impress, she thinks it went well. She even believes the friendliness of her next door neighbor Neil, is really a romantic crush on her. The fact that Neil has a cute, 19 year old live-in girlfriend named Lucy, is not even a factor in Annie's eyes, because she knows if Lucy were gone, they would be together.
"Sometimes I liked to imagine that Neil's bed was pushed up against the wall like mine, so near that I could hear his breathing. There was nothing inappropriate with my imaginings, far from it. Just the thought of hearing someone nearby helped me to sleep."
" The newspaper he gave her felt like a lover's token, a little indication of his concern for me. "
An unreliable narrator, as the story progresses, the reader gets some insight into Annie's past her very sad childhood, her problematic marriage, and the risky behavior she has engaged in, all in attempts to find love, acceptance and companionship. It's clear she is delusional and pretty much the "sociopath next door". Each new chapter shows you just how twisted and laughable her logic is. Just when you think she's gotten herself into the worst mess possible, something new happens, and it isn't long before her past catches up to her.
Annie is a whacky gal, who I found endearing in a bizarre sort of way. At times I pitied her, and her desperate attempts for love and acceptance. The story is dark and addictive. An unforgettable birds-eye view of the dark side of a fractured mind. I LOVED this book, and it is without a doubt, my favorite book read in 2011.
(If you are serious about wanting to read this book, DO NOT read the Publisher's Weekly review of it -- it contains MAJOR SPOILERS).
Annie Fairhurst, the narrator of this clever, black-humored character study, hooks the reader from the opening scene, which opens with Annie sending a van containing all her possessions to a new address, after which she strips off all her clothes and viciously attacks the "bloody sofa" which she has left behind. It is the sofa on which her husband proposed to her more than a decade ago. When she arrives at her new house, she envisions herself as Jackie Kennedy, "getting out of an aeroplane. She's tiptoeing down the steps her hair like sculpted soap, waving gently..." Clearly this main character, who has problems with anger and with her perception of herself, has a lot to learn, but the reader quickly discovers that she plans to work on her issues--with advice from virtually every self-help book ever written.
Author Jenn Ashworth takes the concept of irony to new heights in this psychological novel which rivals Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy in its intensity, and it is in her irony that this novel achieves something that McCabe's novel does not--it is pathetically funny at the same time that it is terrifyingly slow in its revelations of Annie's past life. In the first six pages, Neil, Annie's new next door neighbor, asks her if "the family," especially her little girl, have arrived yet. Annie asserts that he must be confused. Every remark and every action from this point on capitalizes on the reader's understanding of real life as the author shows it being played out in conversations among the neighbors and other residents of the community, while Annie twists and manipulates what she sees and hears so that her reality will be what she wants it to be. Her obsession with the unfortunate Neil, who is happily living with Lucy, a young woman whom Annie abhors, leads her into many unneighborly acts, and she eventually comes to the attention of the association's Neighborhood Watch.
All the conversations between Annie and everyone else are classics of dramatic irony. The reader recognizes bits of the truth while the real story of Annie and her past are withheld for most of the book, thereby sustaining suspense while drawing the reader into Annie's twisted world. The cumulative picture of Annie's mind as the plot develops further becomes positively terrifying--and pathetic. When the author finally begins to reveal details of Annie's past, the reader still cannot help wondering how the author will ever reconcile the information gleaned from several seemingly conflicting scenes. The conclusion is sly-brilliant, even-with the full impact coming very gradually.
Ashworth's eye for the character-revealing detail is unerring, as is her control of Annie's "voice." A couple of obvious examples of foreshadowing are a bit clumsy, but overall, the author's control of her details and her pacing are meticulous. Ashworth manages to depict a main character with a perverted sense of self and gross ignorance of the social conventions, at the same time satirizing the very suburban society which Annie wishes to be part of--a major achievement pulled off with panache and darkly humorous flair. Mary Whipple
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