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In the end, I was totally fixated on the obvious fact the main character was poorly suited for her job—something when the author undoubtedly wanted the reader to know but probably not fixate on—and that distracted me from the story which was okay but ultimately not that compelling. In a story about relations—with lovers, friends, colleagues—I somehow didn‘t find myself really caring about any of them. Fine, just not particularly memorable.

Trying to be better about reading books when I buy them (so that they don‘t languish on my shelves until I lose interest 😬). This one caught my eye yesterday so it‘s up next.

Imagine spending days on end interpreting back and forth to and for a dictator accused of genocide, and the worst conceivable crimes against humanity. I‘d never thought of that but this book drops you into that world at the international court in The Hague. I really appreciated this unique perspective. I wish this were the main subject of the book but it consumed only part of the story. The rest focused on the main character‘s difficult ⬇️

I‘m reading this book next for #foodandlit #Netherlands @Catsandbooks

#litsyatoz #letterI

Perhaps he was simply offering to purchase the embroidered cloth? But if so, then why the expression of fear on the young woman's face? Why the young woman's concentration, so brittle and freighted with meaning, as if it were the only rebuff she was permitted to make...

https://www.wikiart.org/en/judith-leyster

This was not a painting of temptation, but rather one of harassment and intimidation, a scene that could be taking place right now in nearly anyplace in the world. The painting operated around a schism, it represented two irreconcilable subjective positions: the man, who believed the scene to be one of ardor and seduction, and the woman, who had been plunged into a state of fear and humiliation.

I loved this. A thriller (or at least it has the mood of a thriller) that interrogates language and the practice of interpreting. It‘s one of those books where to be honest not much happens, but it‘s written in a way that manages to maintain tension, and crafted idiosyncratically, unafraid of making classic grammatical errors.

I wish more stuff was this free and risky…. Kitamura is unique!

I could not put this slim novel with gorgeous prose down — though I admit to wrongly thinking that more was tying together the character driven story than the interior life of the unnamed interpreter. In any case, I enjoyed it. If there‘s a theme I‘d say it‘s the complexity of communicating with and understanding others…the male/female dynamics are especially unsettling.

26-30 Oct 23
I cannot recall what led me to purchase this short novel about truth told by a young interpreter at the International Court in The Hague. It is sparse and restrained, highlighting the brutal work of the court and necessary dissociation and loneliness of those working there. The unnamed narrator appears to have few relationships outside of her current lover and Jana, both of whom subject her to periods of non-contact and ambiguity.

Despite the title, an interpreter for The Hague is close with no one. The nameless language-expert‘s mind is frequently manipulated by men who know how to talk. Her life gets worse when she takes people at their word and ignores the warning signs present in the rooms they strut through—feelings that are impossible to record but somehow need to be taken into account when it‘s time for judgment.

4.5 stars. I think this book is probably divisive but I liked it a lot. From the perspective of an interpreter at The Hague ICC it is a very interior book consistently mostly of her thoughts as she navigates living in a new city and her job as an interpreter. Her thoughts about the interpreter role were really fascinating. Lots of tension in a little package including a trial, a love affair, and a friendship, all of which she is navigating.

A little airport reading. This book has drawn me in immediately. I love the writing and the way she describes The Hague and the job of an interpreter.

Another episode of Books I Wasn‘t Supposed to Buy in the Charity shop

In this novel a young woman, newly arrived in her job (a translator at The Hague)and a new city, seems lost and disconnected. Her job requires her to be impartial and to repeat the words of others - almost invisible - it almost seems this has carried over into the rest of her life. A quiet, thoughtful book that questions our ability to connect and find roots.

Interesting and enjoyable.

I really had trouble connecting with this book. The characters just felt flat. I guess it‘s just not for me.

#OminousOctober Day 13: Lots of #Orange here including the #Orange(y) palabok from one of the famous Filipino restaurants in Dubai. Yum is an understatement.

#IndelibleMoments Day 26: There is #Reconciliation in this story - whether between the protagonist and her lover, or the lover and his wife, I shall leave for you to discover. What a riveting story. 💕

#IndelibleMoments Day 21: There is an impending #Divorce in this book, leaving the protagonist hanging in-between. This story takes on a different resonance for me having just visited the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

#IndelibleMoments Day 18: There is #Betrayal in this novel - both personal and political. Special shout out to @charl08 @BarbaraBB and @Leftcoastzen for recommending this title - I immediately bumped it up my reading stack - mainly because part of me has not left The Netherlands.

It was the job of the interpreter not simply to state or perform but to repeat the unspeakable. Perhaps that was the real anxiety within the Court, and among the interpreters. The fact that our daily activity hinged on the repeated description-description, elaboration, and delineation of matters that were, outside, generally subject to euphemism and elision.

This short book is about a slice of life of an interpreter in The Hague, her job interpreting for war criminals, her friends and her love life. I liked it, although I felt like I never really got to know the main character.

Finished this up on a trip home from a conference. Not sure how I feel about this one. I enjoyed parts of it, but I'm also not sure I'm fully clear on the point of it. Also, I cannot get behind authors who choose not to use quotation marks around dialogue. I find it greatly distracting and it makes everything feel detached, like it's a summary of what was said, not a conversation. This was my May #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

I read this short book quickly but didn‘t necessarily like it. I expected something more or different, I guess. I didn‘t connect to the writing style, which felt so minimalist it was lazy. Here and there there were powerful sentences but as a whole it fell flat for me. Disappointing because I think a more in depth story about these themes would be really engaging. As a language person, I would like to read about an interpreter.

Understated and direct are the words that first come to mind. That may be an affect of the narrator. This is a tournament of books title that I likely would not have otherwise discovered and I really enjoyed. It‘s an odd tone. A very simple approach to describing the complexity of life in all its darkness and intermittent light.

This is how I spent most of my bookstore gift cards! All of these are #blameitonLitsy reads and I‘m probably most intrigued by the tagged book.

I enjoyed this story, the setting which I liked The Hague and the International Criminal Court were all really interesting. This is more about the characters and their lives and feelings and some political situations.

The semifinals of the Morning News Tournament of Books begin today with a match between Intimacies and The Trees. Intimacies is my favorite book in the tournament, but I know how much people are loving The Trees so I don't have a great feeling about this one.

A slim book that left me much to mull over about A translator who doesn‘t seem to speak much herself trying to find her place in a new country and a new relationship. She has to interpret what those around her truly think and feel in her personal life even as she works to translate during a war crimes trial. The mood of this book lingered long after I finished it.

I really enjoyed this unique little novel. It was fascinating getting a glimpse into the life of an interpreter at The Hague (although that‘s not really what the book is ‘about‘). To echo what my friend, @BarbaraBB said, I love the ‘atmosphere‘.
#ToB2022

In the first of the quarter finals Intimacies has been up to In Concrete in the real #ToB22, which it won.

In ours Intimacies is the winner too. It is Gayla‘s favorite this year, so she‘ll be happy. Intimacies beats Beautiful World with most votes, solely Helen and Chelsea were in favor of the Rooney.

What a great tournament, to have a book like Intimacies make it so far!

Today in the Morning News Tournament of Books, my favorite -- Intimacies -- meets my least favorite -- In Concrete. In a just world, this _should_ be an easy win for Intimacies, a nuanced and complex character study of a translator at the Hague, over a 150-page book that nonetheless managed to wear out its welcome by page ten. But I haven't been on the same wavelength as the judges this year, so who knows.

Today we had an obvious winner again and, for the first time, we are in sync with the real #ToB22. What a raving plea for Intimacies by judge Jennifer Murphy.
Except for Holly, Chelsea and Margot, all of us voted for Intimacies too.

Day 3 of the Morning News Tournament of Books! Today is going to be a heartbreaker, because I enjoyed both Libertie and Intimacies quite a bit, and I hate to see either of them exit the tournament so early.

But. Although I enjoyed Libertie and would recommend it, I thought it suffered from some pacing issue and in particular, the second half was uneven. . . .

This was a page turner “thriller” but the ideas in the book were never resolved. I liked the story but am frustrated that so much of it was not tied up.

Loved the style and punch of this quietly stunning novel. I‘ve seen lots of criticisms about how nothing really happens but I found it surprisingly hard to put down - it was almost hypnotic. There‘s so much seething between the lines here and the tone really worked for me. Excited to read more of Kitamura.

Book 15 of #tob22 and my second favorite behind The Sentence.

That was, I thought, the prospect offered by a new relationship, the opportunity to be someone other than yourself.

#SundaySentence

Here‘s the deal….(my husband‘s favorite phrase 😆)….the writing is good, but I don‘t usually enjoy romantic relationship angst. I stuck with it because I wanted more from The Hague trial & translation aspect of the novel, which is such an intriguing premise for a story! I wish it had centered more on that angle.

I like the light touch Kitamura uses, the slight remove of language and culture that helps the reader feel the main character's alienation. Although it's a specific situation, a literal difference in language and culture for the character as an American living in The Netherlands, it seems familiar and perhaps universal, as if there's always something lost in translation whenever two people interact. Like life, it leaves me wanting. #ToB2022

Not my typical fare but there is a lot going on in this slim volume. It has a sort of dark, unsettling overtone that was compelling, even when the story seemed to be stuck. In the end, it wasn‘t what happened that kept me interested but how it happened

A woman has moved to The Hague after her father passed away and her mother moved to Singapore, to work as a translator at the Court. She is trying to make new friends and establish a new log for herself.

A book about about finding your way and feeling like an outsider

#tob22

I liked the quiet intensity of this #ToB22 novel and found the courtroom scenes especially gripping. I also liked the Den Haag setting, as this was one of the last cities I visited with my family before the pandemic hit.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I turned back to the canvas, and it occurred to me then that only a woman could have made this image. This was not a painting of temptation, but rather one of harassment and intimidation, a scene that could be taking place right now in nearly anyplace in the world. […] the man, who believed the scene to be one of ardor and seduction, and the woman, who had been plunged into a state of fear and humiliation.

I enjoyed this book as it was a quick read and I was able to read it in an afternoon. The relatively few characters are well developed and though everything is not tied up in a neat bow at the end, it is hopeful.

I was enjoying the prose style without noticing how the first-person narrator was quietly getting under my skin in the best possible way. She‘s Asian, feeling rootless in her temporary job in a new country—the Netherlands—& unsure of where her new romantic relationship is headed. She‘s an interpreter at the International Court of Justice, repeating the words of people accused of war crimes. Belonging & morality in a nuanced character study.

January reading report: ongoing vision problems from my brain injury, so lots of audiobooks. Some really GREAT audiobooks, including the tagged one. Still having some cognitive issues too, so reviews are a challenge. I'm doing better each day, happy to be able to spend more time on Litsy.

I no longer believed that equanimity was either tenable or desirable. It corroded everything inside.

This morning I was very taken with the description of a painting in Intimacies, and ended up going down a bit of a Judith Leyster rabbithole. The woman did not get credit for her work until 1893 -- after her death every single painting she'd made was attributed either to her husband or to Frans Hals. #morningreads #JusticeForJudithLeyster

“One day you are living an ordinary life with its ordinary ups and downs, and then that life is ripped apart and you can never feel entirely secure again.”