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A Kind of Intimacy
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Annie is morbidly obese, lonely and hopeful. She narrates her own increasingly bizarre attempts to ingratiate herself with her new neighbours, learn from past mistakes and achieve a ""certain kind of intimacy"" with the boy next door. Though Annie struggles to repress a murky history of violence, secrets and sexual mishaps her past is never too far behind her, finally shattering her denial in a compelling and bloody climax. A quirky and darkly comic debut - giving readers a glimpse of a clumsy young woman who has too much in common with the rest of us to be written off as a monster.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Jenn Ashworth was born in 1982 in Preston. She studied English at Cambridge and Creative Writing at Manchester. She is now Head Librarian in a prison. Her first novel went missing with a stolen computer, but an extract from it won the Cambridge University Quiller-Couch Prize for Creative Writing in 2003. In 2006 an extract from A Kind of Intimacy, her second novel, won second prize in a national competition: The Enigma of Personality. She is also the recipient of the Manchester Literary Festival Best Writing on a Blog 2008.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Jenn Ashworth succeeds in doing what most authors only dream about. She has written a literary novel that also has wide popular appeal. A Kind of Intimacy is a quality read. Ashworth's prose never misses a beat or strikes a false note and her plot leaves the reader breathless. Few writers are brave enough to go into a place as dark and dangerous as the mind of Annie, the first person narrator of A Kind of Intimacy. Annie is one of the most convincing portraits of psycho-pathology in recent fiction. She compares favourably to Frederick Clegg in Fowles's The Collector - and the calm logic of her self-justification is even more chilling. Final advice, brace yourself for the ending. The gripping conclusion of this Hitchcockian novel - tantalisingly drawn out over the final 60 pages - is one of the great white knuckle rides of recent literature.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book starts with the main character Annie moving into her new house and she soon becomes obsessed with her neighbour.
I felt sorry for her at first but as her past is gradually revealed throughout the book I found her more and more disturbing.
A Kind Of Intimacy is difficult to put down and keeps the reader in suspense to the end.
I thoroughly enjoyed Jenn Ashworth's debut novel and if her other books turn out to be half as good as this one then we're in for a treat. Definitely an author to look out for in the future.
I felt sorry for her at first but as her past is gradually revealed throughout the book I found her more and more disturbing.
A Kind Of Intimacy is difficult to put down and keeps the reader in suspense to the end.
I thoroughly enjoyed Jenn Ashworth's debut novel and if her other books turn out to be half as good as this one then we're in for a treat. Definitely an author to look out for in the future.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
From the very first page, I was completely engrossed in this psychological novel of obsession - and totally fascinated by its rather unhinged narrator Annie.
It's dark and suspenseful yet contains flashes of great humour, and it's very well-written. Despite the story sometimes stretching things a little too far, I only occasionally found aspects of the characters a bit unconvincing, and overall I was able to suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride.
It somehow manages to show Annie as monstrous, dangerous and obsessive, yet at the same time she gains our sympathy as she reveals details of her past and her many vulnerabilities. As the story develops and reaches its climax so do her feelings of being misunderstood, and her ability to justify her own hideous actions. It's a terrific story - and since it was author Jenn Ashworth's debut novel, I can't wait to see what she produces next!
It's dark and suspenseful yet contains flashes of great humour, and it's very well-written. Despite the story sometimes stretching things a little too far, I only occasionally found aspects of the characters a bit unconvincing, and overall I was able to suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride.
It somehow manages to show Annie as monstrous, dangerous and obsessive, yet at the same time she gains our sympathy as she reveals details of her past and her many vulnerabilities. As the story develops and reaches its climax so do her feelings of being misunderstood, and her ability to justify her own hideous actions. It's a terrific story - and since it was author Jenn Ashworth's debut novel, I can't wait to see what she produces next!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
inconsistent
I was disappointed after reading all the good reviews to find this novel inconsistent and contradictory. Read more
Published 2 months ago by pierre
Love thy neighbour?
Annie Fairhurst is a complex and intriguing character, one that stays with you long after you have turned the last page of this fantastic first novel. Read more
Published 3 months ago by The story fiend
Intense and clever
Annie has moved into a new neighbourhood and relates her efforts to get to know her neighbours, particularly the increasing obsession with Neil, the man next door. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Janie U
I was fat and he had acne on his shoulders...
"Evokes a damaged mind with the empathy and confidence of Ruth Rendell," says the quote on the front cover, thereby revealing, if not the whole plot, the main feature. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Eileen Shaw
Creepy, unsettling and totally unputdownable!
This book kept me up till the wee small hours as I just couldn't put it down until I had finished it! Read more
Published 6 months ago by Murf61
But not my kind ...
Bought it for a book club I belong to. Managed to get through the first thirty odd pages, but really hated it. Read more
Published 8 months ago by L. A. Ferguson
Not a satisfying read but very uncomfortable to read and gives you...
I chose this book for our book club to read based on a recommendation. I think the book could have been much more successful if it was a bit more subtle. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Anne Malaiti
Slides downhill from halfway...
This is a strange book. It starts superbly - Annie is an interesting character, and for the first fifty pages or so I found it so engrossing that parts were almost painful to read. Read more
Published 9 months ago by bloodsimple
Not very funny; rather tedious
I had looked forward to reading this much-hyped debut novel. The 'plot' sounded promising - a young overweight woman fantasizing about relationships that in the 'real world' just... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Harehound
Scary but interesting
Seeing life from another's perspective. Easy read,grabbed me in the most unexpected times. Seem to plod along and then suddenly out of no where I would have to reread a bit in... Read more
Published 9 months ago by J
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