A Separation

Kitamura is a writer with a visionary, visual imagination... In A Separation, [she] has made consciousness her territory. The book is all mind, and an observant, taut, astringent mind it is. -The New Yorker A slow burn of a novel that gathers its great force and intensity through careful observation and a refusal to accept old, shopworn narratives of love and loss. -Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation Thrilling. -New York Magazine Unsettling... Kitamura traces the narrator's thoughts in sentences striking for their control and lucidity, their calm surface belied by the instability lurking beneath... The more the narrator tells us, the less we trust her. And the less we trust her, the more this hypnotic novel compels us to confront the limits of what we, too, can know. -O, the Oprah Magazine A novel so seamless, that follows its path with such consequence, that even minor deviations seem loaded with meaning. Wonderful. -Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle Accomplished... a coolly unsettling work. -New York Times Book Review Kitamura's prose gallops, combining Elena Ferrante-style intricacies with the tensions of a top-notch whodunit. -Elle Kitamura weaves a novel of quiet power, mostly due to a narrative voice that is so subtly commanding-so effortlessly self-aware and perceptive, teeming with dry yet empathetic humor- that it's a challenge not to follow her journey in a single sitting. -Harper's Bazaar Katie Kitamura breathes new life into the theme of marital breakdown. -The New Republic [A]n atmospheric and emotionally sophisticated novel that reads like a taut Patricia Highsmith thriller. -BBC The burnt landscape, the disappearance of a man, the brilliantly cold, precise, and yet threatening, churning tone of the narrator-make A Separation an absolutely mesmerizing work of art. -Rachel Kushner, author of The Flamethrowers Katie Kitamura is a visionary.... A Separation is a poised literary thriller on the outside and an investigation of interiority and the faulty narratives we assign to the world on the inside. -LitHub A Separation looks poised to be the literary Gone Girl of 2017. -The Millions A Separation displays Kitamura's stylistic control once again.... Violence of all kinds, not just against other bodies but against other minds, remains Kitamura's quarry. 'A Separation' proves that few stalk such game more patiently or more powerfully. -San Francisco Chronicle Unnerving... taut with quiet suspense.... It is wonderful to read a book that respects its readers in this way; Kitamura allows our imaginations to do much of the work. -NPR [A] slow-burn psychological novel, which rakes the embers of betrayal to find grief smoldering underneath... An absorbing tale. -Boston Globe This novel has everything I love in a book: love, loss, a journey, and stunning writing. -Martha Stewart Spell-binding -Real Simple Prepare to feel, well, everything - this is a raw look at an emotionally charged life event. -Marie Claire A contemplative and lyrical narrative... A Separation will transfix you as powerfully as the Mediterranean vistas that are its backdrop. -Harper's Bazaar (The Best New Books of 2017, So Far) Stylistically ambitious and psychologically rich... A Separation is a work of great intensity and originality... There are deft meditations on the art of translation and the ritual of mourning, and sharp insight into what binds and divides lovers.... This is the book that elevates Kitamura to a different league. -Minneapolis Star-Tribune Profound and gripping. I had that rare sense of feeling like I was in a creation specifically made out of words, that couldn't have been made out of any other substance. Kitamura combines the calm complexity of Joseph Conrad with the pacing and reveal of Patricia Highsmith. This novel is a wonder and a pleasure. -Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances and Little Lab