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A Separation: A Novel
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A Separation: A Novel
Unavailable
A Separation: A Novel
Audiobook6 hours

A Separation: A Novel

Written by Katie Kitamura

Narrated by Katherine Waterston

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

3/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

This is her story. About the end of her marriage. About what happened when Christopher went missing and she went to find him. These are her secrets, this is what happened...

A young woman has agreed with her faithless husband: it's time for them to separate. For the moment it's a private matter, a secret between the two of them. As she begins her new life, she gets word that Christopher has gone missing in a remote region in the rugged south of Greece; she reluctantly agrees to go look for him, still keeping their split to herself. In her heart, she's not even sure if she wants to find him. As her search comes to a shocking breaking point, she discovers she understands less than she thought she did about her relationship and the man she used to love. 

A searing, suspenseful story of intimacy and infidelity, A Separation lays bare what divides us from the inner lives of others. With exquisitely cool precision, Katie Kitamura propels us into the experience of a woman on edge, with a fiercely mesmerizing story to tell.

Editor's Note

Psychological tour de force…

A psychological tour de force through a nameless, passive narrator’s mind. When the narrator’s marriage falls apart, this chilling tale begins. A PBS NewsHour-New York Times “Now Read This” book club pick.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 7, 2017
ISBN9781524749606
Unavailable
A Separation: A Novel
Author

Katie Kitamura

Katie Kitamura is based in New York and London. She has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times, Wired and the Guardian, and is a regular contributor to Frieze. She was a finalist in the 2010 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award for her debut novel, The Longshot.

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Reviews for A Separation

Rating: 2.997093037790698 out of 5 stars
3/5

172 ratings19 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Story about a disaffected wife who goes to Greece in search of her estranged husband, who is supposedly writing a book about mourning. Hard to care about anyone in this story, they are rendered so flatly. It felt like the author was phoning it in. Can't recommend.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It's not the only focus of the novel, but the experience of widowhood and its specific grief is as finely rendered in this book as in anything else I've read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Disappointing after reading reviews. Did not care for any of the characters and felt that the main character was not fleshed out. For me, a superficial story that I didn't get anything out of.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Well-written but for me kind of dull story of a marriage and its dissolution. I was expecting [The Dinner] or something more dramatic, given its (undeserved) comparisons to [Gone Girl]. There is a death, but there is no real suspense, just a lot of untapped potential. The narrator travels to Greece to track down her errant husband but blah blah blah.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    A Separation-A Novel, Katie Kitamura, author; Katherine Waterston, narratorThis novel is about a marriage that has failed. Our main character has separated from her husband and is keeping the separation secret as per his wishes. She is not close to her mother-in-law, Isabella, who is a bit of snob and who views her as a foreigner. Her husband, Christopher is British and she is not. For some reason, she seems to be totally disinterested in discovering why he does not wish anyone to know about their problems, even though she now wants to file for divorce because she has been having an affair and hopes to remarry. Out of the blue, she gets a phone call from her mother-in-law, who is in the dark about their marital woes, demanding to know where her son is. Apparently he is no longer answering her phone calls. She advises her daughter-in-law that Christopher is in Greece, something she had not known because she had not recently been in touch with him. Her rather forceful and arrogant mother-in-law then demanded that she go and find him. She had already purchased her airline ticket and arranged for her to get to the hotel her son was visiting. When she arrived at the hotel, she was told he was not in his room. Soon it became apparent that although he was scheduled to check out of the hotel, he was no where to be seen. He was in Greece, supposedly, researching grief and the customs surrounding it, for a book he was writing. However, it was soon revealed that he was completely disloyal to his marriage vows and was a bit of a philanderer. As the rather uninspiring search for Christopher commences, the book soon descends into somewhat of an analysis of grief rather than an evolving mystery, although there is another woman in the background who has a jealous boyfriend. The effort of the author simply did not connect with me. It was easy to read, but the plot was thin, and the dialogue was often a bit monotonous. I would not recommend it because it really went no place. There was no great reveal, no surprising revelation of a secret, nor was there a resolution of anything. At the end, it was as it was in the beginning. There were unresolved issues and they remained unresolved. The narrator was consistent in her presentation which was pretty matter of fact with little alteration of expression or tone. I thought she sounded bored, as I often was, with the dialogue that went absolutely nowhere.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good, solid book well written. It has no plot contrivances; it's just a straight forward, slice of life story.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is the story of a young woman, recently separated from her husband Christopher, who gets a phone call from her mother-in-law telling her that Christopher is missing in Greece. Thus begins the search for Christopher that results in many secrets uncovered and a discussion on the various ways people cope with grief. It was a quick read but not truly compelling.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Meh. Unnamed woman goes to Greece at her MIL's suggestion to find her (estranged--MIL does not know this) husband. She spends about a week. The entire novel is her mental narration of her experiences and what she thinks about them.Totally not my kind of thing.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I disliked Kitamura's unconventional use of commas, her writing style was somewhat engaging despite this -- the story was good, that is to say -- I would not rush to read another of her books, the commas slowed me down -- angered me in fact. [Yes, I'm using, commas, ironically,]
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The narrator's mother-in-law, Isabella, is concerned that she has lost contact with her son Christopher and calls her about this. The narrator omits to tell her that she and Christopher are separated and she is now living with another man, Yvan. Instead she agrees to go and look for Christopher in Greece - Isabella somehow has the address of his hotel. The set-up sounds intriguing, but sadly I found this story very slow and dull. None of the characters interested me enough to care about them. Almost nothing happens (although Christopher's fate is uncovered), the narrator muses about her life in an unsympathetic fashion, and then it ends. She didn't seem to feel or behave in a recognizably normal way, although I must confess to skimming the second half.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A young woman, eight years younger and separated by said husband who is unable to remain faithful. She has agreed, on his request, to keep this a secret form the time being, not even letting his doting mother and father know. She is surprised to find out he has traveled to Greece, ostensibly to research his next book about mourning customs. This she learns when she receives a phone call from his mother, saying she was worried that she hasn't heard from him. To assuage his mothers fears and to ask for a divorce she travels to Greece.A book that chronicles the disintegration of a marriage using the narrators inner musings of our narrator. There is not much dialogue and what dialogue is there is related without quotation marks and often blends into the narrative. This writing is tight, finely expressed. I think I might have been more taken with this book if I had known what to expect. Whether it was my reading mood or my general mood, reading about the beginning, the middle and the end of this marriage, although there was somewhat of a mystery involved once our narrator gets to Greece, made for a very slow, albeit through reading experience. Since I am not a person that takes apart and muses over every significant event in my life, I really couldn't connect to this story nor this woman and her many repetitive thoughts.Still, we are all different and I don't want to put off others from reading this story. As I said this is a finely drawn account of a marriage that is ending, it just didn't hold for this reader a large enough appeal. I am sure there is an audience out there form this book. So give it a chance and prove me right.ARC from publisher.Published February 7th.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    One of the most depressingly pointless books I've ever read. There's barely a plot line & the main character's inner dialogue (which makes up the majority of the book) is toneless. I wish I'd never wasted my time on this mind-numbing book. I only finished it because I had to read it for book club.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    As much as I was uncomfortable with the authors writing style, I found the book difficult to put down. The narrator seemed to rambled on in her own head most of the time. The narrator seemed unconvinced by her own musings which had me doubting her observations and assumptions throughout much of the book.

    The title "The Separation" is symbolic of the many events and situations in life where we might experience a separation. With birth, one is separated from a mother. In marriage there is a separation of families, such as with death or divorce. On the same note, that which separates also connects in an awkward fashion.

    Ultimately, my patience was rewarded with a rather thought provoking ending. It is interesting how emotional ties can endure the many trials and tribulations in life.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I am sorry that I listened to the audio version instead of reading it. Usually audio expands my understanding of the text, but the awkward delivery here created a barrier to the author's elegant use of language -- and this novel depends much more on ideas than on plot. If you're interested in the book, skip the audio.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Possibly I'm having a rough time on the whys and whatfors of this book. Maybe it's me as a reader - I'm not really one to pick up a book relating to marriage/divorce. I guess I also love "purple prose" (which fun fact - I recently heard used in an old black and white Western show - I thought "purple prose" was much more newly invented!) So I love purple prose rather than straightforward writing, which this is. I feel like any moral to the story just went over my head. ALSO, whether or not Katie Kitamura is married to Hari Kunzru - this book reminded me a bit of 'Red Pill' - the spouse traveling to a hotel in another country and things go off the rails. It's almost like Hari Kunzru took 'A Separation' and 2020ed it and Kunzruified it and it became 'Red Pill'. I love that idea. 'A Separation' might not be wacky enough for me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    THE SEPARATIONKatie KitamuraMY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️▫️PUBLISHERRiverhead Books/Penguin Random House AudioPUBLISHEDFebruary 7, 2017SUMMARYA SEPARATION is about the impending end of a five year marriage. The unfaithful Christopher and his wife, who live in London, have decided to try a separation. Christopher curiously asks his wife to keep their separation a secret for a while. Six months after separating, Christopher goes missing in the south of Greece. Christopher's mother, Isabella calls and demands that his wife to go to Greece to search for him. Still keeping their separation a secret, she goes to the fire ravaged town of Mani. She arrives at the luxury hotel Christopher has been staying at for over a month, only to find that he was not there. He was due to check out that very same day, but no one has seen him in days. His wife decides to wait at the hotel for Christopher to return for his things. While she waits she uncovers yet another one of Christopher's affairs. His apparent activities at the hotel only affirm her desire to proceed with the divorce. Secrets abound in this disintegrating relationship.REVIEWA SEPARATION is narrated in the first person by Christopher's wife. We never know her name. The story unfolds very slowly through the intricate thoughts, musings, reflections and imagination of Christopher's wife. Dialogue is very limited. The concept of telling a story through the narrator's thoughts and and imagination is interesting, but I often found myself wishing the story to move on. I found the wife's musings very tiresome. While the story was interesting it was fairly predictable. On February 1, 2017 it was announced A SEPARATION will be made into a movie and Katherine Waterston will play Christopher's wife. Katherine Waterston also voiced the audio version of the book, which I found to be a little flat.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    These days very few people seem to publish short novels. I think maybe they find the task too confining; that readers want to know everything about everyone in the story. Kitamura doesn’t seem to have this problem. Instead I think she took the confines and reveled in them. First we have a woman separated from her husband who travels alone to an island to look for him. She stays in a hotel where she is almost the only guest. While she does interact with the people there, she knows she only has a limited time and so is relieved she won’t have to really get to know them.Nope, our nameless narrator is an observer. The writing and the character keep the reader at arm’s length. She is distant and detached. I did find it odd that she was able to intuit so much about a person or a situation that proved true. She states her unproven facts in such an assured way that it doesn’t surprise us that they turn out to be right.When the inevitable happens more people arrive, but her in-laws only serve to drive her further into herself and musing on her dissipated marriage and why she isn’t telling them she and Christopher were breaking up. That said, you will have to be prepared for a narrator who makes everything all about her. It’s interesting and confined to a short purview, but the world does revolve around her. And yes, like a few other reviewers I was bothered by her bizarre and imprecise use of commas. I had to re-read many sentences that just didn’t make sense the first time around. There were some lovely bits though -“Every romance requires a backdrop and an audience, even - or perhaps especially - the genuine ones, romance is not something that a couple can be expected to conjure by themselves, you and another, the two of you together, not just once but again and again, love in general is fortified by its context, nourished by the gaze of others.” p 35See what I mean about the commas? So many of those ideas ought to be given their own sentences.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book did remind me of The Dinner, how the story unfolded but it left me with much deeper contemplation. As, Christopher's wife cautiously approaches the final end to her separation and intentions to file for divorce she is derailed by a call from her mother in law who requests that she track down her son concerned by his lack of contact and unknowing of their separation. But as she prepares to grieve her marriage and move on with her life she gives her husband one last gift and keeps his secret about their separation. From that momemt on she finds herself living a lie she can't seem to bring to an end. This novel parallels the social media phenomenon of so many couples goin to lengths on social media to appear like the perfect family when the truth in many of those marriages is much more complex and dark.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A married couple have separated, but agreed to keep their marital status quiet for a while, when the husband disappears while in Greece. Sent by her mother-in-law, who still believes them to be together, the unnamed narrator of A Separation checks in to a room at the resort hotel in an isolated area to look for her husband. A Separation reminded me a lot of Rachel Cusk's Outline series, with its detached tone and how the narrator is content to keenly observe what is going on around her. She's in an odd position, being viewed as the wife of the absent man, but having been apart for six months, she's moved on with her life. There is a crime in this novel, but this is not a crime novel, or a thriller, but a quiet examination of relationships and how a change in one relationship affects other relationships. Katie Kitamura's writing is clear and lovely and does much to enhance the meditative feel of this novel.

    1 person found this helpful