A novel so seamless, that follows its path with such consequence, that even minor deviations seem loaded with meaning. Wonderful. -- Karl Ove Knausgaard
A Separation is riveting, unsettling and beautifully written. Katie Kitamura really is the business. -- Roddy Doyle
Consider Katie Kitamura a literary heavyweight in the making. * Vogue *
Kitamura's protagonist is a smart, accomplished, contemporary version of that ancient literary figure, the unreliable narrator ... A Separation leaves you intrigued, impressed -- Kate Clanchy * Guardian *
Gripping ... the precision of Kitamura's prose is nothing short of extraordinary. She writes with a piercing clarity picking apart the detail of her characters' emotions and actions with the meticulousness of a forensic expert analysing a crime scene, or a medical examiner conducting an autopsy ... There's so much to admire here; such delight to be taken in the composition of these clauses, the way in which they allow one to visualise the pace of the underlying though processes. Not to mention the fact that Kitamura's astonishing decision to elucidate instincts and impulses-not least to first describe, then identity-is inspired ... She fearlessly strips back facades and plunges depths, as a result of which A Separation is a beautifully written powerhouse of a novel that defies all expectations. -- Lucy Scholes * Independent *
The voice is strong - distinctive, inviting while also remote, expressive of an emotional limbo ... finely executed ... Multiple scenes are artfully articulated, and Kitamura is skilful at describing fine shades of feeling ... the prose is often elegant ... A Separation successfully evokes a highly specific mood: a lostness, a dislocation, a suspension, a mourning ... Kitamura strikes a haunting note -- Lionel Shriver * FT *
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
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
A Separation opens up fissures of ambiguity in emotional experiences too often misunderstood as monolithic-grief, desire, estrangement-and plumbs these crevices for all their complexities. It has both urgency and afterglow: I read it quickly, but didn't stop thinking about it for a long time once I was done. -- Leslie Jamison
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. -- Rivka Galchen
Electrifying... I read it in one breathless sitting. -- Alex Preston * Guardian 2017 fiction picks *
Kitamura's novels do new things with form I hadn't thought possible... A Separation will win awards and it's about time. -- Nikesh Shukla
Gripping yet thoughtful psychological novel ... an absorbing, reflective read ... it builds a tension that kept me hooked * Stylist *
A memorable, unsettling novel ... Insights into intimacy and infatuation roil beneath the surface of Kitamura's spare prose as she meticulously dissects the emotions that reverberate in the wake of infidelity. -- Hephzibah Anderson * Mail on Sunday *
Kitamura delivers a powerful story ... as the mystery questions how deeply we can ever know each other. -- Anthony Cummins * Metro *
Beautifully written -- Leaf Arbuthnot * Sunday Times *
Notable Books of 2017: A coolly unsettling postmodern mystery * New York Times *
