Not 100% sure on my thoughts about this book yet but I will say that is definitely is unique and original. I did struggle with the writing style however, and got lost several times as the plot was hard to follow.

This one was sadly a DNF from me. I just couldn't get into the writing style of the author and I think that impacted my enjoyment of the story he was telling. I just wasn't able to fully immerse myself into it and kept on putting it down. It's probably a "me thing", not all books suit all people. Although, it could just be a "me at the moment" thing! And, as I never say never with a book, unless it is completely awful, which this wasn't. I will park it for a while and maybe try again when my headspace is clearer. It might even be one for listening to on AudioBook. I've done that before... Watch this space if/when I do...!

I can honestly say I've never read anything like this book, and I mean that in the best way. It's a beautiful and somewhat confusing exploration of one human from multiple points of view, trying to know who this single person is, whether they're good or bad, and whether their actions are right or wrong.

When describing encounters and experiences with this person, it reveals more about the one talking than the one being talked about which leads to a very raw and honest book about longing, love, closeness and care. I loved how this book touched on all kinds of different relationships from parent and child, siblings, friendships, romance and caretaking.

S, the person this is about, remains just out of our reach. We can never fully know who he is, his story and what makes him tick and because of that he remains this ghost-like figure throughout the book. Always there, ever present but always able to evade us when we think we're close enough to touch him.

Although I found it expertly written and very cleverly done, I did at times long for some context as someone who really does need things spelling out for them quite often. It left me confused but also keen to read on and unravel the mystery of why we're discussing S and who S actually is.

Perhaps I read this in the wrong environment, but this book didn’t impact me in the way I thought it would. I found the narrative fairly confusing and difficult to follow. I couldn’t work out who was who, so the story lost quite a lot of its impact - but I think this is more a flaw with the digital format of the book (I couldn’t just flick back to the table at the front to clarify the identity of each anonymised speaker). Perhaps this would be clearer and more effective in print, but unfortunately this didn’t work for me.


Ps. There is a typo on pg.290. Second paragraph down, it should be “used to be” (currently it is “used to me”).

Many thanks to NetGalley and Transworld for this arc.

Told in a series of interviews Clinical Intimacy by Ewan Gass is a novel that builds up a portrait of a person by getting all the different takes of people he's interacted with.