Intimacy

By Hanif Kureishi.

I had seen the movie My Beautiful Laundrette ages ago and though I can't remember it properly, I know I liked it at the time. So I saw the author wrote some books too, and so I set to read them ... 

  

    Intimacy is a quick read ( 3-4 hours ). Weird. Seems that it generated a lot of debates at the time it came out. I think I can see why : usually this sort of quasi-autobiographical novel is written by women, and having the point of view of a man ( and moreover in the "bad" role of the husband and father who leaves his family ) is rare.

     Interesting but I can’t say I liked it. I rather disliked it, or rather found it pointless somewhat. Interesting as a social observer : you discover minds and sides of a society you were never aware of, and the intimacy indeed of a life I never thought about for the reason that I can’t relate at all with the main character, nor with any other of the characters in the book. I wonder how people can live with that much of chaos of feelings inside ( and why most people marry in the first place when they clearly shoudn’t ? ). Interesting also because I discover the way some parts of our societies are towards sexual matters : so free and casual that it looks totaly depraved and boring and pointless ( it's a feat, to make the most exciting and mysterious subject of any society, sex, to a boring one ! Though the characters want to believe it's still exciting ). I understand then why the main character is running after an idea of love ( a diminished idea at that ) : it’s the last mystery left to him to find life interesting and worth of living.

     On the same sort of subject, I found The Buddha Of Suburbia by the same author more fun.