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A review by documentno_is
Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
For context, this is the first Rachel Cusk novel I have read so my review might not illuminate anything if you are already familiar with her style.
What I liked:
The lens cast on these women is neither entirely damning nor is it completely devoid of criticism, it shows them in their hypocrisy and privilege as often as it empathizes with their prisons
The descriptive is jarring, cold, and poignant without being too overly descriptive.
The cadence, while a bit slow for me, is consistent
The setting is very alive, it is alive in its characters as much as it is in its description; Cusk has perfectly painted a snapshot in time in a particular neighborhood and class that I am not super familiar with otherwise. Her prose is skillful and sometimes damning.
What I didn't like:
I feel that if there is no plot, then there should at least be some character development. I think you could really make the argument that in this novel, nothing happens.
I couldn't quite pin any distinctive voice between any of these characters. Jumping between Juliet or Maisie or Sory was like a single character's running monologue and the only thing that changed was the names of the husbands and children; you could perhaps snake the argument this was intentional-but then it leaves the anomaly of Christine? She is a little harsher than the other women, a little more off the cusp, and a little more daring/ "problematic" but also a little more human. My inability to distinguish the characters made it hard to discern why there were so many.
The novel culminates in this ridiculous dinner scene where Christine and the other women are completely disconnected from each other, their husbands, and really lay bare their privilege, their horribleness. The energy of the prose in this climax is relatively neutral, it feels as even-keeled as the text before it and never really feels like an "event."
Ultimately the novel is clearly a beautiful piece of literature that dives rather majestically into the throes of womanhood, whiteness, class, and British-ness (lol) but maybe doesn't say that much about any of those things (or at least nothing I haven't read more poignantly from other novels.) While the structure was clear, the purpose was muddled and I'm left a bit wanting but not unwilling to dive further into Cusk's Bibliography.
What I liked:
The lens cast on these women is neither entirely damning nor is it completely devoid of criticism, it shows them in their hypocrisy and privilege as often as it empathizes with their prisons
The descriptive is jarring, cold, and poignant without being too overly descriptive.
The cadence, while a bit slow for me, is consistent
The setting is very alive, it is alive in its characters as much as it is in its description; Cusk has perfectly painted a snapshot in time in a particular neighborhood and class that I am not super familiar with otherwise. Her prose is skillful and sometimes damning.
What I didn't like:
I feel that if there is no plot, then there should at least be some character development. I think you could really make the argument that in this novel, nothing happens.
I couldn't quite pin any distinctive voice between any of these characters. Jumping between Juliet or Maisie or Sory was like a single character's running monologue and the only thing that changed was the names of the husbands and children; you could perhaps snake the argument this was intentional-but then it leaves the anomaly of Christine? She is a little harsher than the other women, a little more off the cusp, and a little more daring/ "problematic" but also a little more human. My inability to distinguish the characters made it hard to discern why there were so many.
Ultimately the novel is clearly a beautiful piece of literature that dives rather majestically into the throes of womanhood, whiteness, class, and British-ness (lol) but maybe doesn't say that much about any of those things (or at least nothing I haven't read more poignantly from other novels.) While the structure was clear, the purpose was muddled and I'm left a bit wanting but not unwilling to dive further into Cusk's Bibliography.