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A review by shimmery
Outline by Rachel Cusk
4.0
3.5 stars, I think. I’m not sure how I feel about this book. In theory it’s exactly the kind of thing I enjoy — well written, and about a writer meeting a variety of different people and talking with them as she teaches a creative writing course in Athens. I loved the scenes that showed the heat and life of the city. I wish there was more of that life in it.
The many conversations were insightful and yet there’s something very sombre about the book. Many sad revelations about people’s inability to please one another in relationships. It’s relatively humourless, with just one or two amusing moments. And since all the conversations are told through the point of view of the narrator, many of them blur in to one with the characters not really coming through in their speech.
As more intelligent reviews have pointed out, we discover only an outline of the narrator through her conversations with others — so I suppose this blurring is sort of the point.
There’s nothing wrong with the book, and maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood to read it. Maybe this isn’t the kind of book for people who have never been married and don’t want to have the illusion so shattered. I found I wanted a little more generosity with the characters, but as many are only fleeting there isn’t really time for that.
Maybe I’d have a different review if I read it at another time when life wasn’t so bleak...
The many conversations were insightful and yet there’s something very sombre about the book. Many sad revelations about people’s inability to please one another in relationships. It’s relatively humourless, with just one or two amusing moments. And since all the conversations are told through the point of view of the narrator, many of them blur in to one with the characters not really coming through in their speech.
As more intelligent reviews have pointed out, we discover only an outline of the narrator through her conversations with others — so I suppose this blurring is sort of the point.
There’s nothing wrong with the book, and maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood to read it. Maybe this isn’t the kind of book for people who have never been married and don’t want to have the illusion so shattered. I found I wanted a little more generosity with the characters, but as many are only fleeting there isn’t really time for that.
Maybe I’d have a different review if I read it at another time when life wasn’t so bleak...