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A review by orangejenny
The Bradshaw Variations by Rachel Cusk
3.0
From the first page:
This is driven by the writing and, to a lesser extent, the characters. The plot is nothing special, with a climax that feels sudden and forced. It's sharp and unsentimental when it comes to family relationships, especially adult parent/child and adult sibling relationships. I had thought it would delve into the purpose of art for people whose lives aren't entirely devoted to it, by exploring Thomas's piano study and Claudia's painting, but it's such a short book shifting between so many characters that there isn't really time to get deeply into anything. Overall I didn't exactly love this novel, but I'm happy enough to have read it and am interested to read more of Cusk's work.
He is forty-one, the age when a life comes out of its own past like something out of a mould; and either it is solid, all of a piece, or it fails to hold its shape and disintegrates.
This is driven by the writing and, to a lesser extent, the characters. The plot is nothing special, with a climax that feels sudden and forced. It's sharp and unsentimental when it comes to family relationships, especially adult parent/child and adult sibling relationships. I had thought it would delve into the purpose of art for people whose lives aren't entirely devoted to it, by exploring Thomas's piano study and Claudia's painting, but it's such a short book shifting between so many characters that there isn't really time to get deeply into anything. Overall I didn't exactly love this novel, but I'm happy enough to have read it and am interested to read more of Cusk's work.