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A review by casskrug
Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk
5.0
once again i find that i enjoy rachel cusk’s standalone books more than the outline trilogy! arlington park follows a group of women in a suburb of london throughout the course of one day, culminating in a dinner party where they all come together. the women are all wives and mothers struggling with their positions in life, and in that i felt a lot of the themes from aftermath and a life’s work shining through. while it portrays their struggles with domesticity in a very real way, rachel cusk is also critiquing the incredible privilege of these women despite their unhappiness. each character has a different level of empathy for people that are less fortunate than them, and we see cusk’s critiques through the interactions and clashes that result from these differing opinions.
what really stands out to me in this book, however, is the rich imagery that cusk masterfully creates. there is a scene at a shopping mall that is so detailed that it feels like you’re actually there. the messy bedrooms of the children are built ip, toy by toy, mess by mess, that you can see the rooms in your mind. these descriptions do such a great job at demonstrating how the world these families live in is so mundane yet so excessive at the same time, due to their class and status. it feels like cusk’s writing is less restrained here than in the outline books, so lively and almost playful, and it’s so enjoyable to read.
what really stands out to me in this book, however, is the rich imagery that cusk masterfully creates. there is a scene at a shopping mall that is so detailed that it feels like you’re actually there. the messy bedrooms of the children are built ip, toy by toy, mess by mess, that you can see the rooms in your mind. these descriptions do such a great job at demonstrating how the world these families live in is so mundane yet so excessive at the same time, due to their class and status. it feels like cusk’s writing is less restrained here than in the outline books, so lively and almost playful, and it’s so enjoyable to read.