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A review by sssummer
Coventry by Rachel Cusk
2.0
Technically this is a DNF because I didn't finish the book/author reviews at the end because THEY WERE SPOILERY (AND WITHOUT WARNING !!!!) and random? So were her thoughts on like I think it was a fashion or art show, it was so random and I could not care less about it.
Ya I didn't like this collection. It gave me high school English vibes, like the analytic essays about art/books were trying WAY too hard. THe whole collection actually struck me as quiteee pretentious. The way things are phrased is super convoluted and full of a false modesty sort of coyness to it (lots of 'I suppose' or ending a sentence with a comma and then 'obviously,' --ok those don't sound so bad when I isolate them from the text but just trust me on this one because I'm too lazy to reach across my couch for the copy.)
I liked some aspects. I liked the title essay, and the beginning of 'I am Everything I am Nothing'. Don't get me wrong, here and there the writing came through and there were interesting perspectives/questions on modern life. But for the most part, this book is a lot of filler. It feels incredibly self-indulgent, is the editor OOO?
It was in the third essay, 'On Rudeness' that she lost me.
Because of three reasons,
1 the way she characterized rudeness was dumb 'people who tell the truth' ? like for one I wouldn't characterize rudeness that way actually, and for two it's riddled with pre-suppositions about the 'truth'.
2 The 'truth' for Cusk is that which is negative (as implied mind you, she doesn't define how she's using the term so explicitly), and I don't think she realizes this is her own bias. She annoying gestures a lot to the 'truth' in a way that is just so.... cheesy and (dare I say it again?) pretentious.
3 Oh ya and that story she told about confronting the airport worker actually made her look so bad?! Yikes. She was
4 Here's another reason, the way she grossly oversimplifies the discussion politics here! Seriously does not do the topic justice in any form, which is a shame because I do think the question of how 'rudeness' factors into morality or politics is a really interesting question!
You know who her writing style reminds me of? Jordan Peterson's writing style. Seriously.
Both authors touch lightly and superficially on a few different topics, linking them together through magic and vague gestures to abstract terms and philosophical concepts in ways that were sometimes outright confusing, and never substantially defined. Sometimes this formula does work for these authors! Most times it does not.
I mean Christ, all you have to do is look at the feminism/gender work analysis in here. It feels so dated. It's SO white feminism and it's so navel-grazy and narcissistic (it's a weird mentality for sure... I mean she genuinely ponders over "but feminists are supposed to hate men, right?" is just ridiculous (also I can't remember if the ',right' was there in the original text tho it wouldn't surprise me if it genuinely was because that is the exact type of coy writing I find so punchable sometimes).
People who love this book are like "omg I'd read her grocery list" - bestie this IS her grocery list. Or was written right next to it in her notes app.
Anyways, sad because this slowed the reading roll I had been on.
Ya I didn't like this collection. It gave me high school English vibes, like the analytic essays about art/books were trying WAY too hard. THe whole collection actually struck me as quiteee pretentious. The way things are phrased is super convoluted and full of a false modesty sort of coyness to it (lots of 'I suppose' or ending a sentence with a comma and then 'obviously,' --ok those don't sound so bad when I isolate them from the text but just trust me on this one because I'm too lazy to reach across my couch for the copy.)
I liked some aspects. I liked the title essay, and the beginning of 'I am Everything I am Nothing'. Don't get me wrong, here and there the writing came through and there were interesting perspectives/questions on modern life. But for the most part, this book is a lot of filler. It feels incredibly self-indulgent, is the editor OOO?
It was in the third essay, 'On Rudeness' that she lost me.
Because of three reasons,
1 the way she characterized rudeness was dumb 'people who tell the truth' ? like for one I wouldn't characterize rudeness that way actually, and for two it's riddled with pre-suppositions about the 'truth'.
2 The 'truth' for Cusk is that which is negative (as implied mind you, she doesn't define how she's using the term so explicitly), and I don't think she realizes this is her own bias. She annoying gestures a lot to the 'truth' in a way that is just so.... cheesy and (dare I say it again?) pretentious.
3 Oh ya and that story she told about confronting the airport worker actually made her look so bad?! Yikes. She was
4 Here's another reason, the way she grossly oversimplifies the discussion politics here! Seriously does not do the topic justice in any form, which is a shame because I do think the question of how 'rudeness' factors into morality or politics is a really interesting question!
You know who her writing style reminds me of? Jordan Peterson's writing style. Seriously.
Both authors touch lightly and superficially on a few different topics, linking them together through magic and vague gestures to abstract terms and philosophical concepts in ways that were sometimes outright confusing, and never substantially defined. Sometimes this formula does work for these authors! Most times it does not.
I mean Christ, all you have to do is look at the feminism/gender work analysis in here. It feels so dated. It's SO white feminism and it's so navel-grazy and narcissistic (it's a weird mentality for sure... I mean she genuinely ponders over "but feminists are supposed to hate men, right?" is just ridiculous (also I can't remember if the ',right' was there in the original text tho it wouldn't surprise me if it genuinely was because that is the exact type of coy writing I find so punchable sometimes).
People who love this book are like "omg I'd read her grocery list" - bestie this IS her grocery list. Or was written right next to it in her notes app.
Anyways, sad because this slowed the reading roll I had been on.