The Temporary by Rachel Cusk

by Rachel Cusk, Unknown Author

When one of corporate London's transient typists unexpectedly crosses Ralph Loman's path, her disruptive beauty ignites a brief blaze of excitement in his troubled heart. But Francine Snaith is ravenous for attention, driven by a thirst for conquest, and when Ralph tries politely to extricate himself he finds he is bound in chains of consequence from which it seems there is no escape. 'Brilliantly perceptive...a ruthlessly honest dissection of modern sensibilities...It says much for her growing skills as a novelist that she is able to make something like a work of art out of her drawerful of our daily junk' - "The Times". 'Breathtaking, fascinating and believable..."The Temporary" would be worth reading for its self-regarding, utterly thoughtless anti-heroine alone, yet Cusk's interpretation of menial office existence and her understanding of its psychology is also piercing' - "Financial Times". 'This is the story of a Julie Burchill heroine in a Julian Barnes world...Cusk has earned all her eulogies. She is a writer of great promise' - "Literary Review". '"Temporary", a category of both employment and lifestyle, is such an apt metaphor of Nineties existence that Cusk deserves special praise just for thinking of it...She writes with nervy precision about the vagaries of minor ambitions and desires' - "Guardian". 'An exquisitely written gem of a book' - "Vogue".

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, 20th Century, British Literature, Novels, Canada

Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Rachel Cusk was born in Canada, and spent some of her childhood in Los Angeles, before her family returned to England, in 1974, when Cusk was 8 years old. She read English at New College, Oxford.

Cusk is the Whitbread Award–winning author of two memoirs, including The Last Supper, and seven novels, including Arlington Park, Saving Agnes, The Temporary, The Country Life, and The Lucky Ones.

She has won and been shortlisted for numerous prizes: her most recent novel, Outline (2014), was shortlisted for the Folio Prize, the Goldsmith's Prize and the Bailey's prize, and longlisted for Canada's Giller Prize. In 2003, Rachel Cusk was nominated by Granta magazine as one of 20 'Best of Young British Novelists'

She lives in Brighton, England.

Reviews

[emma]

love me some low rated lit fic

[Anne Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is Rachel Cusk's second novel. I haven't yet read her first but having read a few of her latest and been impressed by them, this one is clearly a very low step on the ladder of her novelistic trajectory. I'm not sure why I kept ploughing on with it, maybe in the (unrealised) hopes it would redeem itself. Her early work has been likened to Henry James, among others, and insofar as the prose is convoluted, overwrought and meandering, it is. But we don't expect Henry James in 1995 (the year of its publication). Apart from being overwritten, its weighed down to the point of torpidity by cumbersome metaphors that mostly don't work. Perhaps she hadn't been long out of a creative writing learning environment where she was told lots of metaphors make the writing more vivid. And they do, but used judiciously and with moderation. Here they leap out shouting "look at me" from almost every paragraph. As an example:

"He had done wrong, a terrible, intractable wrong reached by a steep stairway of mistakes and failures, from whose top he could view all the things he should have done and realise only how far he was from them. His helplessness could not absolve him: he had failed to defend what was his as it floated alone in its troubled sea, had abandoned where he should have protected, had cast away his fragile creation and left it to cower at the drip of wine-toxic blood, the rooting jabs of a stranger, the unfriendly air in which he himself was betrayed and reviled."

The characters are horrors - all of them. Pretentious, self-absorbed, vacillating, vacuous and wildly irritating.

We can only be thankful she's improved beyond bounds since this one.

[Hugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lighter in tone than any of the other Rachel Cusk novels I have read, this is still quite a black comedy. The characters are at least superficially dislikeable caricatures, but their failings, prejudices, motivations and misunderstandings are very human, and the writing is polished, witty and readable, with plenty of perceptive insights.

[Racheld]

This is a book that helped me understand the shyness of British people. The style of writing is extremely introverted, which is why I liked it, and makes you feel like you are under the skin of the characters. It is not always a comfortable experience. It shows how misunderstandings and miscommmunication cause suffering between people who are trying to be intimate.

[Rod · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm discovering, as I track back to the beginning of her career, that early Rachel Cusk is almost painfully overwritten, as if she is trying very hard to offer her novelistic credentials. This one feels like it's vying for comparison with early Martin Amis, if slightly, but only slightly, more human.

[heartshapedroomofangelscrying · Rating 3 out of 5]

Earlier Rachel Cusk work, her insane ability to capture the subtleties of human interaction and change are alive and still engaging, and the two protagonists’ social anxiety and borderline paranoia is the main expression of it here. It’s a little long and meandering, slightly repetitive, but I’m sure if I had read this before the Outline trilogy I would have been more impressed. Wish the sub/dom relationship between Ralph and Steven would have been explored more

[Gabriel Levc · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is perhaps the worst book by Cusk that I‘ve read, which somehow still makes it a pretty good book

[Lily M ❀ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Browsing a bookstore in Vancouver I happened upon a shelf of Rachel Cusk's books, each one more interesting than the last. I read every blurb, wondering which one to read, liking all -- eventually picking this one, since it was the first one on the shelf I'd seen.

Unfortunately, Cusk and I have not started out well. I have high hopes for the future of our relationship, though, as I later found out that The Temporary was one of her first books. I have great faith in her later work (and praying this faith is not misguided because I really loved the sound of those other blurbs) and am excited to read more from her.

It is with great regret that I rate The Temporary 2 stars, because for most of the book I thought it would be three. The novel was overwritten, but I had no problem with that -- like with my forage into Henry James, who many critique as overwritten, I scarcely noticed it. When I compare The Turn of the Screw's writing to the writing here in The Temporary, I must admit I do prefer the former.

I am not opposed to unlikeable main characters, and enjoyed both of the protagonists. I thought the plot was a bit loose, the ending a bit too ambiguous, and all in all I either missed the point of the book entirely or there wasn't one at all. I prefer to think of it being the latter.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly overwritten, as though Henry James were attempting chick lit... Cusk even seems to despise women to the same extent James did. Or maybe she just despises beautiful, vacuous women like Francine. She may have a point...

[D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"That it was 'only' a risotto was more unsettling, but her ignorance of risotto, combined with its admittedly exotic sound, left her no choice but to attribute his qualification to modesty.
'I love risotto,' she said, finding, as the word fell easily from her lips, that in fact she really did."

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rachel’s publisher: how many metaphors would you like to put in this book
Rachel: yes

[katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing read after The Country Life. Only one memorable witty exchange where the secretary is suggesting a bicycle for an eleven year old's birthday and the mother of boy decides on stocks. Hard to sympathize with Francine or Ralph who seem to let others define them.

[soph · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. this is my least favourite Rachel Cusk book i’ve read so far, but i still want to express my amazement at the eloquence with which she expresses herself regardless of genre, it is still evident here. in fact, it’s an achievement in itself to be able to create such awful characters, Ralph being so painfully insular he borders on inhuman and Francine being the most shallow, narcissistic and self-important anti heroine i’ve ever read. their internal dialogues actually shocked me with their blatant amorality, Francine being entirely, selfishly motivated by her need for attention and Ralph becoming desperate to be rid of her, so much so that he acts out in increasingly violent and distressing ways. the themes of self expectations and manicured lives create a sense of inauthenticity at every turn, not one of these characters seem like people id want to spend any time with. unfortunately, i would say that it is an accurate portrayal of certain people, and perhaps that’s why i felt i could not put this down, reading it with a sort of abstract horror and feeling incredibly lucky to not be in a situation like this one.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and claustrophobic, The Temporary is early Cusk, I read somewhere that it's the second novel she wrote. I prefer her later work, the Trilogy in particular, where her style is spare. But you can't deny the mesmerizing power of this novel, the fraught relationship at its center, the insights about men and women, early relationships, social and economic class.

[Ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

The blurb is slightly misleading - to quote, 'the perils of modern love.' These are not tales of peril - these are two sociopaths doing battle. Cusk continues to become one of the best writers of this century - no small claim. Read her to confirm! This was electric. I must say - my goal of reading all of Cusk won't happen but I am happy to keep reading her for years. Outstanding.

[Aparna Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite all the memes about Rachel Cusk’s writing being pretentious pain no one can contest that she is a brilliant writer, even if the readership may be today’s bohemian bourgeoisie or its aspirants. Having started with that self-aware message I feel obliged to also point out that having read four of her books in quick succession I strongly believe that hers is the writing that silently simmers, is clever and satirical - and I’m a huge fan. I think Cusk did many years ago what Rooney now does, except C did it with much more profundity and flair. And just less self-importance!

However, this particular book was not it for me. I think it’s C’s second novel and she still had not found her voice when she wrote it. She was grasping at concepts she thought would elevate her writing but only made it more mundane. It’s full of metaphors, despicable characters (which I usually don’t mind but here they are also vacuous and not always intentionally), and just general bad vibes. Written about a souring relationship between an insular newspaper editor and a floundering secretary and set in London, this story can be seen as a dark comedy or a comic tragedy - not written to evoke provocation but still managing to do exactly that. It is neither interesting nor challenging. Another thing I disliked was the unabashed use of metaphors that every sentence is laden with. It is hard to accept that Cusk was ever a writer who needed the kind of validation that only big words and mighty allegories can provide an insecure writer but clearly she was. Basically, Cusk is still fun - just start from her trilogy or Second Place. Skip this one. It’s hard to find her in this novel; she is perhaps there but she is still practising.

[Lulufrances · Rating 2 out of 5]

It pains me to give my fifth Cusk two stars but sorry - this was as dry as my throat is feeling, and I‘ve spent the better part of the week in bed with a sore throat coughing ceaselessly and painfully, so that should paint a lovely picture.
Her sophomore novel if I‘m not mistaken, and I am glad I didn‘t start my Rachel Cusk journey here because it was so wordy (dare I say overwritten) it was work getting through some sentences, and it came across as slightly pretentious, oops.

The story? Nothing new and unfortunately not offering anything new either - pretty girl used to her pretty girl privilege gets upset when a man isn‘t as head over heels with her as she’s used to, even though she couldn‘t care less for him, so she tries to ensnare him somehow to feel herself again and then…something happens that has the potential to truly ensnare him. We all know. Every character? Insufferable.

I was here for the 90s London vibes we could grasp at times and the little glimmers of future Cusk here and there.

[iina · Rating 2 out of 5]

An earlier and far less great Cusk than her more recent works. Some of her trademarks are already coming across here (perceptive analysis of the daily life, little thoughts and all our flaws, deep characterisation), but at the same time the metaphors are a little too much, with the language overall rich enough to make one need a nap afterwards. Also, deeply unlikeable characters which in itself is not a bad thing necessarily, but here it meant I didn't really care about what happened to them at any point.

[Sara Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was such a slog to read - disliked every minute of it. the book is so overwritten, even for Cusk, that it actually seems like a parody! and every character was so incredibly vapid and cruel that i started having nihilistic thoughts by the end.

[Anne-Marijn Küthe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poignant, well-written.

[Maya Ranganathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a self-proclaimed Rachel Cusk apologist, I’m usually inclined to like even the most turgid of her early novels – for example, I loved the irony and Oxford glamour in ‘Saving Agnes’ despite the heaviness and pretentiousness of Cusk’s many sub-claused sentences. In fact, I often find Cusk’s early tendency to overwrite a refreshing break from the Carveresque minimalism favoured by most contemporary novelists. However, this style seems to work best in ironic, darkly comic novels like ‘Saving Agnes’ and ‘The Country Life’, which are connected by a pervasive thread of absurdity, sometimes funny, sometimes sinister, and in which Cusk’s ornate descriptions of her character’s interior lives serve only to highlight the farcicality inherent in their perceptions of themselves and their interactions with one another. ‘The Temporary’ was by far a more earnest novel, and, devoid of its usual colourful, whimsical shades of irony, Cusk’s writing felt so fustian and affected that I found it difficult to take seriously. The Joycian level of detail we are given about Ralph’s habits and routines failed to disguise his fundamental tediousness as a character, and Francine was so cliched and cruelly written I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her despite her intended unlikability. The novel definitely picked up towards the end – the increased appearances of the delightfully insufferable, self-regarding, aristocratic Stephen, one of the only characters that felt truly believable, certainly helped to improve things – but Cusk’s writing felt strained and laboured throughout. Definitely not her best.

[Chris Merola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel is a maniac for this british Gone Girl ass novel

It seems that before she perfected lucid run-ons, Rachel excelled at dissecting every millisecond of the power shifts in a social interaction with a knife - the knife being pretty convoluted (but ultimately incisive!) sentences.

But I kinda love it. Rachel renders these characters with a burning specificity that I'd call casual hatred - like a kid holding a magnifying glass, burning ants in the sun while trying his best to hide the grin on his face.

Not sure why the community rating is so low, maybe some people expected Rachel to write the same way throughout her whole career? I feel like the claims of overwriting are only being levied because her prose got so crystal clear in later years...

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

An early Cusk novel. The characters are detestable, but you can discern the insecurities and messiness of being in your 20s, trying to create your own authenticity, but inevitably falling back to the terrible manipulation learned from home, school, and a vicious circle of friends.

[ynna]

Early Cusk era was not it

[Kol · Rating 4 out of 5]

If poignant was a book, it would be this

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Mélie Nasr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one juste didn't do much for me. I love some of her later work.

Partly, I didn't like either of the main characters (which is usually fine), but mostly I think I felt like this book was trying to diminish the female lead and give her no redeeming qualities, contrary to the leading male character, who has a few bursts of likability.

Maybe her writing evolved, or maybe I just missed something here.

[holly stathakis · Rating 5 out of 5]

reminds me of my mum maybe.

i really enjoy rachel cusk’s writing.

[Pen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars. I didn’t like it, then I was bored, then I was interested, then I liked it, then I was bored again. That’s not to say it isn’t impeccably written. I love Cusk’s writing. Everything seems beautiful, even in its ugliness.
I liked the exploration of loneliness and communication (or lack thereof.) Some passages were quite touching, others frustrating.
Impressed that this was Cusk’s second novel. She’s always been impressive and has had a distinctive style from the outset. Looking forward to exploring more of her earlier work.