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Outline
The Outline Trilogy: Outline, Transit and Kudos
“These novels are among the most important written in this century so far.” —The Globe and Mail
Rachel Cusk’s ambitious Outline trilogy has received acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Outline (2015) was a finalist for both the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction. Transit (2017), has been called “dreamlike” (Toronto Star), “extraordinary” (The Daily Telegraph) and “a work of stunning beauty, deep insight and great originality” (The New York Times Book Review). And Kudos (2018) has been called “intellectually entrancing” (The Globe and Mail), “radical and beautiful” (The New Yorker) and “bracingly compelling” (Vogue).
Brought together in one exquisite collection, this groundbreaking trilogy follows Faye, a novelist facing divorce and family collapse, as she teaches creative writing in Athens, rebuilds a family in London and travels to European cities for literary events—along the way meeting people who help to reveal the merit in suffering, the fear that accompanies mysterious, inescapable change, and the hope of new possibilities that open from it. Cusk’s original and powerful writing captures brilliant and startling insights into facing a great loss and the trauma of change.
Rachel Cusk’s ambitious Outline trilogy has received acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Outline (2015) was a finalist for both the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction. Transit (2017), has been called “dreamlike” (Toronto Star), “extraordinary” (The Daily Telegraph) and “a work of stunning beauty, deep insight and great originality” (The New York Times Book Review). And Kudos (2018) has been called “intellectually entrancing” (The Globe and Mail), “radical and beautiful” (The New Yorker) and “bracingly compelling” (Vogue).
Brought together in one exquisite collection, this groundbreaking trilogy follows Faye, a novelist facing divorce and family collapse, as she teaches creative writing in Athens, rebuilds a family in London and travels to European cities for literary events—along the way meeting people who help to reveal the merit in suffering, the fear that accompanies mysterious, inescapable change, and the hope of new possibilities that open from it. Cusk’s original and powerful writing captures brilliant and startling insights into facing a great loss and the trauma of change.
608 pages, Paperback
Published August 20, 2019
104 people are currently reading
4254 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Cusk
60 books5,128 followersRachel 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
December 11, 2024
Update: Finished the trilogy. Each of the novels clocks in at just about 200 pages, all very short and very wonderful. Absolutely loved this. May be my best Free Little Library find ever.
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I read Outline in a stand-alone volume a few years ago and liked it very much. After finding Rachel Cusk’s Outline Trilogy at a Free Little Library recently, I’ve re-read it and loved it a lot. When I get more out of a book and love it even more the second time, I know I’ve found a good one.
This is probably not a book for everyone. It’s very “talky,” dealing with some of my favorite subjects such as writing, storytelling, relationships, and searching for one’s own identify in relation to the rest of the world; I thought it was brilliant and beautifully written. The narrator is a writer who has gone to Athens to teach a writing course and the book is structured as a series of conversations between people whose stories illuminate their experiences and relationships with others, which I found insightful and compelling.
I’ll take a short break from Cusk with something completely different before continuing with the other two novels in the trilogy, Transit and Kudos, which will be new to me. Blake Crouch’s new sci-fi thriller Upgrade should work nicely as a fun, light palate-cleanser, also a Free Little Library find. My local FLL kiosk is batting 1000 this month.
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I read Outline in a stand-alone volume a few years ago and liked it very much. After finding Rachel Cusk’s Outline Trilogy at a Free Little Library recently, I’ve re-read it and loved it a lot. When I get more out of a book and love it even more the second time, I know I’ve found a good one.
This is probably not a book for everyone. It’s very “talky,” dealing with some of my favorite subjects such as writing, storytelling, relationships, and searching for one’s own identify in relation to the rest of the world; I thought it was brilliant and beautifully written. The narrator is a writer who has gone to Athens to teach a writing course and the book is structured as a series of conversations between people whose stories illuminate their experiences and relationships with others, which I found insightful and compelling.
I’ll take a short break from Cusk with something completely different before continuing with the other two novels in the trilogy, Transit and Kudos, which will be new to me. Blake Crouch’s new sci-fi thriller Upgrade should work nicely as a fun, light palate-cleanser, also a Free Little Library find. My local FLL kiosk is batting 1000 this month.
November 1, 2019
LONELINESS, SOLITUDE OR SOLICITUDE?
I must confess I didn’t particularly enjoy reading Rachel Cusk' “Outline,” a book which at times I found boring and a bit repetitive in its formula. Only when I finished it, though, I understood the mastery with which the author created her female narrator's voice.
I thought the book wouldn’t stay with me for long, since the stories told in there were not particularly interesting to me. Instead, and again against my predictions, I keep hearing the voice of this mature woman (in her late 50s perhaps?) who seemingly has gone through many things in her life – loves, hopes, disillusionments, loss, grief. To a certain extent, the way this woman-narrator goes about her life is exemplary: She has found balance – or so it seems – in a kind of detached outlook towards places, objects, humans, animals. She registers what people say, what they tell her without ever judging, without imposing her views or her will. She simply lets herself – and the others – be.
It’s not fatalism. It sounds more like a state of acquired wisdom after having lived to the fullest, after having experienced all sorts of emotions, feelings, happy events and sorrowful times.
I long to acquire that calmness, that quiescent state of mind that only age, perhaps, allows. A way of being in the world without needing to belong to any particular place, person, mental territory. I don’t know if all this makes sense at all. Perhaps I’m just ranting. But try to mentally re-read the book playing as a soundtrack the D minor fugue from Back’s French Suites (it’s the piece mentioned by one of the students’ in the narrator's creative writing class). Does it work?
I mainly lived this book as a multifaceted meditation on loneliness, and the possibility of transforming this feeling into a state of fulfilling solitude.
But then I wonder if, after all, instead of detachment and solitude we shouldn’t pursue “solicitude” (letting the other person/s just be) – making it the right attribute of a life well spent.
I must confess I didn’t particularly enjoy reading Rachel Cusk' “Outline,” a book which at times I found boring and a bit repetitive in its formula. Only when I finished it, though, I understood the mastery with which the author created her female narrator's voice.
I thought the book wouldn’t stay with me for long, since the stories told in there were not particularly interesting to me. Instead, and again against my predictions, I keep hearing the voice of this mature woman (in her late 50s perhaps?) who seemingly has gone through many things in her life – loves, hopes, disillusionments, loss, grief. To a certain extent, the way this woman-narrator goes about her life is exemplary: She has found balance – or so it seems – in a kind of detached outlook towards places, objects, humans, animals. She registers what people say, what they tell her without ever judging, without imposing her views or her will. She simply lets herself – and the others – be.
It’s not fatalism. It sounds more like a state of acquired wisdom after having lived to the fullest, after having experienced all sorts of emotions, feelings, happy events and sorrowful times.
I long to acquire that calmness, that quiescent state of mind that only age, perhaps, allows. A way of being in the world without needing to belong to any particular place, person, mental territory. I don’t know if all this makes sense at all. Perhaps I’m just ranting. But try to mentally re-read the book playing as a soundtrack the D minor fugue from Back’s French Suites (it’s the piece mentioned by one of the students’ in the narrator's creative writing class). Does it work?
I mainly lived this book as a multifaceted meditation on loneliness, and the possibility of transforming this feeling into a state of fulfilling solitude.
But then I wonder if, after all, instead of detachment and solitude we shouldn’t pursue “solicitude” (letting the other person/s just be) – making it the right attribute of a life well spent.
December 19, 2019
Rachel Cusk levels all fools with her sharp, discerning eye. This trilogy is essential reading for all in the age of Trump and Brexit.
July 21, 2021
Det tog emot att läsa klart denna bok. Även om den är välskriven upplevde jag att det var svårt att knyta an till någon av karaktärerna, Faye (som huvudkaraktär) får man veta så lite om att det inte finns något riktigt att greppa om, och de andra, som kommer och går, är så flyktiga att det inte känns värt att försöka anknyta till eller lägga större vikt vid.
Helt enkelt inte en trilogi för mig, den var visserligen lättläst, men det tog emot mot slutet av Kudos att ens bry mig nog för att orka läsa klart. En väldigt pratig bokserie med många berättelser (vissa rätt intressanta) men alldeles för lite substans för att jag skulle kunna intressera mig för den fullt ut.
Helt enkelt inte en trilogi för mig, den var visserligen lättläst, men det tog emot mot slutet av Kudos att ens bry mig nog för att orka läsa klart. En väldigt pratig bokserie med många berättelser (vissa rätt intressanta) men alldeles för lite substans för att jag skulle kunna intressera mig för den fullt ut.
February 6, 2021
For me, this “reinvention of the novel” totally didn’t work… It was an absolute chore to get through, and by the end of the first part of the trilogy, I was ready to toss it across the room while shouting: “WHYYYY?!”
The style is emotionally detached; the language is dry, cold, and lifeless; and using the same stilted and somewhat old-fashioned voice for all of the various people who tell their stories didn’t work. I was completely unable to feel the slightest connection to, or interest in, any of the characters.
It was like being stuck next to some stuffy old academic at a dinner party and having to listen to their banal and pointless anecdotes about other unremarkable people all night.
bleh. I shall not punish myself by attempting to read the other two parts.
The style is emotionally detached; the language is dry, cold, and lifeless; and using the same stilted and somewhat old-fashioned voice for all of the various people who tell their stories didn’t work. I was completely unable to feel the slightest connection to, or interest in, any of the characters.
It was like being stuck next to some stuffy old academic at a dinner party and having to listen to their banal and pointless anecdotes about other unremarkable people all night.
bleh. I shall not punish myself by attempting to read the other two parts.
May 20, 2020
I began reading Outline via Libby on my ipad. I was so enraptured by the text that I wanted to own a physical copy and bought the entire trilogy as a paperback. Outline was by far my favorite of the three. Never before have I encountered a story structured in this way: the protagonist is a non-character, but rather a receptacle of the stories of those around her. We learn about her world and experiences not through her own accounts, but through the intimate, detailed stories that others reveal about themselves. These stories are, of course, filtered through the protagonist’s eyes (we see this in Transit when the personal narrative of a builder who barely speaks English is elegant if sparse), and in some ways we come to know her through the attention and sadness and humanity to imbues into others’ stories.
I adored Outline—the narrator herself, merely the outline of a person, while the details of those around her are overflowing with emotion and physicality. Once I understood the form, however, I began to lose a bit of interest in Transit and Kudos. I was bowled over by the Outline approach, but perhaps lost some love as it went on and on.
I adored Outline—the narrator herself, merely the outline of a person, while the details of those around her are overflowing with emotion and physicality. Once I understood the form, however, I began to lose a bit of interest in Transit and Kudos. I was bowled over by the Outline approach, but perhaps lost some love as it went on and on.
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October 7, 2022jag var helt golvad av den här!
det är ett sömlöst berättande genom huvudpersonen faye, som trots (eller på grund av?) sin genomgående anonymitet skrivs fram som ett slags stormens öga, någon läsaren kan hålla fast vid. hon är observant och inkännande, ett tillstånd som jag märker smittar av sig under läsningen. det är fascinerande hur allt känns sammanhängande, när sidorna bäst beskrivs som ett kaleidoskop av mänskliga öden. med jämna mellanrum blixtrar texten till och delar av mitt eget liv framträder i relief.
men i tredje boken känner jag mig mätt på tonen och tappar lässug. det är för många trådar vid det här laget, jag orkar inte ta in mer. texten faller isär och jag kämpar de sista 200 s. jag skulle rekommendera att läsa trilogin med lite luft mellan böckerna och inte i ett svep. absolut sista scenen var dock väl värd kämpandet: som en målning!
det är ett sömlöst berättande genom huvudpersonen faye, som trots (eller på grund av?) sin genomgående anonymitet skrivs fram som ett slags stormens öga, någon läsaren kan hålla fast vid. hon är observant och inkännande, ett tillstånd som jag märker smittar av sig under läsningen. det är fascinerande hur allt känns sammanhängande, när sidorna bäst beskrivs som ett kaleidoskop av mänskliga öden. med jämna mellanrum blixtrar texten till och delar av mitt eget liv framträder i relief.
men i tredje boken känner jag mig mätt på tonen och tappar lässug. det är för många trådar vid det här laget, jag orkar inte ta in mer. texten faller isär och jag kämpar de sista 200 s. jag skulle rekommendera att läsa trilogin med lite luft mellan böckerna och inte i ett svep. absolut sista scenen var dock väl värd kämpandet: som en målning!
August 25, 2020
I loved these books - Outline and Transit especially - they're funny, astute, strange, brilliantly constructed. Each is like a visit to a great big mind. Cusk said in an interview she can't foresee going back to writing novels that are strictly made up, i.e. wholly fiction. These are based on real events, though I think she did fictionalize parts of them.
Whatever they are, I couldn't put them down.
Whatever they are, I couldn't put them down.
June 12, 2021
Individually, I'd assign four stars to each of the three books. But they are so interesting as a formal whole, that five stars works.
If you've enjoyed the trilogy, I can't wait for you to read Cusk's new SECOND PLACE!
If you've enjoyed the trilogy, I can't wait for you to read Cusk's new SECOND PLACE!
April 24, 2025
Jag gör inte den här trilogin rättvisa. Jag borde ha läst de tre böckerna med viss tids mellanrum och därigenom låtit varje del sjunka in mer. Det finns så mycket visdom här, insprängd i berättelserna.
Dispositionen är unik. Huvudpersonen, Faye, fungerar som en lins. Vi får bara veta lite om henne; konturer, antydningar. Hela trilogin bygger på att hon lyssnar på människorna hon möter, allt från tillfälliga bekantskaper till grannar och författarkollegor. Det är genom Fayes lyssnande vi får en bild av henne. Hon värderar inte, utan lyssnar och tar in människor precis som de är och bjuder med det in läsaren att tolka. Berättelsens kraft blir tydlig: hur vi formar våra liv utifrån våra tolkningar och de erfarenheter vi bär med oss.
Trilogin gör anspråk på verkligheten, fast ändå inte. Handlingen är utbytt mot en slags diktering. Karaktärerna talar med samma ton, eftersom vi hör dem genom Faye, men ändå inte, eftersom de delar med sig av sina egna erfarenheter. Teman som skilsmässa, manligt och kvinnligt, skrivande och berättande, föräldraskap och resande återkommer. Men också verkligheten i sig: vad är egentligen en sann, verklig upplevelse, och hur kan den skilja sig så mycket mellan två personer som – objektivt sett – varit med om samma sak?
Cusk skriver mycket övertygande. Hon är en skicklig berättare, med en perfekt balanserad gestaltning, och idéerna som förs fram genom dialogerna, ur olika perspektiv, är både intressanta och inspirerande. Trilogin är som en mäktig chokladtårta: varje bit är fantastisk, med utmärkta råvaror i grunden. Men slukar man den för snabbt och med för mycket begär, kan den bli överväldigande.
Dispositionen är unik. Huvudpersonen, Faye, fungerar som en lins. Vi får bara veta lite om henne; konturer, antydningar. Hela trilogin bygger på att hon lyssnar på människorna hon möter, allt från tillfälliga bekantskaper till grannar och författarkollegor. Det är genom Fayes lyssnande vi får en bild av henne. Hon värderar inte, utan lyssnar och tar in människor precis som de är och bjuder med det in läsaren att tolka. Berättelsens kraft blir tydlig: hur vi formar våra liv utifrån våra tolkningar och de erfarenheter vi bär med oss.
Trilogin gör anspråk på verkligheten, fast ändå inte. Handlingen är utbytt mot en slags diktering. Karaktärerna talar med samma ton, eftersom vi hör dem genom Faye, men ändå inte, eftersom de delar med sig av sina egna erfarenheter. Teman som skilsmässa, manligt och kvinnligt, skrivande och berättande, föräldraskap och resande återkommer. Men också verkligheten i sig: vad är egentligen en sann, verklig upplevelse, och hur kan den skilja sig så mycket mellan två personer som – objektivt sett – varit med om samma sak?
Cusk skriver mycket övertygande. Hon är en skicklig berättare, med en perfekt balanserad gestaltning, och idéerna som förs fram genom dialogerna, ur olika perspektiv, är både intressanta och inspirerande. Trilogin är som en mäktig chokladtårta: varje bit är fantastisk, med utmärkta råvaror i grunden. Men slukar man den för snabbt och med för mycket begär, kan den bli överväldigande.
July 4, 2022
En nästan oändlig samling av olika karaktärs livsberättelser eller korta historier om något skeende i deras liv som läggs fram genom deras samtal med huvudkaraktären Faye. Jag känner mig avundsjuk på Fayes förmåga att genom frågor och lyssnande få fram alla detaljer och djupa analyser om karaktärernas liv och val. Tänk om alla samtal skulle vara lika givande som de i denna bok! En inspiration till att ställa mer frågor, de rätta frågorna, framöver. Det finns ingen riktig storyline att följa och mycket frågetecken finns kvar om huvudkaraktärens liv och tankar. Ständigt återkommande tema var besvikelsen över mannens beteende och kvinnans maktlöshet. Och däremellan handlade det om allt möjligt, med människan som fokus. Ett annat sätt att skriva som passade utmärkt som resesällskap.
April 27, 2021
podoba mi się styl pisania cusk i pojedyncze zdania narratorki, w których jest jakaś taka głębia i spokój. czytając tę książkę, nabrałam ochoty na podróż do aten
July 22, 2021
Närmare 600 sidor. Som att man sitter vid sidan och lyssnar när olika människor berättar om skeenden i sina liv, bra person- och miljöbeskrivningar.
March 14, 2022
Quasi plotless, brimming with matter, Rachel Cusk's trilogy is for anyone who claims the novel is dead. Did you ever see that impeccably charmingly, quirky and sophisticated 1981 arthouse film My Dinner with Andre, where Wallace Shawn ('inconceivable!' of Princess Bride) and Andre Gregory simply have dinner together and talk? That’s what each chapter of each book – Outline, Transit and Kudos – foregrounds: a conversation, banal in its beginnings and ultimately, subtly, universal in the end. There’s someone seated next to Faye on a plane, someone guiding her from one writers’ festival event to another, someone assessing the work needed for her home renovations, an old friend in a foreign city, and it’s not the backstory and flashbacks, or the action or tension, or movement forward or pace that do the heavy lifting; it’s the decentring of character to get at something vast. In a New Yorker piece, Cusk says, ‘It’s a false suspension of personal identity, and a protecting of personal identity that is false. And if you remove that, if the self is less, other things change their proportions and relationships to each other and to you.’ I would say Faye is the protagonist, but perhaps the better term is narrator. Indeed each person she talks with sounds exactly like her, even when quoted directly, and it was something that bothered me in Outline – the first book – but I ended up relishing in the last two. Character is replaced by voice, voice relays story, story is where readers connect dots, and readers are the most important player in this trilogy. You can read these books in any order and you can read them as stand-alone works, but reading them as a trilogy is to understand the scope of what Cusk is doing with literature, the inventiveness and pure focus of thematic possibilities.
April 15, 2023
This book (a trilogy packaged in one book) is my most regrettable purchase of the year. It was a terrible read, and I genuinely tried to persevere.
In the time I've plodded along through the maladroit and melodramatic hundreds of pages of this book I've taken enough breaks to read 3 or 4 other books at the same time just for some respite.
The problem is the narration is shallow and disjointed, in that the subjects are described almost entirely by their actions and at face value with no depth, emotional range or intention. The author also has a habit of describing things in ways they couldn't have occurred - a minor technical flaw but it does take you out of the story.
I took a leap and bought all 3 of these books on the strength of the reviews - at the risk of being the unpopular opinion I have to provide a counterbalance and honestly say that I found the writing to be underdeveloped and unimpressive. Persevering with it was a wasted effort.
In the time I've plodded along through the maladroit and melodramatic hundreds of pages of this book I've taken enough breaks to read 3 or 4 other books at the same time just for some respite.
The problem is the narration is shallow and disjointed, in that the subjects are described almost entirely by their actions and at face value with no depth, emotional range or intention. The author also has a habit of describing things in ways they couldn't have occurred - a minor technical flaw but it does take you out of the story.
I took a leap and bought all 3 of these books on the strength of the reviews - at the risk of being the unpopular opinion I have to provide a counterbalance and honestly say that I found the writing to be underdeveloped and unimpressive. Persevering with it was a wasted effort.
June 20, 2020
I adore her sparse writing style. If you find stream-of-consciousness writing boring (aka Catcher in the Rye), give her a try. There's not a word wasted. It's like reading Toni Morrison-every word counts and if you put it down for a week you may need to go back and refresh. Worth the effort.
July 29, 2020
Nope. It's rare that I decide not to finish a book, but I just couldn't get excited about the story. It was a chore to read.
May 26, 2020
Riveting - even though there is virtually no plot.
November 22, 2022
Read the trilogy in one go...and don't remember a thing about it. What to make of that?
January 10, 2025
i would’ve read the entire dictionnary with more dedication.
October 27, 2025
3.5 rounded up
February 10, 2024
Rachel Cusk's trilogy encompasses books entitled Outline, Transit, and Kudos
In every case, Cusk presents character stories of people met in chance, or occasionally planned, encounters. In Outline, the author, Faye, (characters are typically unnamed or given only first names) is on a plane headed to a Bookfair in Greece where she will sit on a panel and be asked to speak. Her seatmate on the plane gets in-depth treatment as we learn the story of his life and his marriage. Even at the book panel, the event runs out of time before the author speaks, but one outgoing male author has plenty to say.
Hardly any of the characters in these books have names, or they might have a first name, as already mentioned. This seems to be a new trend in fiction which probably has a purpose, as in allowing us to relate to the character, not wanting to create a character that jumps off the page and becomes an icon or to make it easier for the reader to imagine that s/he is the main character. The main character in this case is an author who has been through a crushing divorce. She and her husband have two sons. But her writing career is taking off, first literally to the Book Fair in Greece.
Rachel Cusk has a talent for telling stories of the people who meet this author as she travels, renovates an apartment, and goes to a second writer's convention where awards are being given. But we know little about the author or her book. We are treated to an in-depth exploration of all the people she sits next to or interacts with. She seems to have no close friends, but this story is not really about the author. It is about men and women and the difficulties of intimate male-female relationships, especially in marriages in the twenty-first century.
Even as she fights off the bile of her new downstairs neighbors in Transit, she finds out the details of the life of the contractor who spends the most time on her renovation. Her neighbors are a nasty pair who knock on the ceiling with a broom as they follow her footsteps through her new flat. The downstairs couple seem to be bound together by their hatred for whoever lives upstairs, and they delight in intimidation. These are people I would want to run away from, but she stands her ground (without a rifle). When they realize that she is soundproofing the floor their hatred knows no limits but never gets physical. It is all bluster, an act to drive her away. The author has sent her sons to stay with their father while the reno is undertaken and although they beg and cry to come home to her, she encourages them to be independent. Is she a bad mother?
In the last book, Kudos, the author has obviously had some success and is attending a conference where she is supposed to be interviewed on television. Although she learns the life story of the interviewer, the technicians are never able to make the electrical hookups and the interview is called off. She meets another interviewer, a book critic, and he never learns a single fact about her, but we learn all about him. Almost all the people we meet are men and what they have to say about marriage is not encouraging. She also meets a wealthy woman who has given up on men and now invites writers and artists to come stay in her mansion where they can be warm all year long and enjoy more sun than the author has ever enjoyed in England where she lives with her sons in her redone flat over her miserable neighbors. Will she take Paolo up on her offer? Although this exploration of modern relationships is relevant this is a literary book than many readers are likely to skip. Rachel Cusk, however, has earned much praise from those critics who know and love well-written fiction.
In every case, Cusk presents character stories of people met in chance, or occasionally planned, encounters. In Outline, the author, Faye, (characters are typically unnamed or given only first names) is on a plane headed to a Bookfair in Greece where she will sit on a panel and be asked to speak. Her seatmate on the plane gets in-depth treatment as we learn the story of his life and his marriage. Even at the book panel, the event runs out of time before the author speaks, but one outgoing male author has plenty to say.
Hardly any of the characters in these books have names, or they might have a first name, as already mentioned. This seems to be a new trend in fiction which probably has a purpose, as in allowing us to relate to the character, not wanting to create a character that jumps off the page and becomes an icon or to make it easier for the reader to imagine that s/he is the main character. The main character in this case is an author who has been through a crushing divorce. She and her husband have two sons. But her writing career is taking off, first literally to the Book Fair in Greece.
Rachel Cusk has a talent for telling stories of the people who meet this author as she travels, renovates an apartment, and goes to a second writer's convention where awards are being given. But we know little about the author or her book. We are treated to an in-depth exploration of all the people she sits next to or interacts with. She seems to have no close friends, but this story is not really about the author. It is about men and women and the difficulties of intimate male-female relationships, especially in marriages in the twenty-first century.
Even as she fights off the bile of her new downstairs neighbors in Transit, she finds out the details of the life of the contractor who spends the most time on her renovation. Her neighbors are a nasty pair who knock on the ceiling with a broom as they follow her footsteps through her new flat. The downstairs couple seem to be bound together by their hatred for whoever lives upstairs, and they delight in intimidation. These are people I would want to run away from, but she stands her ground (without a rifle). When they realize that she is soundproofing the floor their hatred knows no limits but never gets physical. It is all bluster, an act to drive her away. The author has sent her sons to stay with their father while the reno is undertaken and although they beg and cry to come home to her, she encourages them to be independent. Is she a bad mother?
In the last book, Kudos, the author has obviously had some success and is attending a conference where she is supposed to be interviewed on television. Although she learns the life story of the interviewer, the technicians are never able to make the electrical hookups and the interview is called off. She meets another interviewer, a book critic, and he never learns a single fact about her, but we learn all about him. Almost all the people we meet are men and what they have to say about marriage is not encouraging. She also meets a wealthy woman who has given up on men and now invites writers and artists to come stay in her mansion where they can be warm all year long and enjoy more sun than the author has ever enjoyed in England where she lives with her sons in her redone flat over her miserable neighbors. Will she take Paolo up on her offer? Although this exploration of modern relationships is relevant this is a literary book than many readers are likely to skip. Rachel Cusk, however, has earned much praise from those critics who know and love well-written fiction.
April 30, 2022
The Outline is somewhat unsettling. At first the narrator Faye (author) seems so anonymous. Aeroplane familiar situation to talk to or not to strangers. Faye is on the way to teach a writing class in Athens Greece.
So many people, characters hard to remember and keep up or is that my dementia? The anonymity of USA vs Europe.
Speculation about others` motives and lives; Clelias flat, model yachts with brittle supported sails. I was impressed by the immediacy of her ( Faye`s ) moment by moment thought life or stream of consciousness so much banal that I lose the thread
Set in Athens brought back fond memories of where I met my wife Terttu on the Parthenon steps, boat trip reminds again of when I first met Terttu and hired a yacht from an Athens marina sailing around the islands for 3 days it was a disaster but still ended up marrying the dear girl .
Some faint parallels with the English family in Greece The Durrels tv series on Corfu.
Like a maze of lightly interlocking stories of relatives and friends altogether vague but somehow realistic. The skein of memories blurted out with no meaningful connection to the reader becomes sometimes a bit monotonous.
Had a hard time getting attached to any of the characters too many maybe and I did not know how long they would be around. Encouraging oneself with rational explanations of own feelings and behaviours?
Irritating random changes of the narrator not clearly enough saying who was sharing *
Students telling what happened to them on the way to lecture was most interesting. subjective experience has nothing to do with reality starting to love this crazy creativity. the last student though refused to share and said she was a lousy teacher. *
Halfway thru reading the book it felt like a ball rolling downhill picking up energy and speed. p 33 0f 53 starting to love it *
stream of consciousness on steroids
Theseus's father mistook the signal from a boat that his son had died and killed himself.
Elena and Melete in the cafe 40 of 53 I am bored again. Written convincingly like real situations, Faye hangs back and lets others speak for themselves and for her I suppose sort of by proxy *
Faye would like to live life as a DH Lawrence character?
Mimi the dog`s rampage amazing story, Rachel Cusk can make a story out of anything .. *
Strange Marie's story is weird indeed cats wrecking her flat and her lover is lost, feels familiar like I myself met Marie in the earlier part of my life, oh yes the friend of a friend in London with a terrifying Burmese cat trained by the priests to kill intruders.
Anne startles Faye on her landing eating honey just arrived from the plane the next writing teacher.
Anne and the landing nicely rounded out the story and allowed Faye to gracefully disappear from the scene
So many people, characters hard to remember and keep up or is that my dementia? The anonymity of USA vs Europe.
Speculation about others` motives and lives; Clelias flat, model yachts with brittle supported sails. I was impressed by the immediacy of her ( Faye`s ) moment by moment thought life or stream of consciousness so much banal that I lose the thread
Set in Athens brought back fond memories of where I met my wife Terttu on the Parthenon steps, boat trip reminds again of when I first met Terttu and hired a yacht from an Athens marina sailing around the islands for 3 days it was a disaster but still ended up marrying the dear girl .
Some faint parallels with the English family in Greece The Durrels tv series on Corfu.
Like a maze of lightly interlocking stories of relatives and friends altogether vague but somehow realistic. The skein of memories blurted out with no meaningful connection to the reader becomes sometimes a bit monotonous.
Had a hard time getting attached to any of the characters too many maybe and I did not know how long they would be around. Encouraging oneself with rational explanations of own feelings and behaviours?
Irritating random changes of the narrator not clearly enough saying who was sharing *
Students telling what happened to them on the way to lecture was most interesting. subjective experience has nothing to do with reality starting to love this crazy creativity. the last student though refused to share and said she was a lousy teacher. *
Halfway thru reading the book it felt like a ball rolling downhill picking up energy and speed. p 33 0f 53 starting to love it *
stream of consciousness on steroids
Theseus's father mistook the signal from a boat that his son had died and killed himself.
Elena and Melete in the cafe 40 of 53 I am bored again. Written convincingly like real situations, Faye hangs back and lets others speak for themselves and for her I suppose sort of by proxy *
Faye would like to live life as a DH Lawrence character?
Mimi the dog`s rampage amazing story, Rachel Cusk can make a story out of anything .. *
Strange Marie's story is weird indeed cats wrecking her flat and her lover is lost, feels familiar like I myself met Marie in the earlier part of my life, oh yes the friend of a friend in London with a terrifying Burmese cat trained by the priests to kill intruders.
Anne startles Faye on her landing eating honey just arrived from the plane the next writing teacher.
Anne and the landing nicely rounded out the story and allowed Faye to gracefully disappear from the scene
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2022
I’ll write a review on my phone. I doubt I’ll have anything to say that the book critics haven’t already written about, or trusted even the dullest among us to have intuited, but anyway I want to remember what I thought about this trilogy.
What depths of understanding the narrator displays for her subjects. Er, conversants (?). The red squiggle tells me that’s not a word. Interlocutors. It does feel like they are her subjects, though, and not only because she reveals little of herself in these dialogues. She pays close attention to what they say, often transcribing her interpretation of the dialogue instead of relying on quotation. I loved these passages — the descriptions of dialogue that give the speaker an eloquence they mightn’t have had otherwise. I want Faye to psychoanalyze me, please.
Here are the parts I’ll remember the best:
- She doesn’t let ‘em down easy. I liked that. In her very first dialogue, the narrator challenges the cruel assumptions and simplifications the man is making to reduce his ex-wife to a vindictive image rather than someone deserving of empathy.
- The same man first souring on his relationship with his wife when, he claims, she locked his son in the extensive system of catacombs under his manor.
- The rotating cast of insufferable writers. That’s being a bit unfair. I’d suffer them, some of them seemed kind of funny.
- The Chair and his immediate interest in whether the garrulous, and rude, authors were offending Faye, as a proxy for his interest in Faye herself.
- Gender
I did read the third one while feverish with covid so I do want to revisit.
What depths of understanding the narrator displays for her subjects. Er, conversants (?). The red squiggle tells me that’s not a word. Interlocutors. It does feel like they are her subjects, though, and not only because she reveals little of herself in these dialogues. She pays close attention to what they say, often transcribing her interpretation of the dialogue instead of relying on quotation. I loved these passages — the descriptions of dialogue that give the speaker an eloquence they mightn’t have had otherwise. I want Faye to psychoanalyze me, please.
Here are the parts I’ll remember the best:
- She doesn’t let ‘em down easy. I liked that. In her very first dialogue, the narrator challenges the cruel assumptions and simplifications the man is making to reduce his ex-wife to a vindictive image rather than someone deserving of empathy.
- The same man first souring on his relationship with his wife when, he claims, she locked his son in the extensive system of catacombs under his manor.
- The rotating cast of insufferable writers. That’s being a bit unfair. I’d suffer them, some of them seemed kind of funny.
- The Chair and his immediate interest in whether the garrulous, and rude, authors were offending Faye, as a proxy for his interest in Faye herself.
- Gender
I did read the third one while feverish with covid so I do want to revisit.
May 2, 2021
Woke up with a stiff neck this morning after reading 5 Rachel Cusk books in a week--the "Outline" trilogy sandwiched between 2 memoirs. Brings to mind the old joke about Joyce Carole Oates prolific output: "STOP ME BEFORE I WRITE AGAIN!!!"
Who better than Francine Prose in a SEWANEE REVIEW to describe Cusk's accomplishment:
"A character in a novel--a woman named Faye who seems in many ways to resemble Cusk--keeps meeting people who may or may not be "real" (that is, based on "real people") and whose real or invented stories all center around the subjects that must concern the novel's protagonist. Thus Cusk manages to write 3 novels about travel, marriage, divorce, motherhood, home, freedom, domesticity, and so forth while making it sound as if the novels are being stitched together at random, constructed from the narratives of characters whom the protagonist just happens to run into."
https://thesewaneereview.com/articles...
EVEN NOW Cusk must be writing her next lollapalooza based on random conversations during a global pandemic as MASKED STRANGERS struggle to make themselves understood, ala Roseanne Roseannadanna:
Cusk protagonist: My wife is meaningweff!
Party guest: Woo wife is what?
2nd party Guest: My wife weft me too!
Interviewer: Have wu twied the w'ordoeurves?
Book reviewer: What a wangled world we weed when fiwst we read to weweave.
Scooby Doo the dog: What-woh!
Who better than Francine Prose in a SEWANEE REVIEW to describe Cusk's accomplishment:
"A character in a novel--a woman named Faye who seems in many ways to resemble Cusk--keeps meeting people who may or may not be "real" (that is, based on "real people") and whose real or invented stories all center around the subjects that must concern the novel's protagonist. Thus Cusk manages to write 3 novels about travel, marriage, divorce, motherhood, home, freedom, domesticity, and so forth while making it sound as if the novels are being stitched together at random, constructed from the narratives of characters whom the protagonist just happens to run into."
https://thesewaneereview.com/articles...
EVEN NOW Cusk must be writing her next lollapalooza based on random conversations during a global pandemic as MASKED STRANGERS struggle to make themselves understood, ala Roseanne Roseannadanna:
Cusk protagonist: My wife is meaningweff!
Party guest: Woo wife is what?
2nd party Guest: My wife weft me too!
Interviewer: Have wu twied the w'ordoeurves?
Book reviewer: What a wangled world we weed when fiwst we read to weweave.
Scooby Doo the dog: What-woh!
January 28, 2025
First book: great !!
Second book: pretty good with some really great moments
Third book: good lord put me out of my misery, I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I am STRUGGLING to finish
These books are made up almost entirely of conversations between the main character and other people. The conversations (especially in the first book) are interesting and insightful, but by the time the third book comes along, I am so tired of it. Every person this woman speaks to somehow has an introspective monologue ready to go…?? Even if you argue that this main character really knows how to bring out a person’s introspective side, there’s NO WAY that all these random people are all so articulate and emotionally intelligent. She has to run into some dummies along the way, right???? It gets to a point where I have a hard time believing these are real conversations and I just get incredibly irritated. Or maybe I just feel left out because I don’t have a super deep take about the human condition at the ready. Regardless, the last book is so damn boring that even if I believed these are real conversations that take place on this good earth, I still wouldn’t give a fuck about what they’re saying. Which is a shame, because I really liked the first two books…even though they had their fair share of somewhat unbelievable moments.
Also almost every dog that is mentioned in this series is done so dirty. Guys, please stop hitting your dogs.
Second book: pretty good with some really great moments
Third book: good lord put me out of my misery, I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I am STRUGGLING to finish
These books are made up almost entirely of conversations between the main character and other people. The conversations (especially in the first book) are interesting and insightful, but by the time the third book comes along, I am so tired of it. Every person this woman speaks to somehow has an introspective monologue ready to go…?? Even if you argue that this main character really knows how to bring out a person’s introspective side, there’s NO WAY that all these random people are all so articulate and emotionally intelligent. She has to run into some dummies along the way, right???? It gets to a point where I have a hard time believing these are real conversations and I just get incredibly irritated. Or maybe I just feel left out because I don’t have a super deep take about the human condition at the ready. Regardless, the last book is so damn boring that even if I believed these are real conversations that take place on this good earth, I still wouldn’t give a fuck about what they’re saying. Which is a shame, because I really liked the first two books…even though they had their fair share of somewhat unbelievable moments.
Also almost every dog that is mentioned in this series is done so dirty. Guys, please stop hitting your dogs.
December 29, 2020
It's a beautiful collection- although I'm not sure what drove the decision to make it a trilogy when it could have been one very readable multi-part volume. Still, the experience of returning to some characters in the third book that we haven't seen since the first- and failing to recognize them along with the narrator- heightens one of Cusk's points about the ways in which everyday life make us all unrecognizable, given enough time- especially as these mundane experiences are often intense, interpersonal power battles with spouses, ex-partners, and children.
The story arc follows the writer as she recovers from the bust-up of her marriage to re-marrying, though much of that narrative plays out in the negative space of conversations she has with friends and strangers. They mirror her stories with their own. The absences are felt in the actual space the writer inhabits, too- the borrowed apartment in Greece, the renovation project in London, the neglected writer's conference in an unidentified country on the Mediterranean. They highlight the precariousness of relationships- of careers. The stories that are recounted are highly specific and emotionally charged but made ephemeral by the double layer of retelling (from the speaker to the writer; from the writer to the reader). They are delicate and sharp and carefully wrapped in a translucent skin. It's extraordinary, really.
The story arc follows the writer as she recovers from the bust-up of her marriage to re-marrying, though much of that narrative plays out in the negative space of conversations she has with friends and strangers. They mirror her stories with their own. The absences are felt in the actual space the writer inhabits, too- the borrowed apartment in Greece, the renovation project in London, the neglected writer's conference in an unidentified country on the Mediterranean. They highlight the precariousness of relationships- of careers. The stories that are recounted are highly specific and emotionally charged but made ephemeral by the double layer of retelling (from the speaker to the writer; from the writer to the reader). They are delicate and sharp and carefully wrapped in a translucent skin. It's extraordinary, really.
October 22, 2023
These 3 little books are some of the best I've read this year! The concept is surprisingly simple: the narrator only shares with the reader her reflections and observations from conversations she has with various different people in her life. Through these observations, you start to get a sense of what the narrator herself is like (her outline), even though we know very little about her life since she does not share much with us, at least not in the way a 'normal' narrator in a novel would do. Despite this characteristic and the apparent absence of a plot, the books still move forward and kept me wanting to turn the pages. The books are a gorgeous portrait of humanity, with some very sad moments (for example the descriptions of the pure hatred that the narrator's neighbour feels towards her) and other extremely witty and funny passages (for example the arrogance of the character Ryan who lets fame gets to his head after one of his books finds success). Another very witty device Rachel Cusk uses repeatedly in this book are the various hidden metaphors for what she is trying to do with this novel. The ending of the trilogy is also one of the funniest, saddest, most heartbreaking endings of any book I've read. I have a sense these books will stay with me for a long time!
July 12, 2021
Interesante colección en la que la protagonista, Faye, escritora y madre de dos hijos, provoca y recibe las confidencias de las personas que se va encontrando en sus viajes a cursos, festivales, etc.
Con ellas construye una visión muy actual de las vidas de distintas personas, tanto de su gremio literario como de otros, la familia, el trabajo, el dolor, el fracaso, la soledad, las separaciones, las pérdidas, sobre las que va mostrando su intimidad, su esencia.
Faye profundiza en las motivaciones y comportamiento de las personas, sus introspecciones y su visión de los demás, en los equilibrios y desequilibrios de las relaciones. Todo ello desde una visión netamente femenina que denuncia el papel aún reservado para la mujer, artista o no, en la sociedad actual.
"Lo que le da miedo a la gente es que no la quieran"
Con ellas construye una visión muy actual de las vidas de distintas personas, tanto de su gremio literario como de otros, la familia, el trabajo, el dolor, el fracaso, la soledad, las separaciones, las pérdidas, sobre las que va mostrando su intimidad, su esencia.
Faye profundiza en las motivaciones y comportamiento de las personas, sus introspecciones y su visión de los demás, en los equilibrios y desequilibrios de las relaciones. Todo ello desde una visión netamente femenina que denuncia el papel aún reservado para la mujer, artista o no, en la sociedad actual.
"Lo que le da miedo a la gente es que no la quieran"
August 14, 2023
Unexpected encounters and conversations with strangers can be magical, as Cusk proves in her trilogy. There are a few times I've had incredible conversations where total strangers have opened up about miscarriages, abuse, mental illness, death and so on. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen as often because the majority, like myself, are always wearing headphones or are just too busy with our screens. Too bad since we all miss out a lot. A lot in Cusk's books are relatable, diffuse feelings that are difficult to put into words and a lot is also completely foreign to me because I myself do not have children or ex-spouses with shared custody. This was also a perfect book to read while traveling because the pace was so fluid. Although it is hard to say what these books were really about, I liked the unstructured nature of the conversations and the different characters.
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