Ilse’s Reviews > Transit > Status Update
Ilse
is on page 95 of 260
It's funny, how when parents do things to their children, it's as if they think no one can see them. It's as if the child is an extension of them: when they talk to it, they're talking to themselves; when they love it, they're loving themselves; when they hate it, it's their own self they're hating. You never know what's coming next, because it's coming out of them not you, even if they blame it on you afterwards.
— Aug 20, 2025 03:33AM
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Ilse’s Previous Updates
Ilse
is on page 210 of 260
Freedom, I said, is a home you leave once and can never go back to.
— Aug 27, 2025 07:04AM
Ilse
is on page 201 of 260
The concept of justice he had evolved as a result of these experiences was not retributive but the reverse. He had tried to develop his own capacity for forgiveness in order to be free.
— Aug 27, 2025 03:18AM
Ilse
is on page 165 of 260
I said a lot of people spent their lives trying to make things last as a way of avoiding asking themselves whether those things were what they really wanted. And maybe people run marathons to exercise their fantasties of running away.
— Aug 25, 2025 06:03AM
Ilse
is on page 142 of 260
Loneliness, she said, is when nothing will stick to you, when nothing will thrive around you, when you start to think that you kill things just by being there.
— Aug 23, 2025 12:31PM
Ilse
is on page 32 of 260
We examine least what has formed us the most, and instead find ourselves driven blindly to re-enact it. Maybe it is only in our injuries that the future can take root.
— Aug 19, 2025 04:18AM
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This has been my experience, too, Ilse. I’m so excited that you’re reading this
Maria wrote: "You’re definitely right, Ilse. Parents never look at us as independent beings. They really see us as extensions of them…Those were great words 👍"
Maria, these words of Cusk made me pensive, both looking back at my own parents and question my behaviour and feelings towards my children. I am aware they are different beings, but their hurt feels mine, as does their joy...
Jennifer wrote: "This has been my experience, too, Ilse. I’m so excited that you’re reading this"Jennifer, these reflections reminded me how much I felt the pressure on my shoulders to 'make up' for what my parents had liked but couldn't do because times were different: study, escape a life of working hard at the factory - but also how my husband's professional training as a violinist almost automatically 'pushed' the children into playing instruments - even if they might bump into the same walls their father did. Ad the self-blame that comes with it. Personally, it was such a liberating insight for me that by doing a job that went entirely against my nature, I was simply trying to finally get that approval of my father that I would never get. I let go of it, and realised he finally accepted that I wouldn't be the son that took the opportunities he hadn't had. I am glad I am finally reading this, there are so many observations and reflections in it that make me think and re-read and resonate with me much more than in 'Parade' or 'Coventry' - I might turn into a fan of Cusk :)
Those were great words 👍