Ilse’s Reviews > Kudos > Status Update

That and related statements caught my attention too whike reading; is the trilogy about relations between men and women, or mothers, sons & their wives? There are impressively few relationships in the three books that appear to be positive on balance.

Unhappiness to Cusk is maybe a more interesting angle than writing about positive experiences (ircc 'Happy people have no stories' 🎵? (as a song by the band Therapy? goes). It struck me that after these pretty negative and generalising reflections on the attitude of (Portuguese?) men - and to a higher degree about English men - a chapter on the impasse and impotence of "the literature of negativity" - eg Thomas Bernard - follows - as if Cusk herself is aware of the self-destructive forces she unleashes with writing herself from such bleak perspectives. And she goes even further in that vein in 'Parade'....But good point, doesn't she encompass all those relations?

Ilse wrote: "Unhappiness to Cusk is maybe a more interesting angle than writing about positive experiences (ircc 'Happy people have no stories' 🎵? (as a song by the band Therapy? goes). It struck me that after ..."

Fortunately perhaps we see no anglo-Portuguese men in this book.

I am still wondering about this trilogy. It emerges eventually as a sustained rumble of pain, i have a suspicion that it offers more than that, but maybe I am fooling myself (again)

It is Portugal almost definitely. I am not sure all Portuguese men are like that, but generally this type of stereotype might be more applicable to the south (Italy for example as well). Oh and I think she is commenting more about the mothers (yet again) than men:-))

Jan-Maat wrote: "Fortunately perhaps we see no anglo-Portuguese men in this book.

That could maybe indeed be zu viel des Guten! Although I am not sure if there weren't any men with a double heritage and or residency (north and south) in the trilogy?

I am still wondering about this trilogy. It emerges eventually as a sustained rumble of pain, i have a suspicion that it offers more than that, but maybe I am fooling myself (again)
After only one reading, I also wonder, sensing layers I cannot touch - although not sure if I would be able to the next time over. A sustained rumble of pain - yes, pain and hurt characterizes many of the stories that Faye is told - again, that reminds me of 'Parade', but the trilogy does so in a more subdued form - or maybe a form that makes it easier to the reader to relate, because characters are less abstract than in Parade - at least having a name. Do you experience that Cusk has been fooling you?

Katia wrote: "It is Portugal almost definitely. I am not sure all Portuguese men are like that, but generally this type of stereotype might be more applicable to the south (Italy for example as well). Oh and I think she is commenting more about the mothers (yet again) than men:-))
Portugal? I need to read it again (and the reviews for sure :)) and pay more attention to the clues, dear Katia :). On this stereotype Italy is the first country in the south that comes to my mind to, but I am sure there are plenty of women in the more northern parts who are seen as making too much fuss of their sons too (because you are right, the discussion is about motherhood and (almost?) blaming them for the way their sons behave as adults towards women: the fussy and warm mother in the south keeping them childlike, the cold mother in the north making them unskilled as lovers' effiminate and at best polite and reasonable. It reminded me of my sister coming home very angry when the psychology teacher explained everything that can go wrong with a child by their mother not having done the right thing :). I read an interesting psycho-analytical take on this mother-blaming years ago, but should re-read it for more detail, the point of the author being that both parents need to parent, and not only or predominantly the mother, to enable both boys and girls to engage in healthy relationships. It might be a bit dated as more fathers take parenting seriously than in the eighties, but it is helpful to understand some of the possible consequences of having only one person around to bring up a child in the first years (LES ENFANTS DE JOCASTE: L'EMPREINTE DE LA MERE.

Ilse wrote: "Jan-Maat wrote: "Fortunately perhaps we see no anglo-Portuguese men in this book.

That could maybe indeed be zu viel des Guten! Although I am not sure if there weren't any men with a double herita..."

Fooling me? No, I feel the trilogy is either a puzzle or a depiction of how grotesque men are, possibly , probably both.

Lots of jigsaw pieces, with likely missing ones, for the readers to imagine themselves? Grotesque as in a distorting mirror, the human mind as an interior instrument of torture.

Ilse wrote: "Lots of jigsaw pieces, with likely missing ones, for the readers to imagine themselves? Grotesque as in a distorting mirror, the human mind as an interior instrument of torture."

Grotesque just as per the dictionary definition. I don't think she is distorting.

Not distorting, but ugly then? I thought of the several types of (distorting) mirrors in a house of mirrors.

(gro·tesque
[ɡrə(ʊ)ˈtɛsk]
adjective
comically or repulsively ugly or distorted)

Ilse wrote: "Not distorting, but ugly then? I thought of the several types of (distorting) mirrors in a house of mirrors.

(gro·tesque
[ɡrə(ʊ)ˈtɛsk]
adjective
comically or repulsively ugly or distorted)"

Sure I think repulsively ugly describes all but one or two men in the trilogy, possibly a few more if one includes the male children, in terms of their behaviour and attitudes , their appearance and degree of actractiveness to Faye is another issue!