Kudos

I did not fall in love with Rachel Cusk's Outline trilogy, but I was seduced over the course of the three years it took me to read it in whole. The books live between an artless premise and the opaque depths that open up within it, all delivered in sentences that are as relentless as they are spare.

Genius. I love everything about these these. Truly Rachel Cusk is one of the great minds of our time. Deep yet so readable. I think this one was my favorite of the three but they're all incredible.

The best parts for me were those that explored the way that people (families, couples) perform happiness or unity for the sake of others. And then those other people respond with envy, until it breaks down, either because the happiness dissolves for real, or because the envious person realizes that it's only an image.

I didn't like it as much when it dove too deeply into what I would call “writer stuff” - philosophical discussions about the value of literature and writing. It's too self-referential for me.