Transit

Rachel Cusk, 1967-

Book - 2017

"The stunning second novel of a trilogy that began with Outline, one of The New York Times Book Review's ten best books of 2015 In the wake of family collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The process of upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions--personal, moral, artistic, practical--as she endeavors to construct a new reality for herself and her children. In the city she is made to confront aspects of living she has, until now, avoided, and to consider questions of vulnerability and power, death and renewal, in what becomes her struggle to reattach herself to, and believe in, life. Filtered through the impersonal gaze of its keenly intelligent protagonist, Transit sees Rachel Cusk delve deeper into t...he themes first raised in her critically acclaimed Outline, and offers up a penetrating and moving reflection on childhood and fate, the value of suffering, the moral problems of personal responsibility, and the mystery of change. In this precise, short, and yet epic cycle of novels, Cusk manages to describe the most elemental experiences, the liminal qualities of life, through a narrative near-silence that draws language toward it. She captures with unsettling restraint and honesty the longing to both inhabit and flee one's life and the wrenching ambivalence animating our desire to feel real. "--

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FICTION/Cusk Rachel
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1st Floor FICTION/Cusk Rachel Due Apr 7, 2024
Subjects
Published
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2017.
Language
English
Main Author
Rachel Cusk, 1967- (author)
Edition
First American edition
Item Description
"Originally published in 2016 by Jonathan Cape, Great Britain"--Title page verso.
Sequel to: Outline.
Physical Description
260 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9780374278625
Contents unavailable.
Review by New York Times Review

THE KINGDOM OF SPEECH, by Tom Wolfe. (Back Bay/ Little, Brown, $15.99.) With his signature wit, Wolfe takes aim at evolution - or, as he sees it, a messy guess - baggy, boggy, soggy and leaking all over the place." Language, in his view, is not a logical byproduct of evolution but a tool that humans invented. The book also serves as a searing dismissal of academia, and of the linguistics professor Noam Chomsky.

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 29, 2018]
Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* In the wake of a divorce, a writer moves with her two young boys to London, where she begins the task of rebuilding an old house, along with her sense of self. We first met Cusk's protagonist at the beginning of her divorce process in the critically acclaimed Outline (2015), and as we come across her now, she is in transition, just beginning to navigate her new world, post-marriage. As in the first novel, our sense of her comes almost entirely through her meetings with others old acquaintances, friends and family, business connections, and even verbally abusive neighbors. As she relates these encounters in detail, we gain a growing understanding of her feelings of loneliness and powerlessness in her mission to redefine life on her own terms. Through conversations about fate and morality, childhood traumas and joys, and failed and successful relationships, we observe her growing into and maybe even embracing her new reality. With the sparest prose, Cusk has again created an expertly crafted portrait in this distinctive novel about the fear and hope that accompany change, and one woman's quest to conquer them. A masterful second installment to a promising trilogy.--Ophoff, Cortney Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Cusk's outstanding latest, the second in a trilogy, works as both a companion piece to the superb Outline and as an independent narrative, following Faye, a writer and teacher, who moves to London with her two young sons after a divorce. As in Outline, Faye's arc is less about plotted action and is more a series of vignettes, focused this time on long conversations about the ways we journey through life. During these chats, her hairdresser reveals his confrontation with fear and being unwanted one New Year's Eve, and an author, while speaking on a panel with Faye at a literary festival, talks about the fame he has received by revealing personal stories. A construction worker soundproofing her floors talks with Faye about architecture and broken families, and a potential student discusses her obsession with an obscure painter, and how her love for him sprung from the ashes of a failed attempted affair. As always, Cusk's ear for language and dialogue is sharp; her characters speak about universal ideas, such as anxiety and lust. This marvelous novel continues the author's vivid exploration of the human condition. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

In the second installment of a planned trilogy, Cusk builds on the strengths of Outline (2015) and deepens them by giving her narrator a more human presence.Once again, Cusks novel progresses through stories shared with the narrator by various people in her life; their arias of disconnection, fear, and loss swell toward a sorrowful climax that nonetheless contains both humor and hope. But this time, Faye (we actually learn her name, though its only used once) is more inclined to respond with musings of her own, more willing to share her history andat least ellipticallyher emotions. Following a divorce, she's moved to London with her two sons, though the crummy state of the council flat she bought necessitates repairs that send the boys to live with their neglectful father for a bit. They make reproachful phone calls while she's appearing at a book festival and visiting a cousin in the countryside, reinforcing her feelings of powerlessness and drift. Its no accident that the book opens with an email from an astrologer; Faye sardonically notes that it's a computer-generated algorithm, but she pays nonetheless to get a reading about the major transitdue to occur shortly in [her] sky. Shes not the only one to feel in the grip of malevolent destiny. From the real estate agent who bemoans his clients blindness to the decree of fate to the cousin who proclaims that fateis only truth in its natural state, Cusks characters disclaim personal responsibility even as they upend their lives. Only Faye seems willing to face up to the consequences of her actions, which is perhaps why she is offered, however tentatively, a chance for new love. Brilliantly written and structured, which is nothing new from this superlatively gifted writer, but with a chastened empathy for human weakness that was absent from her last two novels. Its return is most welcome. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.