Outline

Posted on by

A woman writer goes to Athens in the height of summer to teach a writing course Though her own circumstances remain indistinct, she becomes the audience to a chain of narratives, as the people she meets tell her one after another the stories of their lives.Beginning with the neighbouring passenger on the flight out and his tales of fast boats and failed marriages, the storytellers talk of their loves and ambitions and pains, their anxieties, their perceptions and daily lives In the stifling heat and noise of the city the sequence of voice begins to weave a complex human tapestry The they talk the elliptical their listener becomes, as she shapes and directs their accounts until certain themes begin to emerge the experience of loss, the nature of family life, the difficulty of intimacy and the mystery of creativity itself Outline is a novel about writing and talking, about self effacement and self expression, about the desire to create and the human art of self portraiture in which that desire finds its universal form. Read Outline author Rachel Cusk – kino-fada.fr Damn you, Rachel Cusk This book was absolutely infuriating As I was reading it, I kept telling myself that I hated it And so, I burned through it in a a littlethan 24 hours It bears little resemblance to any other novel I ve ever read The characters seem vague and unformed, but they come through with periodic startling observations about life and human nature that hit me like a punch in the stomach The star system here on Goodreads is totally useless for this book Yeah, it s prob Damn you, Rachel Cusk This book was absolutely infuriating As I was reading it, I kept telling myself that I hated it And so, I burned through it in a a littlethan 24 hours It bears little resemblance to any other novel I ve ever read The characters seem vague and unformed, but they come through with periodic startling observations about life and human nature that hit me like a punch in the stomach The star system here on Goodreads is totally useless for this book Yeah, it s probably completely useles...Reading Outline is like spying on an author in the process of auditioning characters for a future novel In other words it is indeed an outline, an outline for a work that it still shadowy in the writer s mind Cusk interviews her potential characters and lets them tell her emotionally pivotal stories about themselves She makes no other dramatic demands of them They become like a Greek chorus of voices without a play A writer, unnamed until the penultimate chapter, travels to Athens to host a Reading Outline is like spying on an author in the process of auditioning characters for a future novel In other words it is indeed an outline, an outline for a work that it still shadowy in the writer s mind Cusk int...In Outline, a writer named Faye perhaps not unlike Rachel Cusk herself travels to Athens for a few days to lead a writing workshop Along the way, she engages in conversations with several people her seatmate on the plane, other teachers and students in the workshop, friends she meets up with, friends those friends have brought along, et cetera Sometimes Faye listens to these people without comment, sometimes she challenges them, sometimes she reveals something about herself That s all The In Outline, a writer named Faye perhaps not unlike Rachel Cusk herself travel...To call this a novel would seem to restrict it to a convention of style, to set up expectations of narrative rhythm and form Outline, so aptly named, is a sketchbook of lives, charcoal drawings of souls captured in profile.The book is series of conversations delivered with a twanging chord of tension and self interest Or really, it s a collection of confessions delivered to a listener who reciprocates only rarely she is an ear, an eye, a filter less participant than sponge.The subject of the To call this a novel would seem to restrict it to a convention of style, to set up expectations of narrative rhythm and form Outline, so aptly named, i...5 pristine, refreshing, clear stars 2016 Bronze Award Third Favorite Read Tie I am a man that resides in the world of emotion They are here with me always and are always acute, not in the background Emotions often make me soar to the heavens or shiver in delight, but other times they make me flounder, weigh me down like the experience of walking in the cold snow with a hole in my boot that leaves my precious foot frigid and lonely.I am unsure why the last paragraph came to my consciousn 5 pristine, refreshing, clear stars 2016 Bronze Award Third Favorite Read Tie I am a man that resides in the world of emotion They are here with me always and are always acute, not in the background Emotions often make me soar to the heavens or shiver in delight, but other times they make me flounder, weigh me down like the experience of walking in the cold snow with a hole in my boot that leaves my precious foot frigid and lonely.I am unsure why the last paragraph came to my consciousness as I write a review of this sparkling , intelligent and mesmerizing book This is an unusual novel that very successfully describes the process of thinking that in many ways is antithetical to my own psychological processes.This is a book about thought in its clearest and purest form Emotion is not experienced, really, but rather described in a way that quenched my thirst and helped me navigate my inner wilderness.I h...Rachel Cusk is obviously a writer of tremendous talent, and Outline doesn t hide her skills.But I found this book to be lacking The premise, on its face, is interesting a series of conversations the narrator has with people she meets on her week in Athens that helps show the wide disparity of outlines and shapes of people s lives It sounds existential and philosophical and hip and like half of all of the other novels that are coming out right now For the most part, the book executes its Rachel Cusk is obviously a writer of tremendous talent, and Outline doesn t hide her skills.But I found this book to be lacking The premise, on its face, is interesting a series of conversations the narrator has with people she meets on her week in Athens that helps show the wide disparity of outlines and shapes of people s lives It sounds existential and philosophical and hip and like half of all of the other novels t...Nothing much really happens in Outline A writer, Faye, goes to Athens to teach an English language writing workshop She befriends the man sitting next to her on the plane, who tells her of his failed marriages The stories Faye hears from this man, from her co teacher, from her students and friends make up the narrative, and in between we learn a little of her own life So it s not terribly eventful, and th...My wife used to read the TLS books of the year edition and use it to choose books she wanted to get Then, one fateful year, everyone recommended a certain book she purchased it in expensive hardcover, read it in a day, and was completely flummoxed The book was garbage What to make of this She decided that the U.K publishing scene is so small and her word incestuous that they just read the same five books and then talked about them for a week before moving on She no longer looks to the My wife used to read the TLS books of the year edition and use it to choose books she wanted to get Then, one fateful year, everyone recommended a certain book she purchased it in expensive hardcover, read it in a day, and was completely flummoxed The book was garbage What to make of this She decided that the U.K publishing scene is ...Rather 4,25.Phew, this is something else There is some of the best writing in it, but because of the lack of story AND abundancy of stories it was a tough read There is at the same time nothing and too much going on It is a rather new and fresh take on storytelling altough it reminded me of Jenny Offill, Valeria Luiselli, Miranda July and especially Ben Lerner It is so dense and deep that you really have to stay 100% concentrated all the time Often, I was enjoying a certain episode, anecd Rather 4,25.Phew, this is something else There is some of the best writing in it, but because of the lack of story AND abundancy of stories it was a tough read There is at the same time nothing and too much going on It is a rather new and fresh take on storytelling altough it reminded me of Jenny Offill, Valeria Luiselli, Miranda July and especially Ben Lerner It is so dense and deep that you really have to stay 100% concentrated all the time Often, I was enjoying a certain episode, anecdote or passage one of hundreds when I got distracted by a phone, mail, daydream, and it was so hard to get into it again It felt like listening and being sucked in to a moody yet difficult Coltrane solo, pushing the pause button and then continuing of course with huge diffi...To live as a detection device in the middle of a busy street is a legitimate choice and a tempting one to make To observe the world as it leisurely unfolds without your interference means to avoid the difficulties of constant selection If you are just a passive receiver, all bits of the ceaseless flow of information fit your narrative there s no need to shape them in accordance with your purposes In exchange for cohesion you get all kinds of bypassing, unfinished, often interesting stories To live as a detection device in the middle of a busy street is a legitimate choice and a tempting one to make To observe the world as it leisurely unfolds without your interference means to avoid the difficulties of constant selection If you are just a passive receiver, all bits of the ceaseless flow of information fit your narrative there s no need to shape them in accordance with your purposes In exchange for cohesion you get all kinds of bypassing, unfinished, often interesting stories In other words, you get an outline Since nowadays this kind of existence is often imposed on us with or without our wanting it and we are forced to let a lot of material pass us, untouched and unattached, I was intrigued to read a boo...

Outline
  • English
  • 02 January 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 249 pages
  • 0571233627
  • Rachel Cusk
  • Outline