Outline and Transit by Rachel Cusk
“We drank the soft, dark wine, so soft it could barely be felt on the tongue.”
These two novels are part of a projected trilogy, which began with Outline, continues with Transit and a third is due to be published.
Outline was startling in its starkness and its daring. An unnamed narrator is travelling to Greece to teach a writing class. She is, at first, but an outline to the reader as we discover very little about her – even her name, Faye, is not revealed at first. Instead we encounter a sense of the woman through her interactions with others: with her pupils in the writing class, with her friendship with the older man she meets on the aeroplane flying to Greece, through her conversations with a fellow writer, an old friend.
The language is sparse and spare – much like the paucity of information about the narrator. And this is but part of the beauty of the read. And yet, through these interactions we glimpse parts of this seemingly elusive narrator. The tone comes through clearly, sometimes maudlin, sometimes dry, sometimes wisely sad: “I said that I lived in London, having very recently moved from the house in the countryside where I had lived alone with my children for the past three years, and where for the seven years before that we had lived together with their father. It had been, in other words, our family home, and I had stayed to watch it become the grave of something I could no longer definitively call either a reality or an illusion.”
This leads into a discussion of marriage, with Faye recounting her view that, “It was impossible, I said in response to his question, to give the reasons why the marriage had ended: among other things a marriage is a system of belief, a story, and though it manifests itself in things that are real enough, the impulse that drives it is ultimately mysterious.” While the man’s marriage caused him to “veer off on to a different road altogether, a road that was but a long, directionless detour, a road he had no real business being on and that sometimes he still felt himself to be travelling even to this day.”
Outline is a novel of ideas and conversations, ruminations and truths glimpsed. It is a novel about a woman on the verge of change at a time when you least expect it. Faye writes: “For most of the people she knew, people in their forties, this was a time of softening and expanding, of expectations growing blurred, of running a little to seed or to fat after the exhaustion of the chase: she saw them beginning to relax and make themselves comfortable in their lives. But for her, coming back out into the world again, the lines were still sharp, the expectations undimmed.”
It is a novel written through the perceptions and stories of others – and I found it magnificent, new, original and gripping. I looked forward to reading Transit, the second volume.
In Transit, Faye is in London, having bought a home that is in need of renovation. The people downstairs are neighbours from hell, and their unpleasantness echoes through Faye’s tentative new life. Once more this is a novel glimpsed through Faye’s interactions with others – from the neighbours to friends, to the renovation team, and so on.
And once more, Faye’s personality shines through. This time it’s her ironic bewilderment at this new life she has found herself in – almost by accident, emerging from the collapse of her marriage, a bewildering time for anyone. And once more there is talk of marriage and life, and of fate: “It wasn’t a question of seeing my femaleness as interchangeable with fate: what mattered far more was to learn how to read that fate, to see the forms and patterns in the things that happened, to study their truth. It was hard to do that while still believing in identity, let alone in personal concepts like justice and honour and revenge, just as it was hard to listen while you were talking. I had found out more, I said, by listening than I had ever thought possible.”
Outline and Transit are slight books in weight – and yet the ideas and thoughts contained in them demand a second read, which serves to reveal other layers, and deepens an understanding of the lives and stories told in them. They are remarkable, clever novels, and Cusk’s artistry shines in these stories of stories.

Looked forward to reading this book, after reading Outline but was very disappointed. Retried to get into the story a couple of times but gave up. Not a happy book.

Beautifully written and intelligent novel. Unfortunately, I didn't realise it was the second book in a trilogy, but I still really enjoyed it. Will read the first one now and looking forward to the third.

Transit by Rachel Cusk.
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 endeavours 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 the 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.
Good read. Bit slow but managed to read it. 3*. Netgalley and random house UK.

Subtle, complex yet immensely readable, this is like an ethnography of present-day London, property development and middle class life. The narrator is only slightly more present than in Outline, but she tells the stories of all the people she meets, and through her reactions to them we get to see her like a reflection in a window pane. An interesting riff on the border between non-fiction and fiction.

Sorry - I tried to like this, but it really dragged, and I read about 3 other things before I could make myself finish it

Gripping and a real,page turner. Will definitely look for this author in future.

This book captures Faye’s personal experiences in the wake of a family collapse, as she returns to London with her 2 sons in an attempt to rebuild her life following the divorce from her husband. A successful writer, she is a strong woman, but weakened by the voices of insecurities, now that her husband is rebuilding his life with a new partner and a child on the way. She has purchased a home in a decent area of London, but one that needs a lot of work and is situated atop nightmare neighbours.
I liked the opening that referred to a spam email with a bogus astrological prediction that concerned her immediate future. The prediction was all generalised and useless twaddle, yet uncannily applicable nonetheless. This refreshing and probably unique introduction gave it a refreshing, promising start.
With beautifully descriptive discourse that was easy to read, creating bold & vivid images, you can easily recognise & appreciate the skilled writing and enjoy the florid articulation, but despite its striking approach, for some reasons it just didn’t quite engage me.
The insightful observations are of unquestionable quality and should be applauded for the way it captures the longing to both inhabit and flee one’s life, but for a range of reasons, which I have struggled to identify, it wasn’t enough. Whilst the book is essentially about transition, there are lots of incidental stories that bombard Faye’s thoughts and life. These reflect life in general and offer a penetrating reflection. They include the superfluous things that invade and metamorphosis their way into our lives. Some of these were interesting to a degree, but others felt intrusive and needless – although arguably depict real life.
The book has given me a huge amount to ponder upon and consider, a powerful accomplishment even if it didn’t quite hit the spot. I am sure it will be reviewed highly for its skill, but I think why it failed for me was because I found the characters boring. Along with this there was a paucity of light heartedness that we need to carry us in life. Innocuous lives can still be conveyed in an engaging and enjoyable manner as characters grow and reveal more about themselves – here I found was no real traction. There was no rhythm in this writing that allowed me to find a comfortable reading cadence. It stuttered too much. There were pockets of engaging reading within the melee, but for the better part, I can only say that despite the skill, emotionally it left me rating it only a pleasant read.

When I requested this book to review via Net Galley, I was unaware that this is the second novel of a troligy. I've not read the predecessor to Transit, Outline, and I more than likely wouldn't have requested the book had I been aware of this.

Having said that, I don't think it's absolutely necessary to have read the first novel. It may have provided more of a background and given some insight and more of a sense as to who the characters are, but I wasn't completely lost. Transit is a short book, yet a book unlike any other book I've read, and is utterly absorbing.

The book is comprised of a number of conversations the main protagonist has with a variety of other people. We don't know much about her, and her name is only mentioned once in the entire book. Maybe this is because it's the second part of a trilogy, and on reflection, it may be a good idea to read the preceding book of Outline prior to reading Transit.

Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher Random House UK - Vintage Publishing, and the author Rachel Cusk for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.