Outline

"Outline" by Cusk, Rachel, published by Faber & Faber. Outline is Rachel Cusk's finest work yet, and one of the most startling, brilliant, luminous, original novels of recent years, establishing Rachel Cusk as one of the finest writers in the English language. ''Outline explores both the way people present themselves and the act of storytelling. On one level an absorbing series of confessional tales, it is also a deft, multi-layered commentary on the nature of narrative and the effects of a listener's bias and filter.'' - Heller McAlpin, NPRA novel in ten conversations: spare and stark, it follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing during one oppressively hot summer in Athens. She leads her students in storytelling exercises. She meets other visiting writers for dinner and discourse. She goes swimming in the Ionian Sea with her neighbour from the plane. The people she encounters speak volubly about themselves: their fantasies, anxieties, pet theories, regrets, and longings. And through these disclosures, a portrait of the narrator is drawn by contrast, a portrait of a woman learning to face a great loss. ''While the narrator is rarely alone, reading Outline mimics the sensation of being underwater, of being separated from other people by a substance denser than air. But there is nothing blurry or muted about Cusk’s literary vision or her prose: Spend much time with this novel and you’ll become convinced she is one of the smartest writers alive.'' - Heidi Julavits, The New York Times Sunday Book ReviewOutline takes a hard look at the things that are hardest to speak about. It brilliantly captures conversations, investigates people's motivations for storytelling, and questions their ability to ever do so honestly or unselfishly. In doing so it bares the deepest impulses behind the craft of fiction writing. Shortlisted for the 2015 Women's Prize For Fiction Book details: 249 pages, published 2014;2013. Order now on BookShops.in with fast, reliable delivery across India.