A Review of “Outline” by Rachel Cusk
“…over every novel to talk in threadbare strains of the trash with which the press now groans” (Austen). Oh how the times have changed since Jane Austen wrote this line. We’ve done a full 180 from the press criticizing novels too harshly and not truly ever giving them the chance, to our current present day. Now, we have Outline by Rachel Cusk, a novel whose back cover and first page are littered with outstanding reviews from the press and an actual novel that felt like a 249 page introduction. Though I can appreciate Cusk's style and her ability to describe people, places, and things she had me feeling like a 10th grade English teacher begging her student to not just make the point but expand upon it. Although Outline has received praise for being a reinvention of the novel, its minimalist structure, absence of plot, and emotionally distant narrator ultimately leaves us the reader, with beautifully crafted scenes but no emotional pay off and the feeling of a never ending prolog...