RACHEL CUSK — OUTLINE

My friend the Diamond recommended me this novel after reading my last newsletter. I had seen it around in bookstores and on trains, noticed it since its cover design is eye-catching. I plan to probably read the other two novels in Ms. Cusk’s trilogy (Outline is the first), but here are some initial thoughts:  

We catch our narrator at a time in her life when she seems to have suspended judgment. For instance, she spends a chapter carefully portraying another author as vain, toxically ambitious, insufferable, and when her other friend apologizes for this author’s behavior, the narrator comes to the vain author’s defense. At first it seems like she (the narrator) is just acting the contrarian, but as further context builds, it becomes clear she has made a radical break with the sort of judgment of others most people, maybe especially authors, do on a regular basis. The narrator is excessively perceptive; her philosophical reflections are valuable not just to the narrative but to me, the reader, on a personal level. Outline shows the ramifications of suspending judgment, and that story offers a fresh perspective on what it is to be human. And I also found the novel downright hilarious at times. In a confounding and abstract way. 

The narrator has a knack for describing faces. It’s a recurring motif. She’s so good at this, it seems like all the effort she must have put towards judging others has been poured into the act of assessment instead. So the point is that our powers of assessment — perception, uniquely calibrated on an individual basis — are what guide us in life, not judgment. And yet, there is no assessment without judgment; or, rather, it is the same engine of life-experience that powers judgment that powers assessment. So where does that leave us? Judge or just assess?