Welcome to Litsy!

I devoured my last read of 2024, a strange sort of page turner where the plot in a nutshell is a couple who lives on a marsh invites an artist to stay at the 'second place' they built and...drama occurs. This is such a good book club book that there must be a way to make one materialize so that when someone like me finishes, an instant discussion is scheduled next Tuesday at 7. I'm open to ideas on this front...there's just so much to discuss! 🤓

Really good.

A story about being a woman, bodies, being a human, and the interrelationships between many concepts I‘m interested in but which I don‘t feel like getting into.

The writing purls, lifts, and dives. The prose is sharp and overbearing—looms over you. This is filled with dread, and also edgy and cool somehow. I‘m into the form, and appreciate the linearity. I love how short it is too.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. I‘ve now read 11 from the last Booker longlist, 2 to go. Cusk is intense in the first sentence. And the monologue never stops. If you can tolerate that, she‘s a wonderful writer who captures thought processes in complex ways that touch familiar. Here the married narrator invites a male artist to live on her property‘s extra place, the second place. The rest plays with layers; and also with and against the expected trope.

Next book. (One of three left from the Booker 2021 longlist)

This was good. It takes close reading to understand Rachel Cusk, but is worth it. So many insights on life wrapped up in the narrative. The story didn‘t go in the direction I thought it would, but was satisfying

At one stage I wasn‘t sure why I didn‘t just let this go but thank goodness I didn‘t. It‘s beautifully written and so wonderfully, dramatically human in all our complicated messes.

^^p32 Strong WILL as asset & liability.
Cusk comes at it hard with observation after observation: on parenting adult children, on selfhood, on obligation. Seemingly hospitable narrator who can‘t relinquish control.

P35 small ominous bits, GREAT chapter end:
“Tony is not someone who interferes lightly in the course of things, knowing as he does that to take on the work of fate is to incur full responsibility for its consequences.”
—PAGE TURN—

^^p98 many passages give themselves over to excuses for artists‘ bad behavior. Yet Tony, husband & laborer=maybe most admirable character. TRUTH? Another selfish perversion.
P55 “when I looked at the marsh, for instance, which seemed to obey so many of his rules of light and perception that it often resembled a painted work by him, I was in a sense looking at works by L that he had not created, and was therefore—I suppose—creating them myself.”

Masterful psychological studies in crisp, compelling prose. Woman offers male painter her guesthouse. Inspiration, will, expectations, practical labor vs. artistic labor, gender roles, patronage, “freedom.” Epistolary tone allows for funny exclamations & asides, but addressing all to poet “Jeffers” can be distracting. Homage to Mabel Luhan, patron of DH Lawrence. Now to learn abt Luhan! Painfully clever. But WTH with Cusk‘s creaky sans-serif? 2021

Had some fun with Word Art to make a collage of my top books of 2021. Each of these books stood out in their own way and lingered with me. And although I did try to narrow it to the #top21of2021 I couldn't decide which to cut, so it's 22.

Lovely #bookmail today and I'm pretty sure this is from you @Cathythoughts ! Thank you so much, sweet friend 😘 My first Cusk and I'm really looking forward to it ❤️

Ooof! I really didn‘t like this latest from Rachel Cusk, although I adored Outline. The two primary characters here were both unlikeable and the narrator‘s constant references to “Jeffers”, the unexplained person she is telling this tale to, was off-putting. #ToB22

I loved Cusk‘s Outline trilogy and I love books about art. However, I had seen some very mixed reviews of this one, but I needn‘t have worried. I so enjoyed this and raced through it.

M invites the artist L to stay with her and her husband. M feel in love with L‘s art several years ago when she saw them at a gallery. When L finally comes to visit, it doesn‘t turn into the visit M expected and hoped for.

I chose this as I'm trying to read all the Booker short list.
Whilst I appreciate the writing, I had no investment in the characters at all. I liked the slight references to the pandemic, and some of the musings.

Through the device of a literal "second place" Cusk explores a lot of ideas tangentially related to coming second. It is a story about a second space that sits adjacent to our lives which we can observe but not always participate in. Equally it is about a second life and what it is like to be living one. Mostly it is about the competitive nature of human nature, and the frustrating feeling of coming second, even when we know we can't all win.

Inspired by the memoir “Lorenzo in Taos”, a middle aged woman (M) invites a famous painter to stay in her guest house on the coastal marsh, a property where she lives with her husband. Once he arrives acerbic artist becomes a catalyst for psychodrama and introspection as M ruminates on life, love, art, motherhood, criticism, independence and identity. It can be a bit pretentious but the prose are often gorgeous and thought provoking.

An unnamed woman invites a famous artist to come live in her guest house, in a secluded marsh of an unnamed country. The artist arrives with a much younger woman, and they both disrupt the host‘s home and life in unforeseen ways. I didn‘t really ever understand what the narrator actually wanted from the arrangement, or why she was so upset.

No #bookbingo in August, but nevertheless, it was good reading month with many interesting stories. #bookspin #doublespin

The perception of the individual is what shapes our personal/intimate reality and, of course, the problem arises when our reality/expectations do not match the perception of another individual. For me, this clash/relation between expectations is the main thread, which author spread out to the various spheres of life - partnership relations, maternity, and, above all, art and creativity. The whole story is based on the self-reflection of the … 👇

20-29 Aug 2021
Booker Longlist 2
M, the self-obsessed narrator, invites L, a snarling, misogynistic artist, to occupy the ‘Second Place‘ on the property she shares with her long-suffering husband, Tony. In return for this patronage M seems to expect some kind of reward - sexual attention ? A flattering portrait? Gratitude? I continued to read in the hope of finding out but alas the characters‘ motives remained muddy. Not a winner for me.

Meh. This was fine. But the narrator isn't very likeable. The author's use of vocab was interesting but it made the main character seem even more self absorbed.

Second Place is a long monologue of a woman “M" telling the story of her obsession with “L“, a famous painter. Cusk explores issues of personal freedom, self-acceptance, and the desire to create/to express self through art. And there's some absolutely beautiful prose in Cusk's writing as well. (Cover art on the book is Girl Wading by Elmer Bischoff, 1959.)

I‘m giving this a soft pick because, although I didn‘t really enjoy it, it was weirdly compelling and I couldn‘t put it down.

I couldn‘t work out if the narrator / MC was incredibly naive and childlike in her views, or remarkably self-aware and just really attention-seeking. Either way her narrative voice was one of the most annoying I have read.

Definitely the least favourite of my #bookerlonglist so far and I won‘t rush to read any more Cusk.

I had intended to take a year off from being sucked in by the #manbooker nominees, yet here we are. I was drawn in to the premise of this short book, and true to form, with its stream-of-conscious thought by M, who grew quite insufferable to me, I thought this was going to be a slog to get through. Surprisingly, I couldn‘t put it down. There is a plot that left me needing to know what was going to happen. (Cont.)

A strange book. I felt an uneasiness at times & thought it would become a depressing read .. but I didn‘t bail .. the MC , M , invites an artist , L , to come & stay in her remote home in the marsh. M , seems removed from herself and the other characters & I felt a distance from all of them , no connection. Some good insights into life , relationships. Some good descriptive passages of the marsh area & of the odd characters. An empty feeling 👇🏻

"Why do we live so painfully in our fictions? Why do we suffer so, from the things we ourselves have invented?"

I could never reconcile myself to the fact that just as you‘ve recovered from your own childhood, and finally crawled out of the pit of it and felt the sun and n your face for the first time, you have to give up that place in the sun to a baby you‘re determined when not suffer the way you did , and crawl back down into another pit of self sacrifice to make sure she doesn‘t.

There was a small charcoal sketch of a woman asleep in bed, her dark head a mere smudge of oblivion in the tousled bedclothes. I admit a kind of silent bitter weeping did come from my heart at this record of passion, which seemed to define everything I hadn‘t known in my life, and I wondered if it ever would

About to start this, my third Booker long-listed read of 2021 Beautiful cover and clever title. I have never read Cusk before but I did see her adaptation of Medea some years ago which I thought brilliant but self obsessed. Despite mixed reviews trying to read this with an open mind!

This is a #Bail for me ~ and it‘s TOTALLY #MeNotYou but I have a personal aversion to certain people who chatter endlessly about philosophical questions and over analyze EVERY minutiae about a perceived act or event that occurred 16 years ago. I feel like I‘m being hammered with the narrator‘s anger against men, God, motherhood, fate, life. Sorry, I‘m not interested in sticking around any longer ☺️ Curious to hear others thoughts

Not sure what to make of this one…have you read it yet @Simona ??? #BookerLongList There seems to be a lot of new books that are stream of consciousness/ramblings/ musings - writing is lovely but a wee bit pretentious 😁I should say there is a plot here, just not sure it‘s going to be a moving force for the novel. This is much more a character driven read and so far M & L are very unlikeable (🥺)

#BookerLonglist

Nope. Nopety nope.
Woman writes to artist to invite him to stay on her property. Her daughter is already staying, they have a tense relationship. Artist arrives. Artist doesn't like her much. Artist doesn't do what she wants him to do (paint the landscape). Dramatic event takes place. Woman continues to be self-absorbed.

Image is of a Norfolk beach. Setting reminded me of this empty landscape.

Oh, why was living so painful, and why were we given these moments of health, if only to realise how burdened with pain we were the rest of the time? Why was it so difficult to live day after day with people and still remember that you were distinct from them and that this was your one mortal life?

I once told you, Jeffers, about the time I met the devil on a train leaving Paris....

#FirstLine

Everybody in this book is a jerk

To me this was a 5 🌟 read! A woman invites a famous artist to stay at a ‘second place‘ on her property. His paintings have had a profound impact on her and she wants to bring the artist himself closer to her. The book reads like a memoir, is thoughtful and genuine and full of great one liners. A work of art itself. I‘ll be reading this one again for sure.

This book can be found at the intersection of Ferrante‘s Neapolitan novels and Garner‘s autobiographical fiction, but sadly falls far short of them both. There‘s nothing fresh or ground-breaking in this testament to privileged second-wave feminism. Second Place is fine, it‘s readable, but it‘s also nostalgic to the point of boredom and quite forgettable. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/new-releases/