https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/09/01/project-fiction-rachel-cusk
I really wish I had picked up the collection of short stories set in British grand houses I saw at the library sale because I am sure discerning their meanings would have been easier than this one. Maybe I will go back and get it if the sale is still on.
The protagonist has several themes in The Project. Two friends experience childhood's end in different ways, the story of her husband's time in a hospital and their subsequent move to a city with their children. This is probably the sort of story you need to read twice and I didn't. It was easy enough to read but I didn't quite pull the strings together. I don't mind a story that doesn't have a traditional style but this one seemed like three stories-one of them perhaps borrowed from Alice Munro's daughter.
It does sound like a complex story, Patti. Funny how you can find it easy enough to read a story, but harder to put it all together. I've had that happen to me, too.
ReplyDeleteIt happens more than I would like. Especially in THE NEW YORKER.
DeleteI always regret the books I didn't buy...
ReplyDeleteYears ago in England, I saw a collection of the Randolph Churchill/Martin Gilbert (long) biographies of Winston Churchill in trade paperback format in a bookstore window in Yorkshire while we were traveling around buying books. I had read several volumes by then and thought, "should I buy this?" but thought, nah, why shlep it around the country when I can pick it up in London on the way home.
ReplyDeleteSure enough, I NEVER saw it again anywhere. That's when I determined never to skip buying a book I really wanted. I have since picked up the later volumes, some in e-book format.
Still read the Krauss and Shipstead collections, and enjoying them both, and more collections are coming in, the latest being the legal one George reviewed last week, edited by John Mortimer. No library had it so I found a nice hardback on ABE for $3.99 including shipping.
Hope you are feeling better, Jeff.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, much better today., The doctor said I'm doing fine.
DeleteIf you did not care for this, I probably would not either. On the other hand, I may read it because I have one of Cusk's books (Outline), haven't read it yet, and I am curious.
ReplyDeleteInitially it bothered me that some stories require two readings, but I have done this often and ended up really liking a story that I initially disliked. So I guess it is worth it.
What was the book of short stories set in British Grand houses? Was it a British Library anthology or something else?
I didn't look at it carefully enough to tell you but it had terrific writers in it. Wish I had bought it. Only $3 but it was heavy and I was on foot with two other books to carry.
ReplyDelete