Second Place by Rachel Cusk - review

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Title: Second Place

Author: Rachel Cusk

Genre: Literary Fiction

Pages: 186

My rating: ★★★★☆

Other notable works by author: The Outline trilogy

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2021.

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I’m kind of at a loss of what to say for this review. I’ve let a little time pass to let the novel settle into me, but I still can’t seem to find the words to express everything I think and feel about it. It was my first Rachel Cusk novel, and whoa, what an experience. Overall, it was a positive reading experience, but it left me feeling unsettled as well. Sometimes this oxymoronic balance is exactly what I need in a book.

I related to this book so much, and the main character’s feelings about being a woman. Cusk has a mesmerising way with words. Just like M. felt about finding a piece of herself in L’s art, I felt that way about Cusks’s writing. It almost seemed as if she had managed to get inside my mind, sort through all the chaos in there, and formulate my thoughts into beautiful and coherent sentences – something I’m still not always able to do.

A middle-aged woman invites a famous artist, whose work has impacted her greatly, to her remote home on a moor, where she has a guesthouse, a ‘second place’. Her hope is that he will be able to provide her answers about herself through his art, but their relationship doesn't turn out as she’d hoped…

There wasn’t much to the plot, at times the story just felt like a device to frame Cusk’s musings on life, womanhood, identity and relationships. At only slightly over 100 pages, the novel is brief but juicy and I found myself highlighting stuff on almost every single page, something that occurs rarely for me. This novel has introduced me to the wonderful world of Cusk’s writing, and I can’t wait to read more of her work.

P.s. Who is Jeffers?

P.p.s. I need a Tony in my life, he is by far the best character and nicest husband.