Transit A Novel

Rachel Cusk — 2017

The stunning second novel of a trilogy that began with Outline, one of The New York Times Book Review’s ten best books of 2015 In the wake of her family’s collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The process of this upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions—personal, moral, artistic, and practical—as she endeavors to construct a new reality for herself and her children. In the city, she is made to confront aspects of living that she has, until now, avoided, and to consider questions of vulnerability and power, death and renewal, in what becomes her struggle to reattach herself to, and believe in, life. Filtered through the impersonal gaze of its keenly intelligent protagonist, Transit sees Rachel Cusk delve deeper into the themes first raised in her critically acclaimed novel Outline and offers up a penetrating and moving reflection on childhood and fate, the value of suffering, the moral problems of personal responsibility, and the mystery of change. In this second book of a precise, short, yet epic cycle, Cusk describes the most elemental experiences, the liminal qualities of life. She captures with unsettling restraint and honesty the longing to both inhabit and flee one’s life, and the wrenching ambivalence animating our desire to feel real.

Reviews

Clay Carey@clayclay

Jul 30, 2024

Unbridled waiting during a transient season

Katie Chua@kchua

Aug 13, 2022

'twas nice to read

Ryan Nylander@stayinghydrated

Dec 20, 2021

As much as I wanted to enjoy this novel, I'm afraid I found it too gimmicky. Cusk writes everything from a tremendously detached narrative perspective. Each scene recants a conversation that the main character has had with another person. As a writing exercise it seems pretty daunting to force oneself to follow this convention, so to that end, she deserves no small credit. I didn't necessarily mind this stiff forced perspective so much as I struggled to maintain interest in the events of the narrative. The novel's world is realistic and mundane, like a slow-moving art-house film. Its characters follow the same rules and routines that real people do; there are no car chases, to say the least. Most of the excitement comes from the observations that the characters make about human nature, which often center around the loneliness of adult life. We also get to experience the ultimate millennial fantasy -- buying and renovating a house -- in London, no less! The problem with Transit is that Cusk wants two conflicting things. She wants to give us a realistic portrait of adult life, no more or less mundane than our own, and so runs the risk of boring us. At the same time, she wants us to suspend our disbelief, so that we can imagine all of Faye's acquaintances (who are mostly just one-dimensional mouthpieces for the author) opening up and regaling her with these witty observations and lengthy theses on human psychology, on what makes people tick, often unprompted. Simply put, people don't talk like this in real, everyday life; therefore, we can assume Transit takes place in a fantasy. So if it is a fantasy, why did it have to be so dull?

Linn @moonriver

Sep 3, 2021

don't know if i've just had enough of rachel cusk's writing style for now and should have waited a bit longer after finishing outline before starting transit or if i just liked the dreaminess of outline because i was just so bored while reading this one

Gary Homewood@GaryHomewood

Jul 28, 2021

Second part of a trilogy, the divorced female protagonist moves to London. Goes through various banal life events, meets and listens to a broad range of eloquent and articulate characters as they talk about life, freedom, responsibility, childhood. We learn almost nothing about the protagonist. Beautifully written with keen observations and accurate dialogue. Unapologetically philosophical, completely absorbing, thought provoking and profound. I underlined many, many sentences.