Near the beginning of this book, our narrator corrects a non-native-English speaker’s English (prolixity to proximity). It’s one of the few times she (the narrator) does something, rather than simply being a receptacle for the other character’s life-stories and foibles, because this is what the narrator is in this story: an urn that all the other characters, and for such a short novel, they are legion, pour themselves into. But back to the correcting of English — it’s sort of a jackass thing to do to a complete stranger who is speaking to you in a language not his own, isn’t it? Plus, since she’s able to correct him, she understood what he meant when he said it incorrectly, so why did she do it? The novel ends with her correcting his English again. I don’t know why. I think if I did know why, maybe I would understand this book better.
Outline is like a big nineteenth century pastoral novel, except for it being twenty-first century and short and set mainly in urban Athens. But it has that feeling of weightiness and heft and importance and description. Like a nineteenth century novel, especially say a melodrama like The Woman in White or The Wanderer, a sense of disbelief is required (that or the Greek education system is just churning out wonderfully adept English speakers, which it may be). Like a big nineteenth century novel, I get the impression that if I had at least a Masters in English, I would have gotten a lot more out of it than I did. I enjoyed it. I liked reading the stories of the people baring their lives to our narrator. But I just don’t know. Am I jealous that our narrator has that sort of aura or personality or welcoming face that lets others unburden themselves to her, or do I simply not believe it? Is this even a novel? It’s like a theory of a novel, or a theory of characterization, or a theory of something. Not much happens outside the strangers’ unprompted sharing. But, as I said, I think English lit people will like it. I think people who don’t like theory will hate it. How flummoxed someone would be if he were given this book and told to make a Michael Bay-esque movie of it. That thought made me laugh out loud. Others may have looked at me.
What happens in this book: nothing. But I gave it four of five stars anyway.
Outline by Rachel Cusk went on sale September 4, 2014.
I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.