Second Place: Signed Edition
Hardback Published on: 06/05/2021
Price: £14.99
Bookseller Reviews
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Exquisitely told.
A young woman troubled with her marriage, comes across paintings by a young artist. They appeal to her as if, the artist knows exactly how she was feeling ... READ MORE
A Wonder
What a remarkable book. I know when I have read something truly excellent by how long I need to sit quietly and reflect once I'm done with it, turning the... READ MORE
Synopsis
A woman invites a famed artist to visit the remote coastal region where she lives, in the belief that his vision will penetrate the mystery of her life and landscape. Over the course of one hot summer, his provocative presence provides the frame for a study of female fate and male privilege, of the geometries of human relationships, and of the struggle to live morally between our internal and external worlds.
With its examination of the possibility that art can both save and destroy us, Second Place is deeply affirming of the human soul, while grappling with its darkest demons.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Faber & Faber
- ISBN: 9780571370573
- Number of pages: 224
- Dimensions: 216 x 135 x 15 mm
- Weight: 335g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allReally extraordinary writing.
Stream of consciousness books are often not easy to read, but after a rather slow start whilst the narrator introduced herself and set the scene, this jus... READ MORE
Not my favourite Rachel Cusk...
Thanks to Faber for letting me read Second Place! I really enjoyed the first two books in Rachel Cusk's Outline trilogy (I need to read the third!) so I wa... READ MORE
A claustrophobic atmosphere under a big sky
By the time I started reading Second Place, I had forgotten anything of the description that had led me to request an advance proof copy so I went in blind... READ MORE
A clever if frustrating read
The Second Place is an interesting exploration of female identity and how relationships influence the narrator's sense of worth. The narrative told in conv... READ MORE
Highly recommended for fans of the author's complex and bracing prose
Rachel Cusk’s latest novel is inspired by “Lorenzo in Taos” – the American art patron Mable Dodge Luhan’s account of a rather fraught (on both sides) visit... READ MORE
A different kind of novel
I was sent a copy of Second Place by Rachel Cusk to read and review by NetGalley. I chose to read and review this book because it sounded very intriguing ... READ MORE
In the annexe plenty of people can hear you scream
Rachel Cusk has a long history of asking the reader ‘how much of this is true? How much is my experience? Or are you just projecting all this onto an image... READ MORE
Complex, beautiful, striking.
This novel is deceptively short and deceptively simple, luring you in with a series of letters from our narrator to a character we never quite meet.
The l... READ MORE
A Great Read.
This story is told in the form of correspondence to Jeffers, from a fragile and disillusioned 'M'. M and her second husband have built a second home on the... READ MORE
Like a strange and elegiac dream
A woman going through a crisis sees a series of works by a painter in a Paris gallery and it changes her life. In the new life she makes, she creates a spa... READ MORE