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Original poster

Arlington Park - What a great big pile of crap, worst book I have had the misfortune to pick up in a long long time

142 replies

Oliveoil · 30/01/2008 10:08

One of my NY resolutions is to read more books (now that dd2 seems to realise - at 3.6yrs!!! - that at bedtime she REMAINS in her bed in the evening) and I have been doing just that

well

Arlington Park

I forced myself to get to the end

what an obnoxious moaning bunch of women

I do not know ANYBODY like this, it makes out motherhood and relationships to be crap

yes you may have the odd day when you could easily headbutt the wall, but purlease

hated the writing style and skimmed it over and over again

anybody want it FFP? before I lob it out of the window?

OP posts:
Original poster
Oliveoil · 30/01/2008 12:56

oh Xenia, nothing like a bit of generalising is there?

OP posts:
francagoestohollywood · 30/01/2008 12:55

lol

francagoestohollywood · 30/01/2008 12:54

(I didn't like the first chapter, when she's pg and goes for a walk in the snow, I thought she was being quite irresponsible )

Judy1234 · 30/01/2008 12:53

I read it. She seems to be producing books which vindicate my view that most middle class clever women are pretty unhappy at home and ought to be out there working.

francagoestohollywood · 30/01/2008 12:53

would love to keep on discussing but have to go back to my internetless flat .

Original poster
Oliveoil · 30/01/2008 12:52

oh I don't think I am clever enough to partake of this thread anymore, you have gone all descriptive

tbh I was BORED TO DEATH with the start of the book, waffling on about rain. Yes, it is raining, get on with it fgs

I didn't buy anything in Waterstones, I bought some soup instead from Pret

what can you recommend (that isn't obsessed with the weather and/or motherhood)?

OP posts:
ahundredtimes · 30/01/2008 12:49

UQD and so she should have servants, if indeed she does. She's a writer not a housekeeper. She should employ whoever possible to come in and do things so she can write.

Anna8888 · 30/01/2008 12:45

Hmm. I never had any feeling of mystique and preciousness. I found the whole process incredibly earthy - I had a real back-to-nature moment during pregnancy/childbirth/early motherhood and absolutely adored that feeling of being an animal .

dustbuster · 30/01/2008 12:44

I know RC lived in Bristol for a bit, and I have always imagined that Arlington Park was based on Westbury Park - or Waitrose Park as I like to think of it. I think the shopping centre is based on the Mall at Cribbs Causeway, and the estate-y bit they drive through to get there is Southmead.

I like some of early RC, but she has got quite doomy and depressing, and I found AP really hard work. My sister and I were laughing the other day about the bit where she goes on about how the men are KILLING the woman (iirc, it's been a while since I read it).

francagoestohollywood · 30/01/2008 12:42

unconfortable (sp?)

francagoestohollywood · 30/01/2008 12:42

. I understand. I liked it. Don't get me wrong, I loved having a new baby, but was quite unconfrotable with the mistique surrounding new mothers and the presciousness of those first months. so I found the book refreshing

Anna8888 · 30/01/2008 12:37

Yes, it was really gloomy and depressing. There I was thinking that life had just never been better than this, and I could spend all day every day revelling in my baby and general domestic cosiness - and R Cusk comes along and its all gloom and doom and don't know what to do next .

francagoestohollywood · 30/01/2008 12:32

was it really that negative? I will re read it.

francagoestohollywood · 30/01/2008 12:31

I honestly can't remember Anna, I read it 5 yrs ago when ds was a baby and the vague memory I have was that it was quite funny. A breath of fresh air out of the idealization (does this word exist?) of babyhood and motherhood. Which, don't get me wrong, are great, but deserve at times a bitter laugh

UnquietDad · 30/01/2008 12:29

Cusk has servants? Why does this not surprise me?...

Cappuccino · 30/01/2008 12:28

that doesn't surprise me Anna

Anna8888 · 30/01/2008 12:27

In what way ironic, Franca?

I found it really demoralising - I had never even thought to see motherhood and babydom in such a negative light.

scattyspice · 30/01/2008 12:26

I thought she seemed depressed too. Actually I think alot of authors are quite depressed.

francagoestohollywood · 30/01/2008 12:25

I really enjoyed a life's work, I found it ironic.

theangelshavethephonebox · 30/01/2008 12:25

Agree with every word of the OP. I read it on holiday and several times had to resist the urge just to chuck the bloody book in the swimming pool (I did resist because I didn't have a lot of other books with me). But it was utter shite.

MaryAnnSingleton · 30/01/2008 12:23

the opening of Arlinton Park does go on about the weather,relentless rain,leaves etc...which I quite like,as I enjoy atmospheric details...it sounded a vile place to live though and imagined the hideous shopping place to be like the one in Basingstoke, if anyone knows that ( actually, I don't mind it but dh loathes it)

Cappuccino · 30/01/2008 12:23

Oh Alice Munro now we're talking

ahundredtimes · 30/01/2008 12:19

Yes it is generosity isn't it?

Difficult thing to pull off though. Alice Munro does, she focuses on the small and domestic and opens up her stories to be generous and universal. I heart Alice Munro.

Cusk is different though. She's tough and cross and a bit jumpy.

I think she writes really well too Capp.

RosJ · 30/01/2008 12:14

Yes depressing themes doesn't mean its a crap book, but I find books with a limited range of themes and characters depressing, especially if the same themes are repeated. I think Annie Proulx (cant be bothered to check spelling) does it so much better-some very difficult marginal characters, having hard times but...there seems to be an expansiveness there about human nature, which is much more generous and less myopic.
I'm avoiding getting on with my studies here.....

Cappuccino · 30/01/2008 12:10

I read Arlington Park and though I didn't like the characters, I thought the writing was beautiful. The opening pages were gorgeous, almost filmic

I did find myself overtaken by the writing to the point where I got to the end of a book with some very unsympathetic characters, which surprised me

There were irritating aspects to it - I did think that some of the feminism within it was a bit tired, a bit 'Didn't we already do this with The Women's Room in the 1970s? There was a good deal of heavy handedness in it but the writing was just gorgeous