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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think this is the most annoyingly pretentious article I have read in a long time?

218 replies

sphil · 18/02/2012 21:33

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/17/rachel-cusk-divorce-the-aftermath

I felt as if I was drowning in a sea of verbiage by the time I'd finished it.

OP posts:
ButterNoParsnips · 18/02/2012 22:52

Saw the link for cheesecake recipes at the side and got distracted. Blush

marfisa · 18/02/2012 22:55

Ugh. I admired her novel Arlington Park, but reading this article has really put me off her now. I can't make out what she thinks "feminism" is, but whatever her version of it is, it isn't very appealing.

Sorry, Rachel, but if one partner in a relationship gives up their career to be a stay-at-home parent, then the other, wage-earning partner DOES owe them some financial remuneration in the event of a divorce. And yes, that is what I would consider a feminist principle.

She also makes it sound as though the issue of how much contact the children should have with their father is simply a power struggle between her and the father -not about the best interests of the children, which is what REALLY matters. I'm sure this attitude is common enough among divorcing parents, but what a shame that someone so well-educated, and supposedly thoughtful, should find it so hard to prioritise her children's needs.

And yes, the writing style is self-indulgent - I wanted to defend it at first but became increasingly fed up as the piece droned on.

useyourloaf · 18/02/2012 22:55

I tried too. Like I did with a book about motherhood that she wrote. But no, I couldn't get beyond the first few paragraphs.

himynameisfred · 18/02/2012 22:56

I got half way through it.
Very interesting in some places, but she flits around, sometimes seemingly just got the sake of using cool phrases, or mystic scenarios, or unusual words..
Rather than sticking to the point and actually telling a story, it seems more about pretty writing.
Like when indie bands put random sentences together because they sound cool and interesting, and like they might be about something deep, but it's just pretty talk.

CarnivorousPanda · 18/02/2012 22:57

www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/aug/20/featuresreviews.guardianreview2

Think this is the one.

saintmerryweather · 18/02/2012 22:58

Don't worry avocets, I'm not sure many people would manage to read the whole thing, I sure didn't!

cornflowers · 18/02/2012 22:59

Add me to the list of those who guessed the article from the thread title alone... Can only assume the poor sub editor dozed off on the job. Self-indulgent dross.

sphil · 18/02/2012 22:59

Have just found the book club article - pmsl. Can't find the reply though.

OP posts:
marfisa · 18/02/2012 23:01

Oh dear sphil, I have just got a job at that college! Not in English though. :)
rushes off to read book club article

marfisa · 18/02/2012 23:02

That wasn't meant to be in bold...

Mrsgradgrind · 18/02/2012 23:03

That's the link, yes. I'll see if I can find the response.

tardisjumper · 18/02/2012 23:04

@molasses That's what I thought too! What does she think a feminist is? I didn't understand?

sphil · 18/02/2012 23:04

"My interest in books was a little fanatical, perhaps, to be constrained by decorous monthly meetings..."

Arf

OP posts:
sphil · 18/02/2012 23:06

In the place's defence, Marfisa, I am talking thirty years ago Blush.

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RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 18/02/2012 23:09

Crap. Shit articles like that are the reason I stopped reading The Guardian. All that bloomin' navel gazing from people who think the world revolves entirely around them. Katherine Flett used to be the same - except in words of fewer syllables. Drivel.

Mrsgradgrind · 18/02/2012 23:09

Can't find response, computer says no.

marfisa · 18/02/2012 23:11

Oh good, sphil, because they didn't seem like pompous gits at my interview! :)

The book club article is amazing. I am starting to think that the all-purpose reply to all her autobiographical pieces is, "Rachel, it's not ALL ABOUT YOU."

Also found a v. funny mumsnet thread that linked to a great send-up by John Crace of her Italy book.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_nonfiction/703381-If-you-loathe-Rachel-Cusk-you-39-ll-love-this/AllOnOnePage

ButterNoParsnips · 18/02/2012 23:18

Right, got down to reading it, excruciating! Cringed my way through it.

sphil · 18/02/2012 23:19

Oh that John Crace spoof is utterly brilliant! It has sent me to bed a happy woman...Smile

OP posts:
CarnivorousPanda · 18/02/2012 23:19

This writing is like Private Eye's Polly Filler on steroids.

PinkCarBlueCar · 18/02/2012 23:25

I imagine she must just write her piece and send it. How else could she possibly not get some inkling of what her ex husband might be on about?

SalmeMurrikAgain · 18/02/2012 23:42

I am struggling to get all the way through this article. Not surprised by the content after reading her last novel (The Bradshaw Variations). That was well-written enough but depressing - the ending especially reverberated with a visceral mumzilla rage Confused

heliumballoon · 19/02/2012 00:15

I knew this would be about the Cusk piece! Such pretentious rubbish. It was taken from a book- can you imagine the awfulness of pages and pages of it!

LeBOF · 19/02/2012 00:32

"I go with Z to the cinema and when we come out I say something about the film he doesn't understand. I feel, suddenly, that I've lost my power of communication."

I would have thought she would be used to this. Along with people's sudden onset of narcolepsy.

marfisa · 19/02/2012 00:32

Found the letter from the Bristol mum responding to the book group article. Best line: "She cast far more gloom than Chekhov ever managed"!

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/sep/03/featuresreviews.guardianreview23?INTCMP=SRCH]