If you loathe Rachel Cusk, you'll love this

[jujumaman]

Brilliant digested read of her new book from the Guardian

Made me rofl.

Safe to say, I won't be buying the book.

Her success is a complete mystery to me. She is so misanthropic, so smug, so lacking in empathy towards the rest of humanity. Though to be fair, the rest of humanity is losing jobs and struggling to survive, while she is being paid to write drivel about a brief holiday in a country where she couldn't even be bothered to learn the language.

Also rofl...! I am mystified by her success as well. Arlington Park was dreadful. Have ended up reading most of her things over the years as they tend to get given to me as slightly misguided presents. ( Altho I quite liked A Life's Work - it was so inappropriately self-pitying that it was oddly entertaining.)

Priceless. Heard some of this book read on Radio 4 the other day and was aghast at its awfulness. Hated the one about motherhood, couldn't finish it.

yay ! Arlington Park was bad wasn't it...

Oh that is absolutely superb. Laughing and laughing my head off here! That's really made my day thanks for the link.

ROFLMAO!

Oh, I love John Craces's stuff.

DH and I frequently piss ourselves over his Digested Reads.

John Crace is a genius

Rachel Cusk is not. Though I agree, BabsP, the misery that is her life is often unintentionally hilarious.

which note, whenever I need cheering up I read her account of joining a book club

Annoyingly, I can't find it - but it provoked a brilliant response from one of the book club saying how RC was so patronising and sneering she had made all the other members miserable and how happy they were to be shot of her.

oh the link didn't work

brilliant link.

for more of the genius Crace's Digested reads, see here:-

www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/digestedread

yes they are absolutely fantastic - I remember a great one for The End of the Affair that was just completely spot on.

And yes Rachel Cusk gets my back up - that bit in the book where she is being so awful about baby groups and singing and am getting all grr just thinking about it. So bloomin joyless.

rachel cusk is pants. can't wait to forward this to a fellow rc loather...

(evil cackle)

have forwarded to my book group members - we all endured Arlington Park and had to represent it at the Orange Prize discussion at our library...

Oh, I listened to that book being read (by the fab Holly Aird) on Radio 4 recently and was spellbound by the sheer horror. So condescending and smug!

John Crace is brilliant.

TOC, I caught some of it too and immediately thought that it was so grippingly awful that it could only be the work of THAT woman.

I'm glad it's not just me

I'm glad it's not just me

Sorry, here we go again

Can you imagine being one of the mums in her dds' classes, knowing she is watching you all the time, conjuring up insults to skewer you with in her next oeuvre?

I saw that in Guardy- brilliant! It's been on radio 4 ...my radio has been spat at lots

I often see her on the school run, giving everybody the deadeye. It's quite intimidating. You wouldn't rush to say hello.

Good God stinkymonkey that must be awful.

Really, stinkymonkey?

I bet she's a pillar of the PTA

Come to think of it, I did say hello once and was right royally blanked. When people complain on here about intimidating school run mummies, I always think 'thank your lucky stars you haven't got to run the gauntlet of RC's deadeye'.

I also heard some of it being read by an actor on Radio 4 the other day and nearly vomited into my ironing. Unmistakeably Cuskesque drivel.

Maybe you should try a gentle icebreaker in the form of a print out of John Crace's Disgested Read?

After that you'll be best friends.

I'd never come across her before, but reading that article and there is something of the McGonagall about her style...