Arlington Park
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Product Description
Jane Shilling, Evening Standard
'tender, haunting, grimly comic and infinintely disturbing'
Sunday Times
'funny and exhilaratingly unrepentant ... deliriously enjoyable'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I was not enthused by it. I was not put off by the subject matter, the seemingly-bleak lives of 30+ middle-class housewives in a 'nice' part of town, but by the treatment. Cusk was simply trying too hard I thought. So many similes: at one time I felt like getting a pencil and counting how many per page. In the final chapter or so Cusk loosens up, so to speak, with more use of direct conversation. The final dinner party scene made me think of the play Abigail's Party but the latter won hands down.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having read the reviews (both on this site, on the book cover and in the press) I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately it did not live up to the hype. Yes, it's well written, and yes it's a comment on how we live now. However, it's such a 'glass half empty' book that it feels like a long slog to the end. If you want to read about a bunch of privileged women complaining bitterly about their lives then perhaps this book is for you. For me, it covers no new territory and has a serious sense of humour failure. What it does achieve, however, is to make you feel very glad that you are not in the well-heeled shoes of the women of Arlington Park.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you want a plot-driven read, then Cusk isn't for you; nevertheless I did find this book a page-turner. The chapters are linked by the the location, Arlington Park - a well-heeled suburb that is Not London - and by the women who live there, weighed down by husbands and families, appearing normal on the outside, but inwardly fuming. Cusk is very good at describing women momentarily "losing it" with complete strangers, or their children, and it is the way in which she captures her characters' inner dialogues and their very ordinary and all-too-recognisable dramas that makes her work compelling. No quick fixes, no obviously cheery endings. I did expect a little more from the final chapter where characters from the previous chapters are brought together for a dinner party, which is why I'm giving it four stars rather than five, but nevertheless it's a powerful book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant
I love the way Rachel Cusk writes - she manages to sketch so perfectly all those little moments that mostly remain unsaid and unseen and yet define your day. Read more
Published 26 days ago by customer
Elegant, intelligent and funny
I think some of the negative reviews given to this book say more about the reviewers than about the novel itself. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Redglass
The Sadness of Suburbia
This is my first encounter with the writing of Rachel Cusk although this is her sixth novel and was shortlisted for the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Lovely Treez
Very average
I was given this book by my brother's girlfriend and having heard good things about Cusk was intrigued as to how it would pan out. Read more
Published on 24 April 2010 by Mrs. Frances D. Dickens
One note, well played, but still just one note
A fairly furious and dark polemic against marriage, motherhood, men women and children. Cusk conveys the frustration and bitterness of middle class surburbian life well, sometimes... Read more
Published on 29 Dec 2009 by Lady Fancifull
Stormy weather
I would like to like this novel more than I do. It amply fulfils many of the criteria I would assign to "good novel" status. Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
Awful !
I absolutely hated this boring depressing book. There is no point in regretting things. Whatever it is - it's over and done with and dont do it again, but, if I were to regret... Read more
Published on 14 July 2008 by M. Henry
Boring !
There is no storyline. This book is only about the depressing lives of average housewifes in an average English suburb. Boring.
Published on 5 Jun 2008 by French reader
Speaks of nothing new
Cusk develops the characters well, but if it's a good plot you are looking for, then this book may well be one to avoid. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2008 by Mrs. N. J. Manchester
The Jury Is Out
Hmmm. I sped through Arlington Park in two sittings, but my opinion is divided.
First off, I'm not a mother, so I have no idea how accurate the portrayals of motherhood... Read more
First off, I'm not a mother, so I have no idea how accurate the portrayals of motherhood... Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2008 by Other Stories
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