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In the Fold
by
Rachel Cusk
As a college student Michael visited Egypt Hill, the curiously named estate of his roommate+s family, for a garden party, and in one afternoon met a host of eccentric characters who have stayed with him ever since. Years later he decides a return to Egypt Hill would be an ideal sojourn-a place where he can escape the chaos at home that is destroying his marriage, his fashi...more
Hardcover, 262 pages
Published
October 19th 2005
by Little Brown and Company
(first published 2005)
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Feb 05, 2009
Bookmarks Magazine
added it
Cusk's fifth novel was long listed for the Booker Prize, an honor that somehow belies its good, but unspectacular, reviews. A work that wordsmiths will love for its dialogue, In the Fold speaks of youth, privilege, and disillusionment__but, unlike Gatsby in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby or Charles in Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, Michael understands the deception of appearances. Praised for her limning of psychic and emotional complexity, Cusk establishes convincing stereotypes of wealth, just t
...more
"There were perhaps a hundred houses there, all like Adam's. In spite of the exertions of the tarmac, which wound and circled graaciously amid the porperties as though to give the impression that each was distinct and difficult to find, the development had a somewhat regimental appearance. When you glimpsed it from the town, its roofs and top-floor windows resembled the impassive heads of an invading army coming over the hill. Once there, however, a pleasant, almost dreamlike atmosphere prevaile...more
This was a bit like a temperamental old car - started off a bit jerky and I wasn't at all sure I was going to be able to make the journey, but once it got up to speed, it was as smooth as anything and I fairly sped along through some great scenery. It's a good idea to keep a dictionary close at hand - any author who makes free with the word 'contemporaneous' on the very first page is serving fair warning on the reader. And there are some unbelievably long and complicated sentences lurking in the...more
What a promising storyline, an appealing cover and an interesting start. Unfortunately the writing seems to fall into being a complete load of old bollocks!
For example: 'On the contrary, Rick's gallery was constantly awash in an apparently inexhaustible fund of notoriety and success, and the more these two commodities could be observed in the infallible business of their synthesis, the clearer an impression of its elemental steadiness could be obtained.' p.30
There's lots more of that too!
The dia...more
For example: 'On the contrary, Rick's gallery was constantly awash in an apparently inexhaustible fund of notoriety and success, and the more these two commodities could be observed in the infallible business of their synthesis, the clearer an impression of its elemental steadiness could be obtained.' p.30
There's lots more of that too!
The dia...more
Court roman atypique où rencontres de hasard, unions, amitiés et amours semblent orchestrés
par un maestro qui s'amuse avec tout ce que l'existence comporte de plus fortuit.
Où l'on constate que chaque destin, chaque personne est cubique; on n'en voit jamais la totalité!
Le principal protagoniste avance à tâtons pour redonner un sens à sa vie;
sa femme lui échappe, refuse la maternité, son fils l'inquiète...
Il retourne à Egypt farm, lieu mythique de son passé d'étudiant où il a jadis rencontré la f...more
par un maestro qui s'amuse avec tout ce que l'existence comporte de plus fortuit.
Où l'on constate que chaque destin, chaque personne est cubique; on n'en voit jamais la totalité!
Le principal protagoniste avance à tâtons pour redonner un sens à sa vie;
sa femme lui échappe, refuse la maternité, son fils l'inquiète...
Il retourne à Egypt farm, lieu mythique de son passé d'étudiant où il a jadis rencontré la f...more
Well I managed to finish it! A young university student(Michael)is invited to his friend`s sister`s eighteenth birthday party, to be held on their farm called Egypt. The family are all a bit odd, and the party which never seems to start is suddenly over. Years later the Michael contacts his friend again and ends up taking his young son down to the farm to help with the lambing.Here he discovers that most of the family are really unpleasant. I found this book very wearisome, introspective and oft...more
Aug 06, 2009
Cathy
added it
I'm not sure how to rate this -- it was objectively quite good, but I never quite got into it. It's like the most cynical possible take on Brideshead Revisited, combined with a critique of modern fakey plastic values. But Cusk also skewers modern pretentious concerns about "authenticity," so there's nothing (except maybe the narrator's relationship with his possibly autistic toddler) that's real. Perhaps that's why I didn't like it much -- there's little to like, although the people and incident...more
Another confusing read with no real story. I'm not sure if it set out to be a slice of life or vignette. I reminds me of Emily Perkins novel Novel About My Wife.
There is more of a story line to Cusk's In the Fold compared to Perkins' novel but it's still about some man who seened to have failed and is ramblings and complaining about things around him.
Both of the main female characters in both Perkins and Cusk's books seem a mad or a bit off.
There is a story but nothing really happens to the mai...more
There is more of a story line to Cusk's In the Fold compared to Perkins' novel but it's still about some man who seened to have failed and is ramblings and complaining about things around him.
Both of the main female characters in both Perkins and Cusk's books seem a mad or a bit off.
There is a story but nothing really happens to the mai...more
This book was a pleasure to read, despite the sometimes convoluted language, unpleasant Murdochian characters (spoilt, vain, pretentious) and apparent lack of plot. The scene near the end where the Hanburys' shameful history is finally revealed in front of Michael, destroying his previous stubbornly rose-tinted view of their bohemian lifestyle, is exhilerating, transforming the character of Vivian from drudge to autonomous agent and bringing the whole book together (at last!) in a thoroughly sat...more
I found this novel disappointing, having really enjoyed Arlington Park by the same author. Nothing happened for the majority of the story and then suddenly it all came to a conclusive, hurried end.
I admire Rachael Cusks's observations greatly, and she's excellent with dialogue and characterisation.But this was quite a depressing book, and I felt gloomy and downtrodden reading it.
Didn't really care about the characters. The writing was great though. Funny in parts. Really great descriptions...very original. Good voice.
The book kept my attention, but I was a little disappointed with the ending. It left me with more questions than answers.
In the Fold was a very tiring read. Not only was there no urgency to the story, but more problematically, there was no doubt that readers were supposed to find the characters unpleasant. In a character study, I want to be more conflicted about the characters, to be drawn to—despite his/her faults—the despicable character or to be repulsed by—despite his/her attributes—the virtuous character. Here everyone was unrelentingly mean and selfish and vapid. Which I suppose is a statement on modern soci...more
Meh. The writing wasn't bad, but I just didn't like it. The writing seemed stretched, rambling, just sort of unedited.
A well written but thoroughly nasty story about very unlikeable people
Disappointing. If you want Rachel Cusk and the countryside then I would recommend " The Country Life " instead..quirky and fun
05 longlisted for booker prize
Love her writing, but not convinced by the plot or some of the characters in this one.
i read a review of her in a magazine and decided to check her out at the library. i couldn't finish either of these books. they were terrible.
Jun 22, 2010
Beth Shields-Szostak
marked it as to-read
1st edition US
It's kind of a downer, this book. Twas a good story, though.
This book was alright; it kept my attention for long enough, but it wasn't anywhere near as good as the reviews implied.
I always think, "Oh, I like Rachel Cusk."
And then I'm always "Meh" when done.
And then I'm always "Meh" when done.
Funny, smart, thoughftul. Classic Cusk.
US: Reagan Arthur
A very crazy novel.
May 19, 2013
Lynda Edward
marked it as to-read
May 18, 2013
Penguinasana
added it
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RACHEL CUSK is the Whitbread Award–winning author of two memoirs, including The Last Supper, and seven novels, including Arlington Park, Saving Agnes, The Temporary, The Country Life, and The Lucky Ones. She lives in Brighton, England.
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Jul 07, 2012 04:31am