ABOUT
THE BOOK

2020 Longlist

A woman writer visits a Europe in flux, where questions of personal and political identity are rising to the surface and the trauma of change is opening up new possibilities of loss and renewal. Within the rituals of literary culture, Faye finds the human story in disarray amid differing attitudes toward the public performance of the creative persona. She begins to identify among the people she meets a tension between truth and representation, a fissure that accrues great dramatic force as Kudos reaches a profound and beautiful climax.

In this conclusion to her ground-breaking trilogy, Cusk unflinchingly explores the nature of family and art, justice and love, and the ultimate value of suffering.

About the Author

Rachel Cusk, the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of Outline and Transit, completes the transcendent literary trilogy with Kudos, a novel of unsettling power.

Librarian’s Comments

Kudos, a plot-free but hypnotic conclusion to Rachel Cusk’s “Outline” trilogy, is a beautiful monologue where readers absorb intimate stories about peopleencountered during a literary festival. Readers drift through various encounters as the narrator observes her dining companions, literary panelists, and fellow travelers, while learning about the stories of their lives and personal troubles. Cusk’s story asks readers to ponder the question of female freedom and identity in a privileged world. Cusk’s style, a sort of weaponized passivity, is a disorienting and radical achievement. Vancouver Public Library, Canada