A brilliant novel told through ten conversations
Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Richard DeWyngaert, the owner of Head House Books in Philadelphia.
Richard DeWyngaert picked up "Outline," by Rachel Cusk, while traveling — which is the most fortuitous way to stumble upon this sly novel.
It centers on a writer whose life is falling apart.
"Her marriage, her career, her sense of self as a mother — all those facets of her identity are failing," DeWyngaert said. So she leaves it all behind to teach a summer creative writing course in Greece.
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The book takes non-traditional structure that excels in its minimalism.
"I love the fact that we don't know very much about the narrator, except through conversations," he said. "Each of the ten chapters is a conversation with someone different. It begins with the gentleman seated next to her on the plane, then there are various writers and poets and teachers and students in her class."
DeWyngaert said the book stuck with him because "we all go through periods where what used to work for us no longer works."
As for Cusk, he said, "I just think she's a remarkable writer. I think it's so disarming because it's so simple, and yet I kept rereading 'Outline.' I kept going back to it and being spellbound by how brilliant it is."