The Lucky Ones

"The Lucky Ones" is not really a novel - it is a series of stories, bound together by some characters, but because each of them explores the thoughts and feelings of one person, each can be treated as a separate entity. The characters come from all social classes and backgrounds in contemporary England - Kirsty is an expectant mom, in prison for a murder she did not commit; Vanessa is a stay-at-home mother in a hopeless marriage; Martin is a new father, distancing himself from his wife and a week-old daughter on a skiing trip; the conventional, old-fashioned middle-class Mrs Daley is a mother of a woman with post-partum depression... All the characters are connected by a common theme - the relationships and children, and how they deal with family issues. Their attitudes vary, but all are depicted with rare sharpness and clarity. They are lost and searching, doubtful and stubborn, conservative and revolutionary, forming a strange, although perhaps typical sample of society. I often found my own thoughts in theirs (although a lot of their wondering was unfamiliar to me). Children are central to the narrative, although they are not main characters, their existence is essential; the stories concentrate on different aspects of motherhood. Rachel Cusk writes in a lucid, crisp prose, capturing the internal monologues and thoughts with ease. I liked the connections between characters and, common for all chapters, presence of Victor and Serena Porter- a terminally ill lawyer and his wife, who writes a family column for a newspaper (author's alter ego?). This was the first book by Cusk I have read but I liked the psychological depth and nuances, and the explorations of family life, so much that I will read something else of hers soon.

This collection of stories is fanatastic. One, entitled "Mrs. Daly's Daughter," is probably one of the best short stories I've ever read. This book has a great deal of warmth, heart, and insight. Of all Rachel Cusk's books, I feel this is her best.

One of the best books I've read this year. Beautifully lyrical, clean, crisp prose. Deeply compelling, interlinking stories.

Rachel Cusk's The Lucky Ones is an excellent collection of interconnected stories. It's not a novel in the traditional sense of the word, really a group of well-written stories with characters in each story popping up in the others. All of the stories focus on the relationship between parents and children, exploring the nature of the desire for becoming a parent--is it something innate, something we all have? Are some better parents than others, or are they all bad in their own way? The writing here is wonderful--very enjoyable. A well-done collection that hangs together much more cohesively than most other interconnected story collections I have read.

I have read every one of Rachel Cusk's novels and they just get better. While I am carried along by her stories, I am also marveling at her command of language, how just one sentence can reveal a whole life. She understands how men feel, as sensitively and acutely as she reveals a woman's heart. I read probably two or three books a week (usually in the wee small hours) and this would have to be the pick of the last six months' reading -- and that's saying something! This is a novel lover's novel - fiction that feels utterly real.