Outline by Rachel Cusk

A luminous, powerful novel that establishes Rachel Cusk as one of the finest writers in the English language A man and a woman are seated next to each other on a plane. They get to talking—about their destination, their careers, their families. Grievances are aired, family tragedies discussed, marriages and divorces analyzed. An intimacy is established as two strangers contrast their own fictions about their lives. Rachel Cusk's Outline is a novel in ten conversations. Spare and stark, it follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing during one oppressively hot summer in Athens. She leads her students in storytelling exercises. She meets other visiting writers for dinner and discourse. She goes swimming in the Ionian Sea with her neighbor from the plane. The people she encounters speak volubly about themselves: their fantasies, anxieties, pet theories, regrets, and longings. And through these disclosures, a portrait of the narrator is drawn by contrast, a portrait of a woman learning to face a great loss. Outline takes a hard look at the things that are hardest to speak about. It brilliantly captures conversations, investigates people's motivations for storytelling, and questions their ability to ever do so honestly or unselfishly. In doing so it bares the deepest impulses behind the craft of fiction writing. This is Rachel Cusk's finest work yet, and one of the most startling, brilliant, original novels of recent years. A Finalist for the Folio Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction One of The New York Times' Top Ten Books of the Year Named a A New York Times Book Review Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, Vogue, NPR, The Guardian, The Independent, Glamour, and The Globe and Mail

- Google

The 598th greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - 4th on A Premature Attempt at the 21st Century Canon (Vulture)
  2. - 34th on The 100 best books of the 21st century (The Guardian)
  3. - The New Vanguard (New York Times)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
Outline: A Novel Audible Audiobook 71594 $19.08 2020
Resoconto (Outline Vol. 1) (Italian Edition) Kindle Edition 2638982 $10.99 2018
Outline Paperback 8434413 $10.76 $10.74 2019
Transit: A Novel Hardcover 7407673 $20.34 $6.94 2017
Outline: A Novel (Outline Trilogy) Hardcover 329565 $7.60 $3.85 2015
Outline: A Novel Paperback 2172910 $9.18 $6.74
Outline: A Novel Audio CD 2288111 $18.86 2015
Kudos: A Novel (Outline Trilogy Book 3) Kindle Edition 79183 2018
Kudos: A Novel (Outline Trilogy) Hardcover 509741 $11.70 $0.01 2018
Kudos Paperback 3538928 $8.54 $9.82 2019
Outline Paperback 4277383 $3.14
Transit (Thorndike Press large print basic) Hardcover 7695222 $26.50 $2.99 2017
Transiti (Outline Vol. 2) (Italian Edition) Kindle Edition 4547463 $10.99 2019
Transit Paperback 2553683 $7.83 $5.49
Transit Hardcover 9463021 $6.47
Onori (Outline Vol. 3) (Italian Edition) Kindle Edition 4653139 $9.99 2020
Outline: A Novel (Outline Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition 145360 $9.99 2015
Outline: A Novel Hardcover 1636291 $11.00 $5.01 2015
Kudos: A Novel (Outline Trilogy) Paperback 54484 $10.84 $7.41 2019
The Outline Trilogy: Outline, Transit and Kudos Paperback 151910 $25.64 $30.38 2019
A contraluz (Trilogía A contraluz) (Spanish Edition) Paperback 4279506 $13.33 $12.77 2018
Outline Hardcover 1232626 $3.12
Kudos: A Novel Hardcover 1664255 $22.44 $8.53 2018
Outline: A Novel (Outline Trilogy, 1) Paperback 24609 $10.65 $3.17 2016