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Arlington Park

by Rachel Cusk

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
6244337,155 (2.96)54
Arlington Park, a modern-day English suburb, is a place devoted to the profitable ordinariness of life. Amidst its leafy avenues and comfortable houses, its residents live out the dubious accomplishments of civilisation: material prosperity, personal freedom, and moral indifference. For all that, Arlington Park is strikingly conventional. Men work, women look after children, and people generally do what's expected of them. Theirs is a world awash with contentment but empty of belief, and riven with strange anxieties. Set over the course of a single rainy day, the novel moves from one household to another, and through the passing hours conducts a deep examination of its characters' lives: of Juliet, enraged at the victory of men over women in family life; of Amanda, warding off thoughts of death with obsessive housework; of Solly, who confronts her own buried femininity in the person of her Italian lodger; of Maisie, despairing at the inevitability with which beauty is destroyed; and of Christine, whose troubled, hilarious spirit presides over Arlington Park and the way of life it represents.… (more)
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» See also 54 mentions

English (39)  Spanish (2)  Dutch (1)  French (1)  All languages (43)
Showing 1-5 of 39 (next | show all)
Finished this a couple months ago now but still wanted to leave a review. Like others, this book left me a little disappointed and I am worried this marks a turn into a style of spending a short amount of time cast awful characters and never really scratching the surface, which is how I felt about Outline, Then again if it is done well, like in The Lucky Ones, it really blows my mind. The ballet shoes and so many other vivid descriptions: the literary club, the park, the mall are so wonderful but in the end it didn't add up to much for me, unfortunately. Think I'm going to try one of her memoirs when I next read her. ( )
  squarishoval | Apr 24, 2023 |
Beautifully written in parts but I felt the short story-like structure jumping from character to character didn't really work as well as a more longer-form narrative would have done. Although many of the characters do re-appear later in the book, I found that as some level of interest and character insight was being reached the chapter would come to a close and focus on someone different.

Need to take a break from reading books about white, middle class people too. Felt like their suburban lives was too much of an easy target here for Cusk, and didn't ever really reach the heights of her superlative Outline trilogy. ( )
  arewenotben | Jul 31, 2020 |
This is very well written, but somewhat depressing and bleak. Very well described scenes from a suburban life of disappointment. ( )
  AlisonSakai | Apr 24, 2020 |
Very well written. I got some of the characters confused, but it didn't matter. The chapter in the park could be its own short story, it's so perfectly described. ( )
  lisahistory | Nov 17, 2018 |
Desperate Housewives meets Under Milk Wood
By sally tarbox on 13 Jun. 2012
Format: Paperback
The start to this novel is brilliantly evocative describing the rain over a night time city: 'In their sleep they heard it, people lying in their beds: the thunderous noise of the water...it made them feel somehow observed, as if a dark audience had assembled outside and were looking in through the windows, clapping their hands.'
And then Cusk takes us through a day in the life of this suburb through the eyes of various middle-class young mums; the snapshots of each show an unremitting dissatisfaction with their husbands and children and their place in a man's world.
I LOVED Cusk's prose but started to get fed up with these moany privileged women! ( )
  starbox | Jul 10, 2016 |
Showing 1-5 of 39 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (8 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Rachel Cuskprimary authorall editionscalculated
Heer, Inge deTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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For Penny, with affection
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All night the rain fell on Arlington Park.
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Arlington Park, a modern-day English suburb, is a place devoted to the profitable ordinariness of life. Amidst its leafy avenues and comfortable houses, its residents live out the dubious accomplishments of civilisation: material prosperity, personal freedom, and moral indifference. For all that, Arlington Park is strikingly conventional. Men work, women look after children, and people generally do what's expected of them. Theirs is a world awash with contentment but empty of belief, and riven with strange anxieties. Set over the course of a single rainy day, the novel moves from one household to another, and through the passing hours conducts a deep examination of its characters' lives: of Juliet, enraged at the victory of men over women in family life; of Amanda, warding off thoughts of death with obsessive housework; of Solly, who confronts her own buried femininity in the person of her Italian lodger; of Maisie, despairing at the inevitability with which beauty is destroyed; and of Christine, whose troubled, hilarious spirit presides over Arlington Park and the way of life it represents.

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