The New Yorker lavished this experimental narrative with a 3,000-word appreciation The New York Times called her "one of the smartest writers alive." American literati, beyond the tight group of Cuskian devotees, now recognize her name and abilities-some even read Outline. Her novels got relatively less attention, particularly in America, until last year's Outline, the first in a trilogy. Once again, readers were torn between empathy and judgey-ness. Then in 2012's Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation, about her divorce, which was triggered, she implied, by her own unfaithfulness, Cusk flipped the feminist equality script and admitted her outrage that she had to share custody of her two daughters-believing that as their mother, they should be only hers. But she was also excoriated because she made it clear that sacrificing her sense of self for her offspring was torturous. Her 2001 memoir, A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother, an unsentimental depiction of the bomblike effect babies have on our lives, developed a cult afterlife because women were, and continue to be, hungry for her nuanced, unapologetically intellectual perspective. The London-based novelist, personal essayist, and playwright Rachel Cusk is a figure of some controversy.
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