Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation by Rachel Cusk – #ABookADayInMay – Day 22

I know Rachel Cusk is revered by many, but I have to confess my only attempt with her fiction was a mixed blessing. I thought the writing was stunning, and the book had no momentum at all. I don’t normally mind the absence of plot, but Outline tested my limits. And yet, I wanted to try her again – and today I did, with Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation (2012). I thought I might have more luck with her non-fiction. The topic of Aftermath is, as the subtitle suggests, her marriage to the photographer Adrian Clarke, though he is unnamed in the book. It is a concession to privacy that is seldom paid much attention in the disconcertingly honest book – while some characters, including her daughter’s friends, are represented by an initial, it would be hard not to identify them if you knew them. Remorseless, relentless honesty is the order of the day. Cusk uses the fire of their separation as the jumping-off point for a discussion of many different things – starting with a look at gender…