Length7h 17m
About this audiobook
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.
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.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.7 (84.5K)
Includes Goodreads, StoryGraph, Amazon, LibraryThing
GenreGeneral Fiction
Length7 hrs 17 mins
Narrated byKate Lock
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMar 12, 2022
LanguageEnglish
Series
More from Rachel Cusk
The Bradshaw VariationsRachel Cusk8h 39m3.5 (2K)$20 · $0.00
AftermathRachel Cusk4h 57m3.6 (5.5K)$15 · $0.00
The Last SupperRachel Cusk7h 56m3.6 (2.2K)$20 · $0.00
Arlington ParkRachel Cusk8h 45m3.3 (6.7K)$23 · $0.00
CoventryRachel Cusk7h 30m3.8 (4.5K)$17
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
Cast in BloodMichelle Sagara16h 35m4.6 (607)$33 · $0.00
The Captain Blood Trilogy (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini29h 20m4.6 (1K)$3 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The George Orwell CollectionGeorge Orwell24h 46m4.5 (14.4K)$12 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 38m4.5 (9.2K)$2 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
When God Calls the HeartBrian Bird, Michelle Cox3h 24m4.6 (439)$10 · $0.00
Five Little IndiansMichelle Good10h 34m4.5 (64.5K)$29 · $0.00
Lolth's WarriorR. A. Salvatore13h 20m4.6 (2.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m4.5 (359.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers29h 49m4.5 (58K)$8 · $0.00
Going PostalTerry Pratchett11h 23m4.5 (189.9K)$29 · $0.00
Glen AffricKarine Giebel22h 51m4.5 (3.2K)$46 · $0.00
The Book Of NegroesLawrence Hill15h 45m4.5 (107.3K)$33 · $0.00
Lieutenant Hornblower (Annotated)C. S. Forester11h 41m4.5 (2.9K)$2 · $0.00
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen14h 46m4.5 (5.3M)$4 · $0.00
You may also like
The Moon That Turns You BackHala Alyan1h 38m4.2 (1.7K)$16 · $0.00
We Are BridgesCassandra Lane8h 6m4.0 (394)$20 · $0.00
Mrs. DallowayVirginia Woolf6h 56m4.0 (421.8K)$2.40
The Collected Plays of Anton ChekhovAnton Chekhov16h 11m4.4 (291)$2 · $0.00
Birds of AmericaLorrie Moore10h 10m4.1 (21.1K)$20
The Invisibility CloakGe Fei3h 45m3.7 (2.5K)$15 · $0.00
Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning PaperHarriet Scott Chessman3h 44m3.7 (2.8K)$20 · $0.00
The Same SeaAmos Oz4h 15m3.8 (1.9K)$15
My PhantomsGwendoline Riley4h 53m3.8 (7.6K)$15 · $0.00
To the LighthouseVirginia Woolf8h 42m4.0 (260.1K)$2 · $0.00
To The LighthouseVirginia Woolf7h 24m4.0 (282.5K)$3.50 · $0.00
Some Bright NowhereAnn Packer7h 14m3.5 (14.5K)$28 · $0.00
Second PlaceRachel Cusk6h 18m3.6 (34.8K)$24 · $0.00
A Grief ObservedC. S. Lewis1h 51m4.4 (127.4K)$10
Will and TestamentVigdis Hjorth8h 33m4.0 (25.6K)$20 · $0.00
Who Is Wellness For?Fariha Roisin10h 25m3.8 (1.7K)$29 · $0.00
UlyssesJames Joyce30h 45m3.9 (166.8K)$1.20 · $0.00
An Abbreviated LifeAriel Leve6h4.0 (2.9K)$24 · $0.00
Pushkin and the Queen of SpadesAlice Randall12h 35m3.5 (289)$23 · $0.00
One Day MoreJoseph Conrad2h 8m3.2 (478)$2 · $0.00