Having your second child, in case you were wondering, is a lot harder than having your first, except for those people who find it easier. I'm afraid I don't have the latest figures to confirm this. Rachel Cusk afraidcasechild Change image and share on social
You could time a suburban story by your watch: it lasts as long as it takes a small furry animal that's lonely to find friends, or a small furry animal that's lost to find its parents; it lasts as long as a quick avowal of love; it lasts precisely as long as the average parent is disposed on a Tuesday night to spend reading aloud to children. Rachel Cusk aloudanimalaverage share on social
For me, a novel is always the result of my attempt to impose myself on raw circumstances. It is a concrete form of lived experience. Rachel Cusk attemptcircumstanceconcrete Change image and share on social
Writing is a discipline: it's almost all about holding back. Rachel Cusk backdisciplinehold Change image and share on social
Christianity has kept itself going for centuries on hope alone, and has perpetrated all manner of naughtiness in the meantime. Rachel Cusk centurychristianityhope Change image and share on social
To be optimistic about something that is absolutely unknown to you is unfounded. Rachel Cusk absolutelyoptimisticunfounded Change image and share on social
Even if they knew the truth of their own feelings, most mothers would be socially and emotionally incapable of revealing it. Rachel Cusk emotionallyfeelingincapable Change image and share on social
As writers go, I have a skin of average thickness. I am pleased by a good review, disappointed by a bad. None of it penetrates far enough to influence the thing I write next. Rachel Cusk averagebaddisappoint Change image and share on social
Society in the English countryside is still strangely, quaintly divided. If black comedy and a certain type of social commentary are what you want, I think English rural communities offer quite a lot of material. Rachel Cusk blackcomedycommentary share on social
The anorexic is out to prove how little she needs, how little she can survive on; she is out, in a sense, to discredit her nurturers, while at the same time making a public crisis out of her need for nurture. Such vulnerability and such power: it brings the whole female machinery to a halt. Rachel Cusk anorexicbringcrisis share on social