Book review: Kudos, by Rachel Cusk

Rachel Cusk is very good, or rather very good in her way. Kudos is the last book in an already highly praised trilogy. “She may”, according to one American reviewer, “have discovered the most genuine way to write a novel today.” This is the sort of judgement that prejudices you against its object. There are today, as there have always been, many genuine ways to write a novel. Some of them, even today, require a writer to tell a good story, even contrive a compelling plot. Cusk doesn’t bother with this. There’s no reason why she should, but let’s not pretend that a disinclination to tell a story is the mark of a “genuine” novel today. Actually there are lots of stories in Kudos; it’s just that there isn’t a story. They don’t lead into each other.