That is why going back stage is so much fun!

Destroy the magic! 😂😂😘

She talks of MM, she is so well read, talking about Chinese and Western classics! The mini crash course on Chinese lit made the Monkey King opera I saw today a bit more meaningful, based on Journey to the West. Huge hit here.

I find it very tidy, neat, succinct, beautiful, same as I find her writing.

I'm hooked immediately with talk of translations, what a great way to deal with hospital visits and hard times than comparing translators. Jealous of her languages!

Yes, I like that too, though I wouldn't have thought to describe it that way. But a knife in the hand of a man coming toward you alone on a boat on the ocean is not a symbol of his awkwardness and inability to connect, at least to this woman, and , in MHO, it is not to Cusk either.

I loved it. You should read it.

exactly

I loved reading Tongueless, which Feeley translated ,which dealt in part with the different dialects within China, and she did it in such a smart way for English readers! I am looking forward to reading another translation by her and I have been wanting to delve in to Xl Xl for ages!

Their conversations seemed real to me, breaking through the "impersonal narrator" alluded to in the Paris Review article.

The next volume seems different, perhaps you will give it a go?

I know, we both love strong female narrators, right, so the experiment Cusk tried was not for you, or me, although I enjoyed the book, I guess I liked the experiment!

Here is the link: www.theparisreview.org/interviews/7...

This makes a lot of sense for NYRB Women and I have always meant to try May Sarton.

Hi Christina! I have the next two sitting on my reading table, I just have to not be naughty and drop out, as I sometimes do. Can I blame it on retirement?

I think it is simply real, not cliche, the narrator is female, and is describing how things usually go. We may want this story to go differently, perhaps a more elegant and satisfying end to their tale, but that is not the story this author is telling here. The knife is a little extra, maybe?

Very true, but the baby making shape change is uniquely female and quite dramatic for the shape that is changing!

Not always, but the initial excitement of someone new, friend or romance, will probably dampen, hopefully to something richer, deeper.