She's amazing. Saw her read in Pittsburgh recently. I went on a whim since I loved her book Nox, and she was fantastic and brilliant in a graceful, understated way. Now I want to read everything. Starting with her translations of Sappho...

The situation is frightful. I find this chapter very dark.

"But here the balance of power is different, he said, because as much as your clients might hate and resent you they also need you, for the reason that they don't know how to do what you do." The power of skill. #rachelcusktogether

It is a nice turn of phrase, but I wondered if it's builder's voice. I had a hard time imagining him uttering that sentence spontaneously; it seems like her language. (She isn't quoting him there, but the section does seem like his commentary throughout. Hmm.)

I lived for 14 years in a basement apartment and could hear everything in the unit above. I don't have any particularly dramatic stories, but it was aggravating at times; I could hear people snore! I didn't complain--they were just living their lives--but I never really became reconciled either.

Beautiful.

Much more. I think that's why this book is my favorite.

And I didn't think she had any reason to berate herself with respect to Paniotis, though now I wonder if those feelings are related to how she left Gerard and her sense of guilt over that.

She is vehement about it, however. It's interesting to revisit this here, in a different context. By her own description, she left Gerard “without much ceremony or explanation, for someone else.” That sounds insensitive, but I'm not sure I would describe it as "criminal" the way she does.

Looking forward to reading this. My introduction to Franklin was Anna Ziegler's play Photogragh 51. (My brother played Maurice Wilkins in a production in Philly.) Now I see it's being made into a film with Natalie Portman playing Franklin.

Makes me wonder if he confides like that habitually.

Read the following in NY Times article: "Sycophancy, in which chatbots agree with and excessively praise users, is a trait they’ve manifested partly because their training involves human beings rating their responses.“ Unlike people, they're designed, or they've developed, to give us what we want.

I have a brother in real estate and found myself wanting to read this part to him. I'm sure he's seen it all. The estate agent certainly waxes voluble with her.

Oh wow, they did Transit! Awesome.

I first read this book before AI erupted onto the scene, and it was eerie (that's the word) to revisit this opening chapter.

I'm not sure what to make of these lines. I question the assertion that machines deliver more tenderness than people (despite humans' capacity for callousness), and I don't see much erosion in the power to hurt in our algorithm-driven culture. Then again, she's reporting, not endorsing.

Curious to hear people's thoughts on the next two. Transit may be my favorite of the three.

This line struck me too. There are people in my extended family who are distinctly reserved, and this is precisely what I feel about them: they are out of reach. I feel thwarted in my efforts to connect with them.

Also, it seemed strange to me that they wrote these stories but instead of exchanging or reading them aloud in class, they just relate what's in them. That being said, Sylvia's contest with Mimi the dog makes me forget the contrivance. I'm absorbed in it, wondering who will prevail! (Neither?)