Original publication

2016

Average rating

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Opening Excerpt

From the story

I asked Dale whether he could try to get rid of the gray.

It was growing dark outside, and the rain against the salon’s big windows looked like ink running down a page. The traffic crawled along the blackened road beyond. The cars all had their lights on. Dale was standing behind me in the mirror, lifting long, dry fistfuls of hair and then letting them fall. His eyes were moving all over my image with a devouring expression. His face was portentous, and I watched it in the glass.

Story Vibe & Style Profile

Literary Dimensions
Emotional Weight 3.6 / 5

Bittersweet

Narrative Pacing 1.1 / 5

Contemplative

Literary Style 3.2 / 5

Contemporary Literary

Speculative / Reality 1.4 / 5

Realistic / Mimetic

Appearances

About the Author

Rachel Cusk is an English novelist. She has published thirteen novels as well as memoirs and other works of non-fiction. Her work has received several awards, including the Whitbread First Novel Award and a Somerset Maugham Award, and been short- and longlisted for several others, including the Governor General's Award and the Booker Prize. Her work has explored motherhood, marriage, satire, as well as more experimental forms of narrative.

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