Rachel Cusk's 'Life of M' Criticized as Her Weakest Novel Yet

In a review published in The New Yorker, critic Alexandra Schwartz examines Rachel Cusk's latest novel, 'Life of M,' which continues the author's experimental dismantling of traditional narrative forms. Cusk, known for her 'Outline' trilogy (2014-2018), has progressively stripped her fiction of conventional elements like plot, character, and specificity. 'Life of M' features three narrative threads: 'I,' a nameless writer; 'M,' an actress whose life is imagined by the narrator; and 'We,' a collective voice. The novel has sparked speculation that M is based on Natalie Portman, though Cusk denies this. Schwartz argues that the book represents the logical endpoint of Cusk's project to erase individual identity, but criticizes it as 'discombobulated and haphazard,' lacking the rigor of her earlier work. The review traces Cusk's evolution from her early traditional novels through her middle period of domestic realism to her recent abstract experiments, noting her recurring themes of freedom, fate, and the constraints of gender and motherhood. Schwartz concludes that despite Cusk's attempts to dissolve character, her voice remains unmistakably present, and the novel ultimately fails to achieve the universality it seeks.