A review by lelia_t
The Country Life by Rachel Cusk

4.0

I loved this book - so glad to have found Rachel Cusk. There’s Lucky Jim type humor as Stella gets herself into ridiculous situations, plus some Jane Eyre and The Secret Garden, with gothic, fairy tale, elements like “the creature.” The book also seemed deceptively simple and I kept wondering how much to trust Stella’s impressions. But I really enjoyed Cusk’s exploration of what happens if a woman has backed herself into an identity that looks fine from the outside but doesn’t truly suit her - and how uncomfortable it is to strip away the old self to become more authentic.