In the process Justine regulates Mabel to second place in her live. When L comes over he brings his companion Brett and she befriends Mabel’s daughter Justine. Saying that Mabel is also second place in her family. Throughout the novel Mabel tries her best to be assertive about her womanhood. At one point during a heated discussion about suffering Mabel tells him that he has it easy because he was not born a woman. Lawrence (known as L in the book) is constantly putting her down for being a woman and exploits his male privilege. On a deeper level second place refers to Mabel’s gender. Second Place, in the literal sense refers to the second place that has been set up for artists as most of the ‘action’ in the book happens there. The book works on many level and I’ll go into a few.įirst of all the title. Second Place also takes the form of a series of letters to her poet friend Robinson Jeffers, who is named as Jeffers here.Īlthough I do not like Cusk’s books, I cannot deny that they provide the reader with a lot food for thought and Second Place is no different.

Rachel Cusk repeats these events but reimagines D.H. The two immediately began a love/hate relationship and it’s all documented in a series of letters, which are collected in Luhan’s book, Lorenzo in Taos. One of the more famous guests was author D.H. Personally I see her work as sub Sebaldian, so when Second Place was nominated for this year’s Booker Longlist, I was hoping that I would like it.īefore I delve into the book, it’s better to give a bit of background: in the early 1900’s, patron of the arts, Mabel Didge Luhan moved, with her second husband to New Mexico and set up a residence for artists and writers. To date I have read Outline and tried to read Transit but I failed on that.

Second place rachel cusk