In the second book of Cusk's Outline trilogy, the reader is back with Faye, a recently divorced writer and mother of two. She's just moved into a new house which she decides to renovate, and we follow her in this time of transition. A different angle than OUTLINE, but the same, indelible voice prone to observe rather than do, to be passive rather than react. Though I must say the character of Faye, almost ghost-like in OUTLINE, comes more into view in TRANSIT.

"Whatever we might wish to believe about ourselves, we are only the result of how others have treated us."

What a way to perceive the world, eh? Faye's not exactly likable, moreso in OUTLINE for not being totally knowable, but I think Cusk has a deep understanding of what's moving Faye from the beginning of this novel (where I underlined this) to the end. Glimmers of Faye start coming through as she becomes less static. Cusk's sentences are as thought-provoking and well-constructed as ever; they seem so unassuming but therein lies their brilliance. Her structure in this trilogy is often described as plotless, but I never feel unmoored or like the writing meandered.

At the same time, you don't know how the quote below felt explosive while reading. Cusk's writing lulls me into a trance, into Faye's quiet, observational world. And then, over halfway through the book:

"For a long time, I said, I believed that it was only through absolute passivity that you could learn to see what was really there. But my decision to create a disturbance by renovating my house had awoken a different reality, as though I had disturbed a beast sleeping in its lair. I had to started to become, in effect, angry."

This felt like a turn, as she uses words like 'awoken' and 'angry.' I smiled at the provocation; I smiled through the rest of the novel. Loving it as much as its predecessor. And wondering where Cusk will take me next, where I will find Faye, in the final installment, KUDOS.