Parade

Cusk (the Outline trilogy) delivers a stimulating experimental novel about contemporary artists contending with familial and societal constraints. The book comprises four distinct sections. “The Stuntman” focuses on a painter named G, whose work depicts himself and his wife upside down on the canvas, revealing, his wife thinks, “something disturbing about the female condition.” In “The Midwife,” a female painter also named G leaves behind her “wild” youth to marry and have a daughter with an oppressive husband. Cusk remarks subtly on the “incomprehensible fate” of women such as G by juxtaposing her story with a parallel narrative focused on a defunct utopian community run by a repugnant man and his competent, long-suffering wife. “The Diver” portrays a group of art world professionals discussing the recent derailing of an important exhibition (descriptions of the unnamed artist’s work suggest Louise Bourgeois), after a visitor dies by suicide in the museum on opening day. In “The Spy,” the rise of a filmmaker named G is juxtaposed with the story of adult siblings visiting their domineering mother at her deathbed, where they consider what they’ve learned after having children of their own. Though the connections between the sections can feel tenuous, the author’s spare approach to character is as sharp as ever. Once again, Cusk offers ranging and resonant perspectives on art, love, and femininity. Agent: Sarah Chalfant, Wylie Agency. (June)