OUTLINE by Canadian R. Cusk is Outstanding Do NOT Miss OUT on this Novel

OUTLINE is an engaging novel told through conversations taking place in planes, cars, boats & bistros centered around a novelist/prof. flying from London to Athens to teach a writing class.  While held captive in flight, her seat mate (a.k.a. neighbor) commences a dialogue that diverges into topics of love, marriages (particularly his own,) affluence, failures and the flotsam jetsam in life.  "So much is lost, he said, in the shipwreck.  What remains are fragments, and if you don't hold on to them the sea will take them too." Each dialogue brings fresh and cogent insights into relationships, honesty and the art of conversation.  While seemingly combative, the discussions are astute & candid.  Her loquacious neighbor tells her "Love restores almost everything, and where it can't restore, it takes away the pain."  In esoteric prattle over wine with writers, one commented that we tend to fictionalize our own experiences to convince ourselves our lives have some kind of design and this makes us significant.  Canadian author Rachel Cusk writes with a clear and unique voice.  She's been honored with the Whitbread and Somerset Maugham Awards.  The motley mix of students in the novel learn the craft of writing is born from keen observation.  When listening to others, the novelist becomes transformed. "While he talked she began to see herself as a shape, an OUTLINE, with all the detail filled in around it."  Reading Cusk's novel is a fascinating lesson of our meanderings in life.