The Last Supper

Rachel Cusk is the author of ten novels and three works of non-fiction which have won and been shortlisted for numerous prizes. In 2015 Cusk's version of <i>Medea</i> was staged at the Almeida Theatre.<b></b> <b>When Rachel Cusk decides to travel to Italy for a summer with her husband and two young children she has no idea of the trials and wonders that lie in store. Their journey leads them to both the expected and the surprising all seen through Cusk's sharp and humane perspective. </b> A paperback edition of <i>The Last Supper</i> in a stunning new look. A rich meditation: on separation on possession on Renaissance artists and inevitably on the transformative nature of travel. Whether considering language food or national habits she has an amazing ability to strike at the heart of things to look afresh and not overlook. [Cusk] examines the whole notion of travel investigates the consolations of art in an increasingly disfigured world and writes about food and landscape in prose that constantly reminds us what language can do. Enthusiastic curious and observant . . . Cusk is a natural and gifted writer from whom dazzling descriptions analyses metaphors and similes gush forth in rich profusion . . . Delightful and perceptive. A writer of almost electrifying intensity . . . This book is a ray of intricate sunlight. Cusk . . . brings to her three-month sojourn in Italy a characteristic strangeness and charm . . . She transfigures the drab daily round of school runs and squabbling toddlers into an exalted terrible realm . . . A fine exultant book. Absorbing . . . This brief memoir like Cusk's fiction has real edge and distinction. The long cadences of her prose are beautiful . . . It is the human encounters the occasional shrewd observation and the physical descriptions of the places and moments both humdrum and picturesque that linger in the mind. Thoughtful precise attentive to detail . . . Her description of Naples is perfectly evocative of the city whose extremes are captured in brilliant snapshots. Bracing and rigorous . . . Cusk makes Italy sing. While many travelogues set in Italy bask in a reverent mellow glow Cusk's memoir is refreshingly realistic. She infuses the details of daily routine with wry humour and her singular world view. She has an artists's eye for beauty and a philosopher's desire for truth . . . More than anything else in this gem of a book she shares her love of art. Cusk's brilliance at describing landscape the art in daily things Italian cuisine and a series of vicious games of tennis is part of what makes her worth reading though she is equally interesting on painters . . . All her work radiates a fine intelligence and the writer's equivalent to an exquisite singing voice. <i>The Last Supper</i> is written with characteristic wit courage and curiosity. A nuanced and moving account of the tensions of not quite belonging and the complexities involved in shredding old selves and acquiring new ones. <b>When Rachel Cusk decides to travel to Italy for a summer with her husband and two young children she has no idea of the trials and wonders that lie in store. Their journey leads them to both the expected and the surprising all seen through Cusk's sharp and humane perspective. </b>