Life of M

by Rachel Cusk

First published 2026

Reception

2026
Literary Review
Reviewed by Zoe Guttenplan, 3 August
2026
Times Literary Supplement
Reviewed by Anna Aslanyan, 19 August
2026
The New York Times
Reviewed, 21 August
2026
The Guardian
Reviewed, 21 August

5 more entries

2026
Los Angeles Times
Reviewed by Marc Weingarten, 24 August
2026
The New Yorker
Reviewed by Becca Rothfeld, 24 August
2026
NPR
Reviewed by Heller McAlpin, 26 August
2026
Chicago Review of Books
Reviewed by D. W. White, 26 August
2026
London Review of Books
Reviewed by Emily Witt, 10 September

Read the 9 reviews

London Review of Books · 10 September 2026

Emily Witt · Proust is in the room: Rachel Cusk’s Celebrity Crush

By Emily Witt

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NPR · 26 August 2026

‘Life of M’ constructs a portrait of how stardom hides a person’s core

Like much of Rachel Cusk’s work, Life of M is driven by her concern with conditions that impede self-definition -- for writers, artists, and women in particular.

By Heller McAlpin

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Chicago Review of Books · 26 August 2026

The World of Form: Art and Representation in “Life of M”

Our review of Rachel Cusk’s new book, "Life of M." The post The World of Form: Art and Representation in “Life of M” appeared first on Chicago Review of Books .

By D. W. White

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Los Angeles Times · 24 August 2026

Some say this hot new novel is about Natalie Portman. They’re missing the point

Forget the celebrity rumors. Rachel Cusk’s new book, ‘Life of M,’ reveals how all of us now navigate the uncanny gap between public and private personas.

By Marc Weingarten

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The New Yorker · 24 August 2026

Rachel Cusk’s Protest Against Personhood

By Becca Rothfeld

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The New York Times · 21 August 2026

‘Life of M,’ by Rachel Cusk

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The Guardian · 21 August 2026

Life of M by Rachel Cusk review – is this story of a film star based on Natalie Portman?

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Times Literary Supplement · 19 August 2026

Fears of freedom

The ‘real’ life – or not – of a jaded film star

By Anna Aslanyan

Read at Times Literary Supplement (opens in a new tab)
Literary Review · 3 August 2026

Lights, Camera, Inaction

By Zoe Guttenplan

Read at Literary Review (opens in a new tab)

About the book

From the critically-acclaimed author of the Outline trilogy, an irresistible novel of fame, power, beauty and truth — and a blazing renovation of the form A little while ago, I told the actor M that I was thinking of writing her autobiography. She liked the idea. She’s a good sport. Would you just make it up? she said. M is a film star, and one of the most recognisable faces of our time. With such fame, her life has the appearance of freedom: people are instantly obliging, spaces are altered to accommodate her, time can be rearranged. For her, it seems, the rules of reality have melted away. Now M has agreed to let a stranger write her biography. Their project will sprawl and expand: to the olive groves and holiday beaches where M spends her days; across hotel rooms, bourgeois facades, film sets; through endless modern cities. It is hard not to feel ugly next to M, hard not to feel insignificant. But what truths – about the very experience of living – might this proximity allow the writer to briefly capture? And what in the end will M make of their work? In Life of M, Rachel Cusk has again fashioned a new kind of literature. A novel stripped of artifice, it takes our emptiness and fills it with grace.

Read the full description

From the critically-acclaimed author of the Outline trilogy, an irresistible novel of fame, power, beauty and truth — and a blazing renovation of the form

A little while ago, I told the actor M that I was thinking of writing her autobiography. She liked the idea. She’s a good sport. Would you just make it up? she said.

M is a film star, and one of the most recognisable faces of our time.

With such fame, her life has the appearance of freedom: people are instantly obliging, spaces are altered to accommodate her, time can be rearranged. For her, it seems, the rules of reality have melted away.

Now M has agreed to let a stranger write her biography. Their project will sprawl and expand: to the olive groves and holiday beaches where M spends her days; across hotel rooms, bourgeois facades, film sets; through endless modern cities. It is hard not to feel ugly next to M, hard not to feel insignificant. But what truths – about the very experience of living – might this proximity allow the writer to briefly capture? And what in the end will M make of their work?

In Life of M, Rachel Cusk has again fashioned a new kind of literature. A novel stripped of artifice, it takes our emptiness and fills it with grace.

Description from Hardcover