Artificiality

The twin themes of Rachel Cusk’s latest novel are truth and fame. In fact it’s not quite accurate to call it a ‘novel’: there are two main characters, but there is no plot; and although you start to understand each woman, it’s through observation of their behaviour in a series of vignettes rather than a conventional story. The titular ‘M’ is an actress of beauty and renown, reportedly based on Natalie Portman. Her friend, the unnamed narrator, wants to write her biography. ‘Would you just make it up?’ M suggests airily, giving us a notion of how fabrication is sewn into her life.

It wasn’t until half way through Jenny Kleeman’s Sex Robots and Vegan Meat that I was able to put my finger on why it was making me uncomfortable. Sometimes you read a book where the author’s mindset is so alien to your own that you feel almost as though you’re translating from a foreign language; this was one of those times. But on page 143 I found the Rosetta Stone. Kleeman was talking about vegan meat — cultured steaks and burgers developed in a laboratory. She had met various scientists and entrepreneurs who were trying to make it happen (including some, it should be admitted, who come across as spivs and carnival barkers).