This novel may or may not be about Natalie Portman. Does it matter?

Valerie Stivers is a senior editorfor UnHerd, from which this article was adapted. The actress Natalie Portman has always seemed like a person who wants to brand herself as smart and bookish — a trait that appears to have gotten her into trouble, if it is true that she allowed the author Rachel Cusk to write a book about her. Portman has read many Rachel Cusk books. She picked 'Parade,' published in 2024, for her Instagram book club in June. In 2022, shehosted a discussionwith the writer about Cusk's 11th novel, 'Second Place,' and picked it for the book club as well. Yet no one in her right mind who understood Rachel Cusk's work would allow the author to write about her — at least, no one with a sense of self-preservation and a public image to protect.