Oh William!

When successful American novelist Lucy Barton loses her beloved second husband David, she begins meeting William, whose third wife has just left him. Reasonable for two newly single adults to talk about their mutual losses, to help them come to terms with their past? What makes this intriguing is that William was Lucy’s first husband and they have two adult daughters. And when William persuades Lucy to join him on a trip to Maine where his mother Catherine grew up, and where he plans to search for his older half-sister, it is far from clear where the journey will take them.It is a decorous trip (separate hotel rooms!) and each remembers the affection they had for the other. What brought them together, what drove them apart and today, some marriages later, what they make of each other. Slowly, they learn more about themselves.Lucy had a wretched, deprived childhood in a tiny house on a farm in Illinois. Marriage to William and her success as a novelist has taken her far away to a prosperous existence in New York from where she travels around the world giving talks. She is deeply involved with her daughters’ lives; did her own mother have the same love for her that she shares so naturally with her daughters?William’s father was a German POW who was fortunate to get to the US. His mother Constance fell enough in love with the tall handsome stranger to leave behind her young daughter. As William and Lucy make their way around empty villages and farms in rural Maine, they come to the broken-down old hovel where Constance had lived. Seeing the similarity to her own family home, Lucy tells William, ‘You married your mother’. No, he replies to her surprise, he married Lucy because she was so exuberant and full of joy. Eventually, it is Lucy alone who meets William’s half-sister and discovers the strong resentment she feels for him, seeing him as a symbol of why their mother abandoned her.After their trip to Maine, William asks Lucy to come with him on a short holiday to the sun and sand of the Cayman Islands. Lucy is first surprised, then slowly begins to understand: the William she sees today is really no different from the one she married, but neither of them is the William she had made him out to be. The moral: we paste characters onto people we know and then fail to see them for who they really are.This is a remarkable book that slowly unwinds memories and misconceptions from the past and uses them to understand the present. The writing is consciously varied: strong and effective when describing the countryside and filled with broken sentences as Lucy tries to put together the thoughts in her mind.

The language is simple and it’s an easy read and do while I would give her 5 stars for that, because that’s really tough to do, I felt the story itself had been wrenched out of nothing and it fell flat. It’s for the white NYT reader looking for another one of their own to celebrate. The book lacks power and a memorable narrative.

I continue to be amazed by Strout's writing. A classic example of the fact that it takes an expert to simplify communicating the most complicated thoughts and feelings.

Finally, finally! This book was a much awaited one ever since I began reading the Amgash series last year. Although I am behind quite a few months, I am glad I have consumed this heartbreakingly gorgeous book. In the third book, we see Lucy finally talking about her marriage, changing the route from her consanguineous family and village to the marriages in NYC. This book is about her first husband, William. He is seventy. He is lonely. He is in search of his family- his dead parents and perhaps a kin somewhere lost in America. Kimberly Farr is an excellent narrator. She gave Strout's writing and her characters the life they truly deserved to be understood in. From picking up different tones and heaviness to male voices to playing the character of Lucy, her voice really draws you in from the very first second and you find yourself in contemporary NYC following Lucy Barton around. There is so much truth and sadness to the story. Sometimes, there is disbelief too because the plots develop too comfortably to suit the story. But for the most part, Strout has a story, no, stories to tell from New York and its people that come from so many different social spaces. Although the book was about William, I found myself getting more drawn to Lucy's character, her growth, her journey. That is not to say William's character was not endearing to read but there was something about Lucy that drew me closer to understand her more than anyone else in the book. Lucy's character is one of the best characters I have read in a while. Mostly, I find myself drawing to books with characters that have an edge- a kind of briskness and non-conformist undertone. Lucy is not one of those. Well, she is non-conformist but not in the way that draws her out of her introversion, her lack of confidence, and her deep-seated sense of guilt. She loves walking down unrecognised, not as a spectacle in the buzzing throng of New York. But she is aware it's not the case. She is a smart, perceptive woman despite her self-depreciating thoughts. Just like her writing that is crisp and yet conveys a moving diorama of a New Yorker family in perils, Lucy finds her way through these doldrums. Death, abandonment, love, marriage, poverty, violence, illness and self-worthlessness have come and troubled her intensely, to the point she knows she won't survive it but she always does! And that's a character Elizabeth Strout has sketched for us and gifted to us. What a memorable character, Lucy!

A new novel featuring Lucy Barton is always something of a treat, although I will admit that this is not my favourite one in the series. In this tale, narrated obviously by Lucy so we are taken into the world of her first husband, William. As Lucy recovers from the grief of losing David, her last husband, so William has to come to terms with his latest wife walking out on him – which is something that is far from new when it comes to him.Lucy is as naive and as selflessly unaware and unsophisticated as usual, and she helps William face his problems, as they have always stayed somewhat friendly. William is facing another crisis also in his life, in that he was given a genealogy site subscription as a gift and has found out that apparently his mother had already walked out on one relationship, leaving a little girl behind.As you would expect this has great characterisation and some of the situations some people will be more aware of than others. Beautifully written and enjoyable to read, it is sometimes the things that are not mentioned too much that makes us think, and thus gives this a greater depth, as we have to use our brains. This then gives us something that is not a long read, is enjoyable and meatier than its length may make you think, and we see Lucy once again having to navigate her way through life and ponder upon the fact that we can never really understand anyone else. This is shown quite clearly here in the discovery of the roots of William’s mother.

My apologies to my book group. I chose this on the basis of its international best seller billing but it really disappointed. Emperor's new clothes? The prose style is painful to read being the reminiscing of one person, the plot ticks along so slowly it is hard to remain interested and the conclusion came so suddenly I was left wondering what had happened. The answer - nothing much. The one positive for my book group is that although it is relatively expensive to buy, it is quite short!

Newly widowed Lucy Barton, a successful writer now in her sixties, has retained an amicable relationship with her first husband -the father of her two daughters. This complex relationship stands at the heart of the novel - a story of regret, reflection and the revelation of some surprising family secrets. This is a short novel and a quick read that will, nonetheless, give you plenty to think about when you have finished it. Elegant, nuanced, deceptively layered.

The third entry in Strout’s Lucy Barton series is subject to the law of diminishing returns. Certain episodes are narrated for the third time and Lucy’s stylistic tics become tiresome. The plot is thin, concocted so that Strout can focus on Lucy’s unusual relationship with her idiosyncratic (and, it must be said, rather boring) first husband William. The secrets that emerge about William’s family history are at best *reasonably* interesting. It’s a pleasure to spend time in Lucy’s company, because she is such a fascinating and troubled person, but for me three books is enough.

I came to Strout's writing with My Name is Lucy Barton - a profoundly moving novel, every sentence formed so beautifully as Oh William is too.I never skip one line in Strout's work, her gentle, honest and nuanced writing is too precious to miss one word.I can't think of any other writer who describes so authentically the complex and sometimes contradictory nature of personalities and relationships.