My very bookish friend encouraged me to read Strout, as I hadn’t read any before, and I wasn’t disappointed! I wolfed down this first part of her Lucy Barton book series and also really liked it as a stand-alone piece.
It’s a simple novel really, but it’s beautiful and poignant and very powerful in its emotional honesty. There’s a straightforward prose that carries the bones of the book. You’re likely to read this very fast, all in one sitting, yet it’s also a book you could take slow if you felt like it.
It’s a book about mothers, daughters, who we really are when we stop, parenting, marriage, childhood, trauma, and health. Lucy finds herself stopped in the middle of her life, confined to hospital, and visited by her estranged mother. The emotional toll of this visit sends Lucy back to her childhood and allows her to analyse and contextualise the things that happened to her and around her. She’s always trying to “figure out” her mum, see what’s behind her as a person, understand the choices she made. On some levels it’s infuriating and futile, but also very, very human.
Her desolate childhood and her relationship with her parents and siblings are really well explored, especially the contradictions in that fragile bond.
I’m excited to see where Lucy goes next, I think the next book is about Lucy going back home.
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