My rating:

add to my books

Abide with Me

by Elizabeth Strout

3.51 · rating details · 1,741 ratings · 376 reviews

In her luminous and long-awaited new novel, bestselling author Elizabeth Strout welcomes readers back to the archetypal, lovely landscape of northern New England, where the events of her first novel, Amy and Isabelle, unfolded. In the late 1950s, in the small town of West Annett, Maine, a minister struggles to regain his calling, his family, and his happiness in the wake o...moreIn her luminous and long-awaited new novel, bestselling author Elizabeth Strout welcomes readers back to the archetypal, lovely landscape of northern New England, where the events of her first novel, Amy and Isabelle, unfolded. In the late 1950s, in the small town of West Annett, Maine, a minister struggles to regain his calling, his family, and his happiness in the wake of profound loss. At the same time, the community he has served so charismatically must come to terms with its own strengths and failings–faith and hypocrisy, loyalty and abandonment–when a dark secret is revealed.

Tyler Caskey has come to love West Annett, “just up the road” from where he was born. The short, brilliant summers and the sharp, piercing winters fill him with awe–as does his congregation, full of good people who seek his guidance and listen earnestly as he preaches. But after suffering a terrible loss, Tyler finds it hard to return to himself as he once was. He hasn’t had The Feeling–that God is all around him, in the beauty of the world–for quite some time. He struggles to find the right words in his sermons and in his conversations with those facing crises of their own, and to bring his five-year-old daughter, Katherine, out of the silence she has observed in the wake of the family’s tragedy.

A congregation that had once been patient and kind during Tyler’s grief now questions his leadership and propriety. In the kitchens, classrooms, offices, and stores of the village, anger and gossip have started to swirl. And in Tyler’s darkest hour, a startling discovery will test his congregation’s humanity–and his own will to endure the kinds of trials that sooner or later test us all.

In prose incandescent and artful, Elizabeth Strout draws readers into the details of ordinary life in a way that makes it extraordinary. All is considered–life, love, God, and community–within these pages, and all is made new by this writer’s boundless compassion and graceful prose.

From the Hardcover edition.(less)

Paperback, 320 pages

Published March 13th 2007 by Random House Trade Paperbacks

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 2,749)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Sep 22, 2007

Bonnie rated it

Recommends it for: Anyone who injoys good writing

This book was not what I expected. It was not about religion but about human nature and how we overcome some of our basic and more ugly tendencies. The pastor in this book was so excellently portrayed in his strengths and his venerability’s that I felt I could reach out and touch him.

The author did not tell you the mans wife was shallow, self-absorbed and immature but by showed her behavior in telling situations. The way her husband loved her was heart rending and I was glad the...more

like 3 likes

· see review

Nov 24, 2008

Trudy rated it

It took me a while to get into this book, and once I was into it, there wasn't that much more left. It's not very long; an easy 287-288 pages. What I liked about it was the message that real love is a vital, indispensable part of being a Christian. Strout, the author, illustrates this with the use of some characters who are strictly "righteous," but intolerant and judgmental, and other characters who are deeply hurt and therefore have a hard time cutting anyone, including themselves...more

· see review

Nov 04, 2010

Nancy rated it

What a lovely book. Strout has a real gift for gentle prose that reveals the characters' thoughts. Utterly believable--when the church women criticize the minister's wife for her slingback shoes and not drying all the dishes, I felt as if I knew these women, their values and their habits. The teacher who turns against her student and the school psychologist who relies on textbook definitions and cannot find compassion for the little girl who just lost her mother are very real, too--but nobody is...more

· see review

Mar 21, 2010

Lynne Spreen rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I loved this book, as I have loved everything I've read by Elizabeth Strout.

In 1959, the Pulpit Committee of the tiny New England town of West Annett hires young Tyler Caskey to replace their retiring, long-time minister. The self-effacing Reverend Caskey accepts substandard housing and an inadequate salary without question, and sets about in his big, quiet way to share his vision of God with his first congregation.
The good Christians of West Annett are smitten by young Caskey...moreI loved this book, as I have loved everything I've read by Elizabeth Strout.

In 1959, the Pulpit Committee of the tiny New England town of West Annett hires young Tyler Caskey to replace their retiring, long-time minister. The self-effacing Reverend Caskey accepts substandard housing and an inadequate salary without question, and sets about in his big, quiet way to share his vision of God with his first congregation.
The good Christians of West Annett are smitten by young Caskey's heartfelt sermons and never-judgmental counsel. In short order his office is busy and his calendar full with the endless job of caring for his flock. While the parishioners adore their handsome and charismatic minister, they are less enamored with Lauren, his free-spirited wife. Lauren wears makeup, smokes, and swears; she can't cook and doesn't see why anyone would want to, in particular the neighbor ladies who have little else with which to entertain themselves. Lauren's wealthy and dissolute parents, dismayed by their daughter's decision to marry down, mostly vanish. The very bored and somewhat depressed Lauren finds solace in becoming a mother, but shortly after the birth of their second daughter, she becomes ill and dies of cancer.
After a short period of support, the congregation reverts to its previous self-absorption, and Tyler tries to soldier on by ignoring the need to grieve. As a result, his life deteriorates. His sermons go from gripping to grimace-inducing, his house falls apart, his mind drifts, and his eldest daughter, Katherine, unkempt and ill-nourished, nearly turns feral. The congregation, sensing it has lost its anchor, begins to drift into the rock-strewn shallows of backstabbing gossip, depression and adultery. Tyler relies more and more on his housekeeper, Connie, who is looked down on by the congregation for never attending church. When Connie ultimately disappears, followed by rumors of her having embezzled from a nearby rest home, his daughter's spiteful young teacher invents a rumor that Connie and Tyler were having an affair. The parishioners begin to shun the young minister.
Finally, Tyler determines to take control of his life. He composes and rehearses the perfect sermon with which to herd his flock back to righteousness. On Sunday the church is packed. The faces of his parishioners are hostile. Tyler Caskey stands before them, but he is unable to speak. Tears stream down his face. The congregation watches in horror. Suddenly organ music pours forth from the choir loft, as the contentious choir director plays a favorite of Tyler's. A taciturn war veteran takes Tyler's arm, and leads him back to the minister's study.
While Tyler and Katherine find healing sanctuary with Tyler's mentor from ministerial college, his breakdown galvanizes the church. Ashamed, they revert to good behavior. The Pulpit Committee lobbies Tyler to return. Before agreeing, Tyler asks for a better house, increased salary, and household help.
Strout invites us into the world of a self-sufficient, remote small town, as seen through the eyes of a naïve and absentminded, but truly holy man. While the ending is a bit neat, Abide with Me is a satisfying and uplifting read.

(less)

· see review

Nov 13, 2009

Jhoanna rated it

Shelves: dysfunctional-families-are-us, suburban-distopia

Sometimes I think books shouldn't be blurbed. It sets up an unrealistic expectation on the part of the reader, especially since this reader has already been blown away by Elizabeth Strout's previous work. Vanity Fair proclaims that Abide with Me is "an answered prayer," which immediately raised my readerly hackles. Really? Really?

I actually quite liked Abide with Me by the time I got through the end, but the first half of the book was very touch-and-go. Tyler Caskey is...more

· see review

Nov 11, 2009

Cheryl rated it

· review of another edition

I started out (and let me make that clear - - -STARTED out) being SO disappointed in this book; after reading "Castaways", which I found to be disillusioning and sad and not very good at all (in my opinion), I was looking for something inspirational. Well, the first few chapters were anything BUT inspirational. This story, set in New England, is a slice of life in the 50's, at a time when I was a child myself. The new and beloved minister has recently lost his wife, and his life no...more

· see review

Oct 01, 2009

Shelah rated it

I loved Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge, which I read earlier this year, and was eager to get my hands on Elizabeth Strout's other books. Abide with Me takes place in the same small town in Maine where Amy and Isabelle (another Strout novel) is set, and centers on Tyler Caskey, a young minister whose family has been upended by the death of his wife. His baby daughter now lives with his domineering mother, his other daughter is at home with him, but has problems he feels unequipped to handle....more

like 1 like

· see review

Jul 20, 2009

Leah rated it

In the note that follows this novel, Strout writes, "As a storyteller, I don't think it's my job to pass judgment on the people whose lives I imagine and record." Perhaps that's what I like best about Strout--her descriptions make you vow to retire the phrase "ordinary people" from your vocabulary, since each character's inner life a becomes a revelation. Also, her descriptions make you view your surroundings differently. She--and, often, her characters-love the New England l...moreIn the note that follows this novel, Strout writes, "As a storyteller, I don't think it's my job to pass judgment on the people whose lives I imagine and record." Perhaps that's what I like best about Strout--her descriptions make you vow to retire the phrase "ordinary people" from your vocabulary, since each character's inner life a becomes a revelation. Also, her descriptions make you view your surroundings differently. She--and, often, her characters-love the New England landscape; it is a character as much as any of the living, breathing people in her books. Like her people, her landscapes are freshly observed. Describing yet another snowy scene, Strout write, "Alongside [the river:] were frozen ferns, shriveled and broken, as though someone had opened packages of frozen spinach and fling them into the woods."

Two of my favorite people in this book are bit players. One is Charlie Austin, the returned war vet whose inner struggles make a deep impression on the reader. The other is Belle, sister of Tyler McCaskey, the novel's central figure. Glimpses of Belle are often just snippets of pragmatic retorts tp her dreamier brother--snippets that move the plot, and her brother, immeasurably. For instance, having spent a lifetime under the influence of a mother bent on proprietary control, Tyler has a crisis of faith in all aspects of his life. Among other results: he comes to question the role in his life he has permitted his mother. "He telephoned his mother, as he had every day. "How do you think I am?' she said. He wondered if his mother lacked the ability to receive love. He telephoned Belle. 'She'll get over it,' Belle said. 'She's not going to cut you out of her life. Meanwhile, welcome to grown-up land.'

I also love the description of the New England sensibility, and its roots in life's difficulties. Children are told, "Grit your teeth and bear it," and "You'll live," "not [out of:] cold-heartedness but a belief that iife was a struggle, character honed every step of the way. And life was a struggle."

Funniest character in the book: Rhonda Skillings, magna cum laude psychology graduate, who feels it is her duty to bring to this 1950s shuttered Maine community the teachings of Freud.

(less)

like 1 like

· see review

Apr 23, 2009

Jaci rated it

I began this prior to Elizabeth Strout winning the Pulitzer and am glad I did. The characters grew on me as they were filled in, making the unlovable lovable. Her experience with organized religion must be extensive.
p.268: “Only the infinite mercy of God can meet the infinite pathos of human life.”
p.268: “Do you assume you can answer the question of who we are and why we are here by rational thought alone? It is your job, your honor, your birthright, to bear the burden of this my...more

· see review

Dec 27, 2010

Pamela rated it

I had very mixed emotions about this book. Parts of the book and some of the emotions were very real and believable, but I wanted more. Maybe it was the dreary, depressing tone that reminded me of REVOLUTIONARY ROAD--so, it was a good book but not a pleasant read. This book is about an uptight, troubled minister who tries to cope with small children after the death of their mother. Because he is so caught up in his own grief, his inability to communicate with his own child and to understand h...more

· see review

Jul 15, 2009

Debbie Petersen rated it

Elizabeth Strout is a talented writer. She draws the reader into the story, especially the mindset and feelings of each character. You really feel that you are inside each character's head, thinking their thoughts. This is not easy for a writer to accomplish, so kudos to her. I don't like to retell the plotline in my reviews, since I think one should approach a book with as much of an open mind as possible, so I'll just tell you that this is one that I recommend. The struggle of the main charact...more

· see review

Apr 10, 2010

Lawrence rated it

In this book, a young minister in the late 1950's has recently lost his wife to unexpected disease (perhaps cancer). The wife did not actually "fit" his profession though his love for her was great. He struggles with a grief he does not understand and with parenting a very young daughter who has become a serious "problem child" because she does not appear to have been assisted with the loss of her mother. The book's interest for me is that the minister actually seems to ha...moreIn this book, a young minister in the late 1950's has recently lost his wife to unexpected disease (perhaps cancer). The wife did not actually "fit" his profession though his love for her was great. He struggles with a grief he does not understand and with parenting a very young daughter who has become a serious "problem child" because she does not appear to have been assisted with the loss of her mother. The book's interest for me is that the minister actually seems to have no clue what is happening to him or to his daughter. He goes into a "default mode" and relates to the world by acting as he thinks is expected of him rather than autonomously. How he goes through hell and becomes autonomous is the book's story, in my view.

I think that what I admire most about Ms. Strout's work is that it is deeply moral --- her books concern the search for meaning, how do we behave given the meaning that we've found, how do we engage with each other and ourselves in a correct way. This is an old fashioned kind of writing. Perhaps for this reason "Abide with Me" is set in the late 1950's and Ms. Strout's stories in the more recent "Olive Kitteridge" either center on persons who lived in that time (though the stories occur in the here and now) or on persons who live in such an area that that time is not as far off as in, let's say, San Francisco or New York.

What is so excellent in "Abide With Me" is how Ms. Strout develops the narration of the growth of her hero on two planes that seem to interweave --- the spiritual plane (as in relation to Christianity) and the personal plane of simple growth to a more mature adulthood (as in seeing the parent more objectively and cutting the apron strings). The torment and upset (including sleeping in your clothes and not bathing) that ensues from living between degeneration and growth is well portrayed.

I think that this book does have a weakness. It meanders very much in the first half and I wonder what purpose the meandering serves in terms of story. At any rate, an awful lot of preliminary pages go by before the young Katherine says, "I have a secret", and the plot begins to motor and the reader breathes a little more quickly. Also, I am OK with the muteness of the hero at the book's last church service: It is certainly suspenseful and emotional for the reader and a remarkable stark event and the "hitting bottom" for the minister. But I am not sure I am OK with the parishioners' reaction to the muteness. Their transformation seems too sudden. Perhaps, the muteness would have led to the reaction of the parishioners in that particular place in the 1950's. If the book, however, is regarded as aspirational, then the reaction is just fine. I am struggling with it, though.(less)

· see review

Sep 25, 2011

Sarah rated it

Shelves: adult-family, adult-literary, adult-religious-issues, adult-loss, adult-parent-child

This was the last in my obsessive reading of Elizabeth Strout's books. As always, the characters are deliciously revealed through beautiful and heart wrenching mental and verbal dialogue and life glimpses. Newly widowed minister Tyler Caskey's loss, both of his wife and of his path is painfully palpable, yet he strives to continue to "always put the other man first," the mantra of his childhood, and the apparent demand of his small town congregation composed of an overwhelming, but r...more

· see review

Apr 17, 2010

Rebecca rated it

· review of another edition

Better than that other book about a minister and his musings (Gilead). All the references to Bonhoffer make me want to read (re-read?) Letters and Papers from Prison. I like the text about the "sermon unlike any he had delivered before" on page 268:

Do you think that because we have learned the sun does not go down, that in fact we are going around at a dizzying speed, that the sun is not the only star in the heavens--do you think this means we are any less important than ...more

· see review

Aug 11, 2009

Virginia rated it

I really thought this book would be very different...it definitely needs a different title! The story had a lot of potential, but fell flat. None of the characters really changed at all, except possibly the daughter who finally begins speaking after her mother dies, but even the tension on this is built upon through the whole book and she just sort of starts talking without any reason behind it.

A lot of really serious issues are brought up, but just sort of glossed over and almost p...more

like 2 likes

· see review

Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Recent novels about Christian faith (such as Marilynne Robinson's award-winning Gilead, **** Mar/Apr 2005) have found wide audiences; Abide with Me now joins this set. Author of the critically acclaimed Amy and Isabelle (1999), Strout examines one man's spiritual agony and personal journey. In the process, she asks important questions about self-identity, faith, fear, hypocrisy, and loss. Dark and full of doubt but beautiful and full of strength and acceptance, the novel also faultlessly capture

...more

· see review

Jun 24, 2010

Lormac rated it

Because I enjhoyed 'Olive Kittridge" so much, I decided to try the author's earlier books.

I was slogging through this book until the final 30 pages, at which time it completely turned the corner for me. Tyler Caskey is a minister of a small church in rural Maine in the 1950s and his midlife crisis is brought on prematurely
by the death of his wife. Yet, throughout his difficulties he never really loses his faith in God, which may be why I began to warm to this book. I ...more

like 2 likes

· see review

Jul 04, 2010

Amy rated it

I loved Olive Kittredge and was interested in how Strout's other books would compare to the Pulitzer Prize winner. Abide with Me reminded me of Olive Kittridge in that the characters are deeply flawed people whom at first one wants to judge. As the story unfolds, the characters' inner thoughts help explain their actions and they become nuanced people like the ones we know in real life.

I loved Tyler, the small town minister. His faith is real and the author treats it with the res...more

· see review

Dec 01, 2011

Leah Darrow rated it

I enjoyed this book just as much as Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize winner "Olive Kitteridge". Strout is an incredible author because she has the ability to evoke both the darkness and despair of humanity, and the goodness and hope of individual people. So many authors can only write with sickly sentimentality or obsessive negativity. I was particularly impressed with her nuanced depiction of Christianity and her protagonist pastor - it's very easy to be reductive or cliche when w...more

· see review

Jan 21, 2010

Nancy rated it

I loved this book! It is definitely not for everyone; it's very slow paced and introverted. But if you, "abide" with the story, you will be rewarded by having known Tyler, the main character, and all the people in his life. His wife called him a great coward, but as it turns out, he is full of strength. He is trying to raise his 2 motherless daughters, in spite of his own mother and the school personnel. Elizabeth Strout has a gift for taking you into the character's lives and thou...more

like 1 like

· see review

May 24, 2009

Elizabeth rated it

This novel evolved slowly. Yet, Strout delivers an emotional punch through characters confronting their own private hells. At the center is a young minister (Tyler) grieving over the death of his wife. His five year old daughter haunted by her mom’s death struggles to cope by retreating into her inner world at school. Thus, it leads to false rumors about Tyler’s family.

Through flashbacks, we discover Tyler’s complex wife. I disagree with one of the reviewers that the wife c...more

· see review

Sep 05, 2010

Sharon Griffitts rated it

A wonderful book and a wonderful story. Strout's story seems fairly straightforward at first, a widowed minister with two young daughters and an overbearing mother. A hosuekeeper who is quiet but on some level he doesn't understand speaks to his need in his grief, which he basically denies. A five year old daughter who doesn't speak and causes trouble in the classroom and daddy doesn't get it. Parishioners who appear to be devout and sincere but. . . There are as many surprises as there are ...more

· see review

Jul 28, 2009

Katherine rated it

Shelves: fiction, to-reread

My sister-in-law let me borrow this book after seeing me with Olive Kitteridge. I began reading this just a couple days after my father's funeral (he was a Lutheran minister) and find it very interesting that it's about a minister and his daughter, Katherine.

"Paul Tillich, Tyler said, clearing his throat, believed that anxiety was the phenomenon of modern man. And why shouldn't it be, Tyler asked, when modern culture has allowed us to worship ourselves? Why wouldn't we be suffer...more

· see review

Nov 13, 2011

Tina rated it

Shelves: book-club

This is my first Elizabeth Strout book. This book is about a minister in 1950's Maine who loses his wife and has to deal with his grief and ministering to his unruly flock. I like Strout's writing style, but didn't enjoy the book until the very end. I found the rural life in 1950s Maine, and the reserved manner of the minister a bit stifling by modern standards (although I'm sure that was the point.) The minister is also a fan of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his devotion to him was annoying to me...more

· see review

May 11, 2011

Kathy rated it

This book takes place in 1959, and tells the story of Tyler Caskey a young, well-intentioned, well-liked pastor of a small Congregational church in Maine. When his wife dies of cancer, his life begins to unravel and spiral downward until his congregation begins to lose trust in him.
Strout is courageously merciless with poor Tyler and his miserably unhappy 5-year-old daughter Katherine. She allows them to be truly wretched, as one misfortune and misunderstanding follows another and it seem...more

· see review

Jan 17, 2009

Alex rated it

· review of another edition

I randomly found this on my bookshelf and read it. It's set in a small new england town which i liked and centers on a preacher there. he is a fairly interesting main character although there are times i wanted to just slap him upside the head when what to do seemed obvious to me -- although then i'd remember that he's dealing with something that makes things not so clear and easy. i dont want to give anything away... his daughter is really interesting and brings out sides of the other adult...more

· see review

Apr 01, 2011

Sharon rated it

As a pastor, I was immediately interested in the subject matter as the protagonist is a minister dealing with life in a small town and within the context of a small church. Strout did an excellent job of conveying the struggles of a congregation to accept the humanity of a pastor and their family members. Through well-written prose, Strout shows the aching grief of the minister, his conflicting feelings regarding his work and members of his congregation and the challenges of being suddenly thr...more

· see review

Apr 10, 2009

jen8998 rated it

I really disliked this tale of a minister grieving the loss of his wife. He's grieving, his young daughter won't talk, his mother is profoundly unsupportive, his housekeeper turns out to be both a murderer and a thief. You'd think his congregation would be sympathetic, forgiving maybe. Not so much in this novel. Instead, they spread unfounded rumors about his having an affair with his housekeeper, talk about him behind his back and recommend placing his grieving daughter in a special school ...more

like 1 like

· see review

May 21, 2011

Alanna rated it

I enjoyed this book, but it felt like a journey to get there! It's the story of a minister in a small town in Maine whose wife died a year ago. Emotionally he still hasn't really dealt with her death, and the townspeople are starting to lose patience with the situation, resulting in a lot of gossip and backbiting. This novel builds and builds, and while the prose is lovely, I reached a point where I thought to myself, "If this doesn't resolve itself nicely I'm going to be so mad that I w...more

· see review

Jan 22, 2011

Barbara P rated it

Strout writes with an ability to capture the personality, hopes and sorrows of the characters. The story is about a minister in his first parish facing peoples prejudice, jealousy and his personal loss. Strout takes the reader into the hearts of many wounded people as well as the personal triumph of the main charaters. This novel is a compassionate and spellbinding book that holds some universal human traits that truly resonate. Abide With Me was recommended to me by 95 y/o Margaret Corman w...more

· see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 91 92 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (12)

More editions...

Genres

Book Club

12 users

Contemporary

6 users

Adult Fiction

4 users

Literature

3 users

Literary Fiction

3 users

Novels

3 users

Adult

3 users

Drama

3 users

Female Authors

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers Also Enjoyed

About Elizabeth Strout

ELIZABETH STROUT is the author of several novels, including: Abide with Me, a national bestseller and BookSense pick, and Amy and Isabelle, which won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in England. In 2009 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her book Olive Kitteri...more

More about Elizabeth Strout...

Books by Elizabeth Strout

2008 Short Stories: Olive Kitteridge, N., Harry Potter Prequel, Sammarynda Deep, Exhalation, Shoggoths in Bloom, 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss

Ploughshares at Emerson College Vol. 36, No. 1, Spr. 2010

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Pin It

Trivia About Abide with Me

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Abide with Me

“I suspect the most we can hope for, and it's no small hope, is that we never give up, that we never stop giving ourselves permission to try to love and receive love.” — 17 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Abide with Me
avg rating	preview: Abide with Me Goodreads rating: 3.51 (1741 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203064.Abide_with_Me?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320467491m/203064.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203064.Abide_with_Me?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Abide with Me by Elizabeth Strout[/url]

Abide with Me

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Readers Also Enjoyed

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website