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3.5 stars. A quietly powerful novel. I don't think you can read an Elizabeth Strout novel without feeling something. The question is how much and in what direction do you want to feel when you pick up one of her books. This isn't a happy novel. There's lots of estrangement here and reliving a messed-up childhood. So it's really about what you want to experience. She makes you feel it. A few smiles but mostly sadness. Up close and personal.
Audio was also really well done. I usually fall asleep l ...more
Audio was also really well done. I usually fall asleep l ...more
This is what happens when you love a book an author has written: None of her subsequent books measure up. I adored Olive Kitteridge. I liked Burgess Boys. I tolerated this latest book.
I'll just go ahead and say it: This book read like a first draft. I had glimmers of happy reading this book. But it needed work and somebody decided it was finished. Big mistake.
If you want to know more, here's a little plot summary: Lucy Barton grew up poor, without good relationships with her parents. She gets a ...more
I'll just go ahead and say it: This book read like a first draft. I had glimmers of happy reading this book. But it needed work and somebody decided it was finished. Big mistake.
If you want to know more, here's a little plot summary: Lucy Barton grew up poor, without good relationships with her parents. She gets a ...more
I read My Name is Lucy Barton after finishing Oh William!, the third book in the Amgash series. While Oh William! portrays Lucy in her sixties, this book deals with Lucy’s complicated relationship with her mother.
Lucy’s childhood was difficult: her father was abusive and her mother distant and uncaring. Years later, after she is married with children, Lucy is hospitalized and her mother comes to her side. There is a reckoning of sorts, although most of it is unspoken.
Strout is a master of omis ...more
Lucy’s childhood was difficult: her father was abusive and her mother distant and uncaring. Years later, after she is married with children, Lucy is hospitalized and her mother comes to her side. There is a reckoning of sorts, although most of it is unspoken.
Strout is a master of omis ...more
Funny thing, I really loved this book until Lucy’s mother goes home. From that point on the hospital stay seems long, and it is worse when she gets out of the hospital. But the first 100 pages or so were a masterpiece of Lucy recounting her childhood. Then adult problems overtake her.
As the author put it, " this is a story about imperfect love, because we all love imperfectly." Strout's moving, poignant prose is the best part of this story about an ambiguous, difficult relationship between the main character (Lucy) and her mother, who comes to visit her during a prolonged hospital stay. The story meanders and touches upon how difficult family relationships can be.
...more
Read via audio book, and if you like this author, you will get the same nostalgia and ache in heart as her others
Oct 19, 2017
Stefanie
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
1-language-english,
usa
Sep 16, 2016
Curlysue
marked it as to-read
Oct 10, 2016
silly_soup
marked it as to-read
Jan 23, 2017
Suzanne
marked it as to-read
May 27, 2017
Lori
marked it as to-read
May 28, 2017
Amber
marked it as to-read
Mar 05, 2018
Kat
added it
Apr 16, 2018
Juliana Philippa
marked it as to-read
Shelves:
fiction,
0-6-need-to-figure-out-what-level
Mar 25, 2019
Suzanne
marked it as to-read
May 22, 2021
Juliane
marked it as to-read
