My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout (Dec 16 Group Fiction Read)

[Shirley]

This is where you can chat about our December Group Fiction Read - My Name is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout.

[Alannah]

Looking forward to this as I have noticed it is a finalist in this year's good reads book awards.

[Angela M]

I've read it and will definitely chime in once others have read it and begun to comment.

[David]

short book. I am about 25% done and enjoying this immensely.

[Chrissie]

I am thankful for the sharing of views. The book has been in my radar for a while. Depending on what is expressed here I may pick it up later. This month I have way too many books to read.

I hope both negative and positive thoughts are aired. ;0)

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while)]

I read this a couple of months ago and wasn't too sure what to think about it at the beginning. But as the book progressed I quite fell in love with it.

[Chrissie]

Thanks, Sandy!

[Sara]

I hear such mixed messages about this book. I am waiting for the library copy, and if I get it in time will join in the discussion.

[Shirley]

I'm hoping to pick up a copy from the library tomorrow, then I can get started on this one.

[David]

In my opinion, dialog is the most difficult parts of writing. it is not difficult to write bad dialog. Writing good dialogue, things that people would saying the way that they would say them is really, really hard. This book is both interior and exterior dialog that is so well written that it is hard not to imagine yourself in the next room listening in to a real conversation between real people.

[Chrissie]

Ann Patchett says in This is the Story of a Happy Marriage that before she completes her books she LISTENS to them being read. She feels that when one listens one immediately recognizes what would never be said. As you do David, she acknowledges the importance of recreating believable dialogs. They are like a way of judging if each of the characters have become identifiable, real beings.

[Evelyn]

That is very interesting Chrissie, thank you for sharing. I love coming across these tidbits of information.

[Gill]

I've got this on hold at the library, and am first on the waiting list. I read it recently, but if it comes through soon enough I'll re-read it for this discussion.

[Shirley]

well I was unlucky, the book wasn't there, or at least, not to be found in the right place! Didn't have time to check every shelf!!

[Chrissie]

Evelyn wrote: "That is very interesting Chrissie, thank you for sharing. I love coming across these tidbits of information."

Yeah, that tidbit fastened in my head b/c I had noted this too and doing audiobooks was at that point new for me.

[Sushma]

I finished this recently. It's a very interesting read. But if you are looking for a serious plot you will be disappointed. I really liked the style of writing. All the chapters are short and crisp.

[LauraT]

Sushma wrote: "I finished this recently. It's a very interesting read. But if you are looking for a serious plot you will be disappointed. I really liked the style of writing. All the chapters are short and crisp."

I do agree!

[Karin]

Chrissie wrote: "I hope both negative and positive thoughts are aired. ;0)"

Phew, because I didn't like it. I gave it 3 stars due to the excellence in writing, though. Here's a link to my review

[Chrissie]

Thanks, Karin. Listen, there are many of us who have way to long lists of books to read. Knowing which books will not fit us is just as important as which books will.

Sushma, I value hearing your opinion too.

I am going to skip this one, even if the writing is good. Writing a good book of fiction is extremely difficult. There is so much that has to be just right. I mean, with non-fiction all you have to do is find an interesting topic, collect the information and present it clearly. With fiction you have to have imagination and creativity. I DO love good fiction, but I am all too often disappointed.

[Guy]

Not my cup of tea and toast.

The writing I wont argue.

my review

[Gill]

It looks like this won't come through at the library on time, so I won't be re-reading it.

[Karin]

Gill wrote: "It looks like this won't come through at the library on time, so I won't be re-reading it."

No great loss.

[Gill]

Karin wrote: "Gill wrote: "It looks like this won't come through at the library on time, so I won't be re-reading it."

No great loss."

I liked it first time, Karin. That's why I was keen to re-read it.

[Karin]

Gill wrote: "Karin wrote: "Gill wrote: "It looks like this won't come through at the library on time, so I won't be re-reading it."

No great loss."

I liked it first time, Karin. That's why I was keen to re-re..."

Whoops, I meant to delete that comment since I decided it wasn't very polite and I was just being cranky due to an ongoing migraine. I can actually see why others might like it better than I did.

[Gill]

Karin wrote: "Gill wrote: "Karin wrote: "Gill wrote: "It looks like this won't come through at the library on time, so I won't be re-reading it."

No great loss."

I liked it first time, Karin. That's why I was ..."

I think that's really funny, Karin. Sorry, I don't mean because you've got a migraine, but just your comment about your comment. I wish I was so self-aware!

[Karin]

Gill wrote: "Karin wrote: "Gill wrote: "Karin wrote: "Gill wrote: "It looks like this won't come through at the library on time, so I won't be re-reading it."

No great loss."

I liked it first time, Karin. Tha..."

I am so self-aware due to a life of foot-in-the-mouthitis. Plus, most of my life I have had people who make me aware of this (over and over and over again, and I have improved, but will always be subject to this).

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

Late, but starting this book today!

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

I did not like the story because I did not like Lucy. She seemed a spineless dishrag to me. She went to college? I don't believe it. What did she do while she was there, hide under her dorm bed? Talk her way out of philosophy, science, art and history classes? She couldn't possibly have taken any literature classes, not with this completely mediocre attempt at self-examination! Lucy is a not much of a thinker. She remembers, and sort of wonders if it was a good or bad thing then sort of loses, no, actually DROPS the thread, fearful of taking it to the awful but obvious conclusion! I feel such cowards are silly, I can't believe this woman writer character supposedly wrote a book, unless it was a Harlequin Romance. Geesh! She was SUCH a wimp!

Although I absolutely despise Lucy, oddly, I liked the book itself because it is a realistic narrative of a dishrag person (I still find her so-called college education an unbelievable plot point). I think that being in a hospital made her MORE afraid to confront her sh*t of a mother, more needy, but instead of getting angry, she again was a spineless needy human being. In my opinion, she abased herself, made herself even more of a small worthless excuse for a human being. No wonder she did nothing for her siblings.

Who needs a mother's sympathy and love when they feel might be dying? Their children. But mothers who continue to withhold affection and who are clearly present only because someone bought them a ticket and never calls or comes otherwise, or asks a single question about her granddaughters or expresses pride in her daughter, or even cares to stay when it appears a dire health problem might be happening - this is truly a bad unloving cold bitch. Lucy's mother was even a worse person than Lucy, but I at least had a smidgen of interest in knowing Lucy's mommy. I wondered how long her duty would keep her there until her disinterest would overwhelmed her.

I had only contempt for Lucy. For frick's sake, some mothers will never like much less love their children, no matter the need! Lucy should have kicked her mother out of the hospital.

As for daddy, he was a real piece of work, an incompetent barbarian, but I think he showed a bit more of an interest in his kids, only a bit more than Lucy's mom. Cruel dad and bored mom.

I hated Lucy AND her parents. Lucy's daughters and the ex-husband, and the new husband, were barely there for her in the story, showing once again Lucy must have been as insignificant to them as she was in the past to her parents, except as someone who was physically dutiful in their lives. Jeremy is the only one who showed some GD spunk and self-determination, apparently, since he unfortunately got AIDS after being out. Lucy did not even know until long after he died! She is such a tw*t! Writer my as*!

[Angela M]

I saw this quite differently than some here did. This was a five star book for me . It's so fascinating to me how we react so differently. Here is my point of view : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Strout has a new book being published in April with stories of some of the characters that Lucy and her mother talked about . Anything Is Possible. I've been a fan of Strout so I'm looking forward to it .

[Leslie]

I have just seen that this is one of the books chosen for the Tournament of Books:

http://www.themorningnews.org/article...

[Karin]

Leslie wrote: "I have just seen that this is one of the books chosen for the Tournament of Books:

http://www.themorningnews.org/article..."

Interesting. Since this one is the only one on that list I've read so far and I gave this one 3 stars, I'm not going to vote.