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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Not as great as My Name is Lucy Barton -- too much focus on the men in Lucy's life, as indicated by the title -- but still enjoyable.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Astonishing! Strout is one of the greats of our time. I feel privileged being able to read her.
This book was good, not great. Despite its short length and general ease of reading, it took me about 3 weeks to finish. I think Elizabeth Strout's writing just isn't for me.
Some literary fiction I just sink into and think, "Wow, this is such a human moment where I get to connect so strongly with his character." To me, that's what good literary fiction is — full of writing that makes us as readers feel less alone in our feelings. Oh William! had some of those moments, but the story's slow pace and general lack of development fell short.
Maybe if I had read My Name is Lucy Barton first, I would feel differently.
Some literary fiction I just sink into and think, "Wow, this is such a human moment where I get to connect so strongly with his character." To me, that's what good literary fiction is — full of writing that makes us as readers feel less alone in our feelings. Oh William! had some of those moments, but the story's slow pace and general lack of development fell short.
Maybe if I had read My Name is Lucy Barton first, I would feel differently.
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I normally love Strout but I could not get behind this one. I did not love the structure, as well as the way she world she creates. Much like the predecessor to this novel, My Name is Lucy Barton, I found this one too meandering, without a direct purpose.
84: Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout.
Oh Elizabeth! Oh Elizabeth! So dependable as an author, you are. So trusted to transparently share, somehow, all that is inside of a soul, all that is important--in this case William's ex-wife, the writer Lucy Barton (remember her?)--to make us readers cringe and struggle and smile and tear up and more. This book is about William, oh yes, but it is as much or moreso about Lucy, too. And of course.
Strout's stream of consciousness storytelling takes us back into Lucy Barton's past and all the sense she has tried to make--or avoid--of it these many years since her...well, escape, really. It also takes us along and into William's life and past, as well, or his mother's, really: Catherine Cole's. I won't spoil a thing. Read it yourself.
You have to go there to know there: you have to read Strout to see how truly she represents everywoman and the struggle to now simply be, given all one has seen and been and lived and felt. It's not easy...but Strout makes it all...okay. Survivable. Strengthening. While I think one gains the very most by reading every Strout book to know all of her characters and know them well, one can certainly, instead, pick up just this one (or another) and be quite satisfied by THAT story. But here she makes Lucy Barton and any bit of Lucy that exists in any of us "seen"...if only newly by ourselves. And we, too, are likely to be okay.
Oh Elizabeth! Oh Elizabeth! So dependable as an author, you are. So trusted to transparently share, somehow, all that is inside of a soul, all that is important--in this case William's ex-wife, the writer Lucy Barton (remember her?)--to make us readers cringe and struggle and smile and tear up and more. This book is about William, oh yes, but it is as much or moreso about Lucy, too. And of course.
Strout's stream of consciousness storytelling takes us back into Lucy Barton's past and all the sense she has tried to make--or avoid--of it these many years since her...well, escape, really. It also takes us along and into William's life and past, as well, or his mother's, really: Catherine Cole's. I won't spoil a thing. Read it yourself.
You have to go there to know there: you have to read Strout to see how truly she represents everywoman and the struggle to now simply be, given all one has seen and been and lived and felt. It's not easy...but Strout makes it all...okay. Survivable. Strengthening. While I think one gains the very most by reading every Strout book to know all of her characters and know them well, one can certainly, instead, pick up just this one (or another) and be quite satisfied by THAT story. But here she makes Lucy Barton and any bit of Lucy that exists in any of us "seen"...if only newly by ourselves. And we, too, are likely to be okay.
Audiobook
I wish I could do 3.5 stars
I think I need to go back and read the Amgash series in order. Technically these are stand alone, but I think it would be a richer reading experience if I did them in order.
This book is for those who like DEEP character development and subtlety mixed with startling clarity and vulnerability. You never really know what will be coming, which is sort of like life, right?
I wish I could do 3.5 stars
I think I need to go back and read the Amgash series in order. Technically these are stand alone, but I think it would be a richer reading experience if I did them in order.
This book is for those who like DEEP character development and subtlety mixed with startling clarity and vulnerability. You never really know what will be coming, which is sort of like life, right?