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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 stars. I’ve never met a piece of Elizabeth Strout writing I didn’t like. While reading this book, I couldn’t help but think this was accomplishing more successfully [for me] what The Dearly Beloved was trying to do. The main character is a small town minister who was widowed a year ago and is father to two little girls. He has a deep regard for Bonhoeffer, which delighted me. Tyler struggles through a loss of the felt presence of God (“The Feeling”) and spends his days navigating the foibles, griefs and petty conflicts of his congregation while trying to parent a young daughter who has been deeply impacted by her mother’s death. This is a quiet story of small people in a small place—a motif that appeals to me strongly. I appreciated that in contrast to The Dearly Beloved, Strout actually seemed to know something about theology and she also beautiful interwove lines from the King James translation of the Bible throughout the story (primarily Psalms).
emotional
reflective
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
It is just ordinary people's life making our life vivid and lively!
A disappointing conclusion to my reading of all of Strout's novels.
Not a terrible book but this, her second publication, felt like an early experimentation with form and theme before finding her flow with The Burgess Boys and then honing her craft with the Kitteridge and Amgash series. Lucy by the Sea is probably my favourite and I can't wait to read whatever comes next!
Not a terrible book but this, her second publication, felt like an early experimentation with form and theme before finding her flow with The Burgess Boys and then honing her craft with the Kitteridge and Amgash series. Lucy by the Sea is probably my favourite and I can't wait to read whatever comes next!
A wonderful book. lovely but sad story. My kind of book. Very well read on Audible
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Potente come la fede, di qualunque tipo essa sia.
Un reverendo, la sua famiglia, la sua congregazione e la sua profonda crisi.
La Strout mi ha rapita.
Un reverendo, la sua famiglia, la sua congregazione e la sua profonda crisi.
La Strout mi ha rapita.
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
easiest 5 star rating i've given this year
*****
"And it is your job to ask, in every thought, word, and deed: How can love best be served?" - Abide With Me
🕊️
I'm still recovering from this book and the author's unending empathy for her characters. Still wondering how a story this mundane can hold so much tension in its pages. How can it be unerringly honest, how can it touch so many delicate topics—euthanasia, abortion, marriage, faith—without preaching. And isn't that ironic, in a book about a minister.
From the start I was aware of my personal and cultural remove from the societal conventions portrayed here and yet my mind was a continuous stream of wow, that’s just what I would think. I too would fixate on that, I too am afraid of this, I also ask that of myself. Despite its big cast, every character was given time and space to make themselves distinct and all were treated with compassion. I particularly liked how the novel acknowledges that giving grace demands an effort, and is often unpleasant and unrewarding.
I don’t know what else is there to say. Maybe that Charlie Austin has stuck with me, and I'm still questioning why.
Beloveds: read Elizabeth Strout. She’s quite magnificent.
*****
"And it is your job to ask, in every thought, word, and deed: How can love best be served?" - Abide With Me
🕊️
I'm still recovering from this book and the author's unending empathy for her characters. Still wondering how a story this mundane can hold so much tension in its pages. How can it be unerringly honest, how can it touch so many delicate topics—euthanasia, abortion, marriage, faith—without preaching. And isn't that ironic, in a book about a minister.
From the start I was aware of my personal and cultural remove from the societal conventions portrayed here and yet my mind was a continuous stream of wow, that’s just what I would think. I too would fixate on that, I too am afraid of this, I also ask that of myself. Despite its big cast, every character was given time and space to make themselves distinct and all were treated with compassion. I particularly liked how the novel acknowledges that giving grace demands an effort, and is often unpleasant and unrewarding.
I don’t know what else is there to say. Maybe that Charlie Austin has stuck with me, and I'm still questioning why.
Beloveds: read Elizabeth Strout. She’s quite magnificent.