With her trademark spare, crystalline prose–a voice infused with “intimate, fragile, desperate humanness” (The Washington Post)–Elizabeth Strout turns her exquisitely tuned eye to the inner workings of the human heart, following the indomitable heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton through the early days of the pandemic.
As a panicked world goes into lockdown, Lucy Barton is uprooted from her life in Manhattan and bundled away to a small town in Maine by her ex-husband and on-again, off-again friend, William. For the next several months, it’s just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea.
Rich with empathy and emotion, Lucy by the Sea vividly captures the fear and struggles that come with isolation, as well as the hope, peace, and possibilities that those long, quiet days can inspire. At the heart of this story are the deep human connections that unite us even when we’re apart–the pain of a beloved daughter’s suffering, the emptiness that comes from the death of a loved one, the promise of a new friendship, and the comfort of an old, enduring love.
The Review
Lucy By The Sea
By Elizabeth Strout
I found myself waiting for Elizabeth Strout to tell me how the pandemic ended. How it all worked out.
In this book, LUCY BY THE SEA, we’re following Lucy and William. They’ve quarantined themselves at the onset of the pandemic, in a small town at the edge of the earth, in Maine.
As the pandemic wrecks havoc through the world and other cultural and political issues bring us to a breaking point of sorts, William and Lucy hold on to the last vestiges of hope.
Strout’s writing is done in a pattern of sorts. She often revisits words and turns of phrases, even within the same sentence, like a reiteration. A coming back to.
And not only does it provide emphasis and clarity it also feels affirming like an Amen or a Hallelujah. To me, it feels like an enraptured reading experience-a big hug.
There is a line that is written so finitely I had to reread it and highlight it. And sure, they’re just words and sometimes I can be dramatic but there’s something about the carriage of her words that gets me going every time.
This would make an excellent book club choice as there is much to talk about.
LUCY BY THE SEA…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group – Random House, Random House for the advanced copy!
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