Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

Lucy Barton’s ex-husband William needs a favour - he's discovered a family secret, and wants Lucy to accompany him on a trip to meet a half-sister. She still feels this connection to William, so despite her misgivings, she joins him on this trip to Maine.

And if you’ve read Strout before, you’ll know what comes next. It’s a book that looks at the ties that bind us, about how the past shapes the present, and asks that all important question - do we ever, truly, really know anyone?

Lucy Barton

There’s something just so comforting with an Elizabeth Strout book. With a mid October chill in the evenings, I loved drawing the curtains and losing an hour reading ‘Oh William'!’ Lucy Barton and her family and memories are great company.

I’ve previously enjoyed spending time with Olive Kitteridge but this was my first introduction to Lucy Barton, and I liked her almost instantly. She has such a rich inner monologue, and is such a down to earth character but also endlessly fascinating in that way some people are.

People are lonely, is my point here. Many people can’t say to those they know well what it is they feel they might want to say.

Meditative

There’s something meditative in the way Elizabeth Strout - I just felt these words washing over me. There’s a peace, a wisdom there, a gentle grasping for patterns and meaning in life. It’s quite hard for me to put my finger on what the precise attraction is, but I’m just so drawn to the inner leaves of her characters - compassionate, flawed, annoying, lovable. They’re so well drawn that they completely as we expect them to act.

There’s a well of sadness running underneath the prose I think, but it’s never overwhelming, with the right amount of light and shade. I can’t say how she writes women, but I know from my own perspective that her characters are just all too human.

“This is the way of life: the many things we do not know until it is too late.

Summary

I was gifted this book, and haven’t read the other books in the series. I wish I had, but I’m not sure if it matters - I think I can enjoy her books and writing in any order. Any gaps seemed to be filled in, and I’d happily go back and read the first one, ‘My name is Lucy Barton’. In fact, new relaease ‘Tell me everything’ is in my TBR pile so I’ll soon be happily back in Strout world again.

I’ll leave the last words to the author herself:

It is not “good” or “bad” that interests me as a writer, but the murkiness of human experience and the consistent imperfections of our lives.
— Elizabeth Strout