Starred review from June 17, 2024
The latest from Pulitzer winner Strout (Olive Kitteridge) brings together characters from her previous novels for a masterly meditation on storytelling. After 86-year-old Mainer Gloria Beach is found dead in a quarry, semi-retired lawyer Bob Burgess agrees to represent Gloria’s son, Matthew, who is the prime suspect in her possible murder. Bob has grown close to author Lucy Barton, who moved to the area from New York City during the pandemic, and the duo spend hours walking together and chatting. After Bob takes Matthew’s case, Lucy calls him a “sin eater,” a term that came to her mind during a recent chat with Olive Kitteridge, who’s been inviting Lucy over to her retirement community to gossip about their neighbors. As Bob works with Matthew on preparing his defense in the event of a murder charge, he begins to wonder if he’s falling in love with Lucy. Though Olive doesn’t say anything, she’s been convinced all along that Lucy and Bob are developing feelings for each other. The narrative threads make for dishy small-town drama, but even more satisfying are the insights Strout weaves into the dialogue. Late in the novel, after Olive asks Lucy the point of writing stories, she responds, “People and the lives they lead. That’s the point.” Longtime fans and newcomers alike will relish this. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Agency.
Starred review from July 1, 2024
It's a rare and special thing to have someone with whom to share one's deepest fears, profound joys, petty annoyances, and daily delights. Such is the relationship between Bob Burgess and Lucy Barton. As they meet to walk along the river (so Bob can sneak his daily cigarette), they recount life's quotidian events with the same sense of wonder and reverence as revelations of long-held secrets. Lucy confesses she talks to houseplants; Bob admits to watering down the gin in a neighbor's grocery delivery. But it's not all minutiae. Murder and suicide, alcoholism and assault also winnow their way into their stories. While Lucy and Bob are the mainstays, Strout has reunited much of the old Crosby, Maine, crowd: Olive Kitteridge, Isabelle Goodrow, Bob's ex, Pam, and his brother Jim make stellar cameo appearances to tell their own tales. Through them all, Strout reminds us that storytelling can be powerful; that most people's lives go unrecorded; and that paying witness to everyday events is a gift. With tenderness, honesty, intimacy, and compassion, Strout uses her cunning powers of observation to draw readers beyond the mundane to the miraculous complexities where true friendship lies.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: An absolute must-have; Strout fans are avid!
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
August 1, 2024
A group of familiar characters cluster around an almost-romance between writer Lucy Barton and lawyer Bob Burgess. Strout's latest novel is essentially a collection of stories, many of them shared by Lucy and Olive Kitteridge, who somewhat arbitrarily set this plotline in motion by telling Bob, "I have a story to tell that writer....I wish you would have her come visit me." Lucy relocated to Crosby, Maine, with her ex-husband, William, during the pandemic, conveniently bringing together the people and backstories from most of Strout's previous fiction. Among those returning with new chapters in their histories are Bob's brother, Jim; sister, Susan; and ex-wife, Pam; along with his current wife, Margaret, a local minister who may be ousted by a parishioner whose defining quality is that he sleeps during services. The parishioner's motive is never specified, which suits the overall tone of a novel anchored in the central premise of Strout's work: "We all are such mysteries." When Olive asks Lucy with irritation what the point of one of her stories is (readers may be wondering the same), Lucy answers, "People and the lives they lead. That's the point." A murder case in which Bob is defending a man accused of killing his mother offers the only firm closure here; more typical is another twist in the long-running issue of who was responsible for the death of Jim and Bob's father, which culminates with the declaration, "No one willever know." Even Bob's growing attraction to Lucy, though it reaches a crisis, subsides without definitive resolution. Strout's tenderness for her characters and her belief that love is the only force in human lives as powerful as our essential loneliness are as moving as ever. But this all seems like very well-plowed terrain. Strout's many fans will love this sweet, rambling tale. More critical readers may feel it's time for her to move on.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
September 13, 2024
Pulitzer Prize-winning Strout sets her newest in old surroundings, the beloved locale of Crosby, ME, populated by beloved characters--Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and others--as she has them ponder the meaning of stories and of life, of friendship and love, all while a murder investigation unfolds. Prepub Alert.
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