Elizabeth Strout’s ‘Oh William!’ is a poignant exploration of relationships, trauma, love, and grief, but was too narratively stream-of-consciousness for my taste.

This is the first novel of Strout’s that I’ve read, so I was unfamiliar with her character, Lucy Barton, and had no prior context to said character. I don’t know if reading prior works featuring Lucy would have endeared me to this story more, or if I still would have been put off by the experimental and oft times meandering prose of the book.

It’s written in first person, memoir style. Meta in the sense that Strout is writing as Lucy, who is also a writer. And with that, I expected Lucy’s writing to be more… literary? Or perhaps more structured? I admire the risk that Strout has taken in this novel; it just didn’t land for me.

Where this book shines is in the moments where you feel immersed in the emotions and minds of the characters. This comes in degrees, sometimes with a particularly poignant or revelatory phrase, or a particularly affective flashback. It’s supremely evident in these moments why Strout is such a celebrated writer. I did want to know what happened to these characters, and I was left a little wanting, frankly. But just because the structure wasn’t my personal cup of tea doesn’t mean that it’s not an interesting exercise in craft by an incredibly adept writer.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the kind of book I have been waiting for. I have certainly heard of this author and book but haven't had the opportunity to read the first two books in this series. I plan to pick those up soon.

Elizabeth Strout struck a chord with her ability to write so perfectly about human interactions. The characters are so easy to relate to and you can connect even if they are going through things you haven't.

A well written and thought out story, I highly recommend diving into this one.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Once again, Elizabeth Strout sucks me in! Her characters resonate with me, and I find that I just can't stop reading. I did read the two earlier books in the Lucy Barton series, but it was quite some time ago, and the fact that I didn't have strong, recent memories of them did not in any way hamper my enjoyment of this book. So, while the earlier two books are well worth reading, it isn't necessary to have read them to enjoy this one.

Just as she does in her other books, Strout keys in thoughtfully and empathetically to human nature, and to the people she writes about. They aren't perfect, by a long shot, but they're interesting and ultimately decent, despite their flaws. This is a book to make you contemplate people and their relationships, and I enjoyed it very much.

Definitely a good read!

This book was soo good, I am very excited to post about this, it was sent as a perfect read for readers of TJR and isn’t that the truth, it was soo good and everything a reader wants.

If you grow up in deep poverty with neglectful and abusive parents, a childhood you run away from by going to college and becoming a successful writer, does it still haunt you, stay with you, define your true self throughout your life? Can you re-make yourself, freed from the past, wearing a new scent with confidence as, for example, Lucy’s mother-in-law did? And why do you love someone and marry that person? Is it about finding the home you never had? But can it ever replace the home you never had?

“My point is that there is a cultural blank spot that never ever leaves, only it is not a spot, it is a huge blank canvas and it makes life very frightening.”

Memories of her impoverished roots often resurface as Lucy, a woman in her 60s, tells the story of her close friendship with her first husband William, long after their divorce, and the loving relationship with their two daughters. But it is not only Lucy who deals with these issues. Suddenly, after learning about his family secrets (avoiding the spoilers here), William confronts the mysteries of an unpredictable life, who he really is, and what Lucy truly means to and for him… Oh, William, you too!

“[…] when I think Oh William!, don’t I mean Oh Lucy! too?
Don’t I mean Oh Everyone, Oh dear Everybody in this whole wide world, we do not know anybody, not even ourselves!
—
Except a little tiny, tiny bit we do.
—
But we are all mythologies, mysterious. We are all mysteries, is what I mean.”

I fell in love with Elizabeth Strout’s exquisite writing in Olive Kitteridge and Olive, Again. Written in the third person, they captivated with the prose of a superb stylist and her penetrating insights into the human soul behind the lives of people in a small coastal town in Maine. In Oh, William, Strout lends her voice to the character Lucy which somewhat robs the narrative of the stylistic beauty in the Olive series. On the other hand, it gains in the spontaneity in opening up one’s heart and thoughts. While I can’t say I was drawn to Lucy as much as I was to Olive (oh, yes, she was a curmudgeon, but utterly irresistible and likable), there was sincerity, melancholy, and hope in both of them. Strout again achieved the magic of deeply impacting her readers with the humanness of her characters and their relatable life stories.

My thanks to Random House for an ARC via NetGalley.

I love Elizabeth Strout's skill of describing the nuances of perception in short language. Main character, Lucy Barton, bounces around between analyzing her past, her ex (William), her surroundings, and life. "Oh, William" took many meanings throughout the story. The phrase itself became as nuanced as Strout's writing.

Lucy speaks directly to the reader throughout the story, and somehow it is un-selfconscious. I know I'm enjoying good writing when I'm not aware I'm reading someone's writing.

Very enjoyable story, even though it's a bit sad.

Highly recommend this read! Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout explores the mysteries of marriage and the secrets we keep, as a former couple reckons with where they've come from--and what they've left behind.

Review of Oh William by Elizabeth Strout
I love how the story has been told with its distinguished ups and downs. Stunning honesty in the plot, descriptions of situations, what Lucy loves about people and what she doesn’t, her own fears and feelings form the strong points of the narrative. I loved Lucy Barton as the character, completely relatable.
A beautiful sentimental book from an extraordinary writer !

I always forget that I love Elizabeth Strout. I think I'm always preparing myself to be underwhelmed by her and then she is just so, so lovely. I loved this novel about Lucy and her ex-husband William. I'll think of him (and her) every time I say "OH Loren," about my current husband, haha. Loved it.

”But when I think Oh William!, don’t I mean Oh Lucy! Too? Don’t I mean Oh Everyone!, Oh dear Everybody in this whole world, we do not know anybody, not even ourselves! Except a etiny, tiny bit we do. But we are all mythologies, mysterious. We are all mysteries, is what I mean. This may be the only thing in the world I know to be true.”

Oh WIlliam! and Olive, Again, Elizabeth Strout's two most recent novels, arguably stand as her finest. Strout writes with radical empathy: she Strout captures and portrays the confusion and inherent illogic of enduring love and friendship. The characters in Oh William! may confuse, anger, or frustrate you, but you know that their actions and the feelings that motivate them are absolutely emotionally true. Oh William! rings so emotionally true that it reads as if it were memoir or thinly disguised autofiction.

Oh William! could better have been titled Oh Lucy!, because it provides a first person self portrait of Lucy Barton, the fabulously successful fictional author terrified of her own inadequacies and the supposed stench clinging to her from her dirt-poor upbringing. Oh William! revolves around a central mystery: Why does Lucy Barton — wildly successful and admired, spirited, warm, and attractive — tolerate and remain attached to William, her former husband? Why does Lucy, who feels that she and her second husband ”were—we really were—kind of made for each other” also feel that ”that the only home I ever had was with William.”To her credit, Strout presents but does not solve for the reader this central mystery. Inferring from Lucy’s commentary on William, his appeal to her apparently centered around his ”authority”: ”This authority is why I had fallen in love with William. We crave authority. We do. No matter what anyone says, we crave that sense of authority. Of believing that in the presence of this person we are safe.” Beyond this, Lucy presents William as a rich, self-involved, emotionally repressed, womanizing shlump: neither successful as an academic, nor interesting, nor intellectual, nor nice. All in all, a total bastard.

The emotional truth of Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy Barton is not confined to her relationship with William or her daughters. Strout’s description of Lucy’s trip to college with Mrs. Nash, her high school guidance counselor, Mrs. Nash’s emotional and material generosity to Lucy, and especially Mrs. Nash’s recognition of Lucy’s total unpreparedness for the simplest elements of collegiate life ring painfully true.

I would like to thank Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for a review.

Oh William! is an adorable story of a long-divorced couple that still leans on one another from time to time. Throughout their separate lives, they have managed to remain friendly and dedicated parents. Once their spouses are passed or have left town, they come together another time on a journey to find truth about the past. This is a heartwarming story I thoroughly enjoyed!

At first, I thought it would be hard to relate to any characters from this book. I began to sense that I might be not the target of this book. I'm glad that it's not a dramatic story about cheating or some rich people's problem.

It turn out to be great and I enjoyed the narrative from Lucy pov.
She has a normal life now, She has an apartment in New York City with 2 wonderful daughters. People would indicate she has been successful by the standard of society. A new character shows and we began to discover more about Lucy’s life. Lucy has been going through some problems in her marriage life. One of them is with William. She divorced William a long time ago. As they get older, the discovery of William's relatives from the past force Lucy to make a journey with William.

The journey took Lucy and William together. They both have to enter the old phase of life but their journey is the best part of this book. They both discover something new about themself. Even though William is not likable, we also learn about the misstep that Lucy has taken.

In the end, nobody's perfect. Each character has flaws but that does not stop me from loving Lucy Barton.

3.5/5

Even though I never read My Name is Lucy Barton, I really enjoyed this novel that looks at Lucy’s relationship with her ex-husband, William. We learn about how they made, how their relationship waxed and waned over the course of their marriage and. The birth of their two daughter. She is happy that they have been able to remain friends after all these years (And subsequent marriages). But Lucy is surprised when William asks her to come with him on a trip to take a closer look at an unearthed family secret. Although this book is a quitter novel, it’s a meditation on the human condition. And you feel like you’re a part of their family, you get to know the inner mechanism’s of this family so well.

This book was gripping. I was sucked in and could not put it down! The concept was so unique, I loved this book.

In Elizabeth Strout's latest novel, she revisits writer Lucy Barton as she reflects on her relationship with her former husband William and their feelings for each other and their ongoing partnership, for better and for worse. Although they divorced years ago and remarried and recoupled with other people since that time, they've managed to maintain a tenuous connection. It's not just that they have children together--they simply fall back on each other as family members do.

Lucy narrates the novel, and you feel as if she called you up on the phone to tell you her thoughts or as if she's in front of an audience, telling her stories about her feelings about her former husband, other relationships, childhood, and recently deceased husband. She also discusses her relationship with her mother and other family members as well as her relationship with her mother-in-law. Part of the book delves into William's childhood woes as well.

If you're a fan of the writer and read the other books involving Lucy, you'll want to read this one. If you haven't read them, stop, and read the other Lucy-centric novels. You'll gain more insight into what's going on in this volume if you read the other two, one of which, I believe, is a short story collection, mostly dealing with Lucy.

For fans of Olive Kitteridge, this character is nothing like her, which shows the talent of Strout for creating very distinctive and unique characters. Lucy is not cantankerous--she's way too introspective for that and lives a very different lifestyle. Other past characters from other books make appearances, so if you're familiar with Strout's works, watch out for the cameos.

Since I'm a fan of this author, I liked reading more about Lucy, but, at times, the story could be bland. Like I said, this character is way more subdued, and even though some significant events occur in the book, they're not shocking. They're simply part of life.

The writing of this novel is distinctly Strout, thoughtfully written, yet it may not be incredibly exciting or stimulating for some readers. I hovered between 3 and 4 stars for this book because I think this is for those familiar with Strout's fiction and not for new readers.

I was given an advance copy of this book by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I had no idea that this was a book in the middle of a series until after I finished. Maybe reading the previous books would have made a difference, but I was completely underwhelmed by this storyline. I thought I was reading a mystery but instead this seemed more like a story about the dysfunctional relationship between two aging ex-spouses.

Ah, what a wonderful return to the world of Lucy Barton! Equal parts poetry and therapy, a lyrical exploration of relationship - with others and with ourselves.

In The New York Times' review of Elizabeth Strout's My Name Is Lucy Barton, Claire Messud called Strout's vision of the world "Protestant and flinty." In Strout's return to Lucy Barton, Protestant and flinty are, again, apt descriptions of her writing.
"I feel invisible, is what I mean. But I mean it in the deepest way. It is very hard to explain. And I cannot explain it except to say - oh, I don't know what to say! Truly, it is as if I do not exist, I guess is the closest thing I can say. I mean I do not exist in the world. It could be as simple as the fact that we had no mirrors in our house when I was growing up except for a very small one high above the bathroom sink. I really do not know what I mean, except to say that on some very fundamental level, I feel invisible in the world."
Despite being a successful author, Lucy Barton continues to feel invisible and to find it surprisingly difficult to put her feelings into words. Except for when it isn't:
"A tulip stem inside me snapped. This is what I felt. It has stayed snapped, it never grew back. I began to write more truthfully after that."
A childhood of poverty and abuse has led Lucy to live her life feeling "less than," a feeling that was reinforced by a mother-in-law she simultaneously loved and resented. Catherine asked Lucy to call her "Mom" when Lucy married Catherine's son, William. But she found any number of ways to make Lucy feel out of place and beneath her, from giving Lucy hand-me-down nightgowns to giving her a set of golf clubs knowing that Lucy didn't enjoy golfing. So Lucy was as surprised as William when he discovered that Catherine's childhood was not all that different from Lucy's own.
"How is it that some people know how to do this [cross the lines in our world], and others, like me, still give off the faint smell of what we came from? I would like to know. I will never know. Catherine, with her own scent that she always wore. My point is that there is a cultural blank spot that never ever leaves, only it is not a spot, it is a huge blank canvas and it makes life very frightening."
In Oh, William! Strout explores the ways we never completely escape our upbringing and that cost that trying to do so takes. In her quiet, spare way, she also, as always, explores the lasting relationships between parents and children and spouses, even after divorce. William and Lucy have a complicated relationship that is only underscored by the wonderful relationship Lucy had with her second husband who only recently died.

I'm a huge fan of Strout's and I love the way she comes back to characters again and again (this is her third book that includes Lucy), even working characters from other books into her stories (here characters from The Burgess Boys show up). While some readers may read this book and feel that they are missing something by not having read My Name Is Lucy Barton (and I kept wondering if I was forgetting things from that book), in looking back at my review, and others, of that book, I find that Strout left somethings to the readers' imaginations before as she does again here. You're getting all you need to have to understand Lucy. This one crept up on me and my appreciation of it grows even after I finished reading it. If you're a fan of Strout's, you'll enjoy this one. If you're new to her work, understand that this is a quiet, slow-paced book that is filled with introspection. It will make you think, if you have patience. I'm glad I did.

WOW! What a read! I was honestly super impressed with this novel. The writing style of Elizabeth Street is fantastic. I am excited to read more of her novels!

This was an interesting story. I feel like this was story of an ex-wife finally coming to terms with her ex-husband. Reading this story, I felt that Lucy put William on a pedestal. I think she felt he was always above her in some way. I think as she went through his latest lost with him, she saw him and herself as they truly are.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.