I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It was really hard to get into this book. It was pretty slow moving, and I forgot a sequel to Lucy Barton.. I think if you read the first book, you will probably get more out of this. 2.5

In my opinion reading anything by Elizabeth Strout is like sitting down with a cup to tea and catching up with an old friend. Oh, William is not exactly a sequel to My Name is Lucy Barton but more of a continuation of her life. This time the story is told from the perspective of her relationship with her ex-husband William.

This book somehow escaped review in my Goodreads pile Thanks - Netgalley for the ARC

Well, I am embarrassed to admit that as I went to post a review for Strout's latest book, Lucy By the Sea, I realized I never posted this review. Oh No! Clearly I cannot get enough of Lucy Barton, because I just go from one to the other as soon as a new book is out. Strout's Amgash series, beginning with My Name is Lucy Barton, then continuing in Anything is Possible, repeatedly has me breaking my own rule against committing to a series. But, to be fair, this is a genre-defying set of books. They are novels, and inter-connected short story collections. Even when Strout's telling us something completely new, we recognize these beloved, familiar, characters whose paths cross in unexpected ways. I know Lucy's struggle when I open the first pages here, and can immediately guess at several ways to interpret that title, but I am still rooting for this odd and somehow perfect relationship. Lucy and William have a shared past—having been married with children—and despite a contentious divorce, have grown into this peculiar friendship. Even if all the other pieces aren't perfectly in place, it provides a sort of comfort for them both. As a reader, I find it difficult to express exactly why Lucy is so important to me, but I do know that a large part of it is her unquestioning joy, the many layers of her kindness, and her boundless capacity for love. Actually, that sounds like a lot, right? You should start at the beginning, with Olive Kitteridge, or, if you're like me, just read everything Strout has written. You will not be disappointed.

This was just not something I usually read. I received this and did not request. I tried it out but, this is not my style.

Oh William! Is the third book in a series, which I did not know, luckily the book can stand alone and you do not have to read the other two books to understand what is going on. However, what was going on? The book was flat and redundant and you didn't really root for any of the characters or care what happened to them and the ending was anticlimatic.

Oh, Elizabeth! How I love your writing! Your stories make the reader feel like one is sitting with an old friend who is giving a colorful update on what’s been going on since when they last met. There is a level of familiarity in her writing that draws you in immediately. While Oh William! is a continuation of a story of one of Ms Strout’s character from previous novels, it can be enjoyed as a stand alone tale as well. Thank you, thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this novel by a favorite author.

I'm so confused about why I don't love these books--on paper they have everything I love. I just can't get into them and they make me feel depressed, so I think I'm going to hit pause on trying Strout's writing for awhile.

This book serves as a portrait of a man and his life as told by his first wife, Lucy Barton. It felt reflective, in the way it would feel at the end of life, looking backward. It was tender and honest and almost left the reader feeling like they were examining a painting, with the artist (Lucy) revealing what she was able to see of her first husband, William. She mixes the paint of reality and emotion and memory with perspective, as only a former spouse would be able to do. She speaks of love and loss, parenthood, marriage, and family secrets unearthed at random and often inconvenient moments. Their decades-long relationship is understood as much as it is a mystery, and it felt as if we are unraveling it in our attempt to discover where it ended and why. Lucy and her husband read like our old friends as they invite us to look at their marriage, adult children, new marriages, new children, how they have chosen to live life, and how they decided to love. This book was painful, beautiful, and thoughtful as we examined the reflection of a life lived. “This is the way of life,” Lucy says.


Full admission? I have never read the other Lucy Barton books, and I feel that this book would have benefitted and read quite differently with that background knowledge. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the quietness of this book, the empathy shown to one another, the reflection on his life, and the attempt to resolve lifelong issues at the end. I enjoyed it but would recommend reading it in order, as the third book in the series.

Many thanks to Random House and Elizabeth Strout for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Loved the somewhat snarky, self-absorbed interior monologue of Lucy in this novel. It follows well into the Lucy Barton narrative but I think it stands alone too. I keep turning those pages for Strout's beautiful prose. Nothing much has to happen. And it doesn't, but Lucy is compelling nonetheless!

I began reading Oh William! but soon put it aside when I first downloaded it from Netgalley. I returned to it after giving Lucy by the Sea, Strout’s latest story of Lucy Barton’s trials and tribulations, a lukewarm review. I was bemused to find so much duplication between these two books, as well as the author returning to memories of her earlier volumes. Frankly if Lucy had been a relative of mine and recycled these reminiscences as often as she does in these narratives, I would have thought she was slipping. As it is, I just felt played by the author. And sprinkling the story with the cloying nicknames of Button and Pilli seemed like the worst sort of manipulation on Strout’s part to make these two seem vulnerable and endearing.
Lucy and William come from dysfunctional families and are deeply flawed; we get that. But the writing is so pedestrian and the anecdotes so dull that even the occasional surprising revelations get lost in the mind numbing narrative. It took all my self discipline to push on to the end. I think I know myself and Lucy Barton well enough now to know I will not be revisiting any further stories.

Lucy continues to produce beautifully written pieces of art. Oh William! Is another example of poetry in motion. Lucy writes of her relationship and failure with the relationship in a way that is insightful and respectful. She brings the reader on a journey down memory lane, exploring her relationship with William, as well as his late mother. The expression of emotion and wistfulness is deep and profound. Throughout the course of reading I paused many times and reflected on my own personal relationships and the similarity of joy, sadness and pain. This book reads as if it is the final chapter of their relationship/friendship or at least Lucy's acceptance of what was and what will be.

I am slowly realizing that I really don’t like some authors. Because of their popularity, I keep giving them another chance. Life is too short and there are many books. This book felt like one long diary of a woman. I could almost except the amateurish way it was written, as it was supposed to reflect the musings of this woman. But this woman, the protagonist, is supposed to be a writer! The numerous sentences that ran on utilizing the conjunction “and” was worthy of the best efforts of a fourth grader! Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review..

Oh, William is the third installment in the Lucy Barton series by Elizabeth Strout.
Sixty-three year old Lucy Barton is now a widow after the death of her second husband, David Abramson. David was the perfect husband to Lucy and the antithesis of her first husband, William Gearhardt. Lucy and William will always have a connection as they share two adult daughters but William is a hard man to understand. He cheated on Lucy during their marriage, frequently belittled her and was not a very loving person. In spite of all that, Lucy has had a longtime on-again, off-again friendship with him.
On paper, it doesn't make sense that Lucy would still have William in her life especially now that her daughters are grown. What is even more bizarre is that Lucy agrees to join William on a road trip to Maine to uncover a family secret.
The road trip gives us a chance to learn more about William and his past. William will learn some hard truths about his family and will uncover family secrets. But the trip is also a look into the relationship between Lucy and William.
While still grieving her second husband, Lucy looks back on her marriage to William and its painful demise.
While most of us couldn't imagine a road trip with our ex, most of us aren't Lucy Barton. I think that everyone sees part of themselves in Lucy but her ability to analyze the human condition in real time is what sets her apart from most. It is an enviable trait.
Oh, William is a short book but full of an amazing amount of substance. Strout's novel will find readers share and connect many moments from Oh, William but I think readers will also find some very personal, intimate connections leading all of us to personally reflect on our own life.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. #NetGalley #OhWilliam

Another great Lucy Barton book. I love all the books in this series. Lucy's character with raw honesty is just the best. As always a slow and lovely exploration of people and relationships.

Every year the Booker Prize tends to nominate a novel that, while broadly 'literary', also labors under the constraint of also being labeled, for lack of a better term, 'women's fiction'. Often these are either by Strout or Anne Tyler- last year's entry was A Town Called Solace, which was surprisingly quite good.

Strout returns to the list with a sequel to her previously longlisted My Name Is Lucy Barton, which I read and enjoyed, primarily for its succinct brevity. This latest suffers a bit from being more meandering, long-winded - for the first 3/4s I just wanted it to get moving and come to the point. It eventually DOES, and I found the final quarter quite moving and compelling - but boy, where was the editor for the first 180 pages? I guess if you have a Pulitzer, the editor treads lightly.

I somehow doubt that this will make the shortlist, but it was good enough to impel me to a quick reread of the first book (as I recall, the OTHER sequel, Anything Is Possible, focusses more on OTHER characters in the town of Amgash, and Lucy only appears once or twice, so I might skip a reread of that on, or only read the stories she is in) - and will definitely read the fourth book in the series, Lucy by the Sea when it becomes available - despite being one of the umpteen new pandemic focused novels.

For now, of the 5 Booker candidates I've read, this tops my rankings, but only because the other four have been rather dismal - I'll assume it will slip down as other more favorable books get consumed.

I did not realize OH WILLIAM by Elizabeth Strout was the third book in a trilogy until I was finished reading it, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more had I read the first two books of the series.

This book just did not resonate with me. I felt like the book was pointless and going nowhere slow. I did not care about Lucy or William, did not feel like I knew what motivated them. A complete disconnect for me.

While the writing was stunning, I had a really difficult time getting into this book. I couldn't connect with the characters and I felt the plot was dragging, most of the time. Once I put the book down I didn't feel the need to pick it back up again. I just couldn't connect with it overall.

I keep finding this pattern in Elizabeth Strout's books and I think this writer just isn't one I'm going to like.

“I am not invisible no matter how deeply I feel that I am.”

There is something incredibly comforting about reading Elizabeth Strout's books, even when the content within them is at times unsettling. I think part of this comfort aspect is that she relates the issues the characters face, either through the character's voice or through a narrator, as if you were a friend. It makes the stories relatable, even if you yourself have not been in that specific scenario.

In Oh William, we return to the voice of Lucy Barton (first met in My Name is Lucy Barton). Lucy is now an accomplished novelist, divorced from her first husband William and mourning the death of her second husband. William invites Lucy on a trip to Maine to uncover secrets about his mother. This trip serves as a point from which Lucy can meditate on her life thus far, including her relationship with William and her children.

There is a quiet simplicity about Strout's writing that translates well into the voice of Lucy, a woman who came from an impoverished background and has made a life for herself in her writing. There is something very moving here in the way that Strout deals with Lucy's grief and past trauma. You can see Lucy working through her complicated mess of feelings (as with the quote I excerpted at the beginning of this review) in a way that feels realistic and is incredibly touching.

As the third book in a series, I have enjoyed watching Lucy grow as a character. She is much more self-aware in this book than she is in My Name is Lucy Barton. It's refreshing to read an older character who doesn't quite have her life figured out.

If you've liked Strout's other books, or generally like "quieter" reads, this is definitely one to put on your list.

I live what Elizabeth Strout has been writing lately, revisiting characters she’s introduced us to before. Oh, William keeps with this experiment and in many ways, is as touching as its predecessors, My Name is Lucy Barton and Anything is Possible. Maybe Lucy isn’t as strong an archetype as is Strout’s cranky Olive Kitteridge (whom we met as she aged in Olive, Again), but Lucy’s gentler approach to life as she and her ex-husband age, separated, yet together, makes for a lovely and intimate read.

Oh, Elizabeth Strout! Your books are like sitting down with friends over coffee and dessert for great conversation. You know you are in for a treat when you sit down with an Elizabeth Strout book.

In Oh William, Lucy Barton is back to tell the story of her ex-husband, but it is really Lucy's story. If you have read Strout's earlier Lucy Barton books, in this one, Lucy is now in her 60s and dealing with the death of her husband, and steps up to help William through trying times. Lucy revisits memories of her life's relationships, as she helps William with his. Lucy deals with everything with such great honesty and brings us, the reader, into her most intimate thoughts and feelings. Without divulging too much, Lucy and William many years from their marriage, now face each other with brutal honesty, and it is what they both need from each other, whether it feels like it in the moment or not.

Though there is a great deal of pain attached to many of these memories, Lucy writes about them with the thread of hope weaving throughout. This novel felt so personal. Lucy is writing to her reader, and it was a great honor to share Lucy's thoughts. Throughout the entire novel, I felt compelled to sit down and write back to her, to Lucy; to thank her for sharing , and to continue the conversation that she had started.

This is a 5 star read for me. It has been a few weeks since I have read it, and I find myself going back to quotes in the book and wishing for more Lucy. I'd like to thank Netgalley and Random House Publishing for an advanced reader copy of this book.