As per, I always look forward to a new Elizabeth Strout book. I love so many things about her writing, from the continuation of characters, likeable and otherwise, through to the pared-back prose - which seems seamless and simple but is actually very sophisticated. She tells it like it is - and why not? This is what makes Strout's writing unique and lifelike, something we can all identify with.

In 'Oh William!' we spend time with Lucy Barton again, the successful novelist from 'My Name is Lucy Barton' and also, from 'Anything is Possible'. In 'My Name...' Lucy is in a New York hospital when she receives a visit from her estranged, Illinois-based mother, someone she doesn't have a great relationship with; in 'Anything...' we learn more about the backstory. And in this new novel, 'Oh William!', time has moved forward considerably. Lucy is older; her second husband, David, has recently died; Becka and Chrissie, her daughters, are grown up; and William, her first husband, is also alone - Estelle, his second wife, has left him and he is seemingly distraught.

It all sounds quite the complicated domestic set-up - and it is, like many aspects of life. In 'Oh William!' Lucy and William travel from New York to Maine to try and track down a half-sister, Lois, that William has found out about - and to learn more about his relationship with Lucy. The focus in on Lucy, as a well-known novelist, so I guess this book is a little bit meta in that respect. But oftentimes taciturn William is key, too. He is struggling - his work isn't respected, Estelle has gone, it turns out that Lois doesn't want to meet him, something that probably has a greater impact on him that he would let on.

'Oh William!' is beautifully written, from his dismissive attitude towards Lucy when she complains about being hungry ('then go eat!') through to the ins and outs of the way he has treated his wives - and the ways Becka and Chrissie think that their parents are getting back together.

Any new Elizabeth Strout is welcome. I do, actually, still have 'Amy and Isabelle' and 'Abide with Me' to read, Strout's first two novels. When they're read, the joy remains - and I, for one, am champing at the bit for the next one.

This is a poignant novel by Elizabeth Strout. I had not read the two previous "Lucy Barton" books, but I didn't feel as though I'd missed anything crucial in the characters' backstories, thanks to the author's very brief references to their past when it was relevant. I do not think that this would be repetitive for those who had read the previous books.

On the face of it, "Oh William" is about Lucy's relationship with her 69 year-old ex-husband and their two grown-up daughters over about 18 months in the near-past, and the thoughts she has as she remembers events and people in her life. But there is more to the book than that; it is about, for example, the discovery of how one's perception may be incorrect, and what it means to have lived a life based on certainties that turn out to have been false because the full facts had been withheld or hidden.

The author's description of the rural poverty, economic hardship, and way of life towards the Canadian border in Maine has added a lot to my understanding of the current US political situation.

With many thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review.

“Grief is such a—oh, it is such a solitary thing; this is the terror of it, I think. It is like sliding down the outside of a really long glass building while nobody sees you.”

A short novel that holds a lot. I have been a big fan of Elizabeth Strout's writing for a long time and so was excited when my request to read this novel was approved. Strout has a way of writing that draws the reader in and makes them feel like they are engaging in a private conversation with the characters.

Oh Elizabeth!

What a deceptively simple story, as is always the case with Elizabeth Strout. Where ‘Anything is Possible’ reveals more of Lucy’s troubled relationships with her siblings, and ‘My Name is Lucy Barton’ her even more complicated relationship with her mother, ‘Oh William!’ gives us the backstory to her first marriage.

And what a backstory it is. We know about Lucy’s familial shame, the bleak poverty she has escaped, the bullying (“Your family stinks.”), but also the occasional kindness she encountered along the way. However, it turns out that William’s family, too, has a skeleton in the closet.

What I love about the author’s narrative form is that, as in the two ‘Olive’ books, the ecosystem of characters and stories she builds up and the cross-references that intertwine, going backwards and forwards in time. It’s a wonderfully engaging, gossipy way to build up a more complex picture of the characters. Even the Burgess boys from another novel get a mention.

I felt reading this novel as if Lucy was there in front of me, telling me about William. ‘Picture him….Don’t I mean?….Why does this touch me?...But there is this…” Hesitancy and diffidence pull us in as both Lucy and the reader try to understand her marriage(s).

It’s a testament to this latest novel that on turning the final page, I went straight back to the previous two Lucy Barton novels and reread them.

I hope I can look forward to a novel that charts her relationship with her two daughters!

I will happily post this on Amazon as soon as reviewing opens.

I loved the style and tone of this book. Elizabeth Strout has a clever skill of creating believable characters and of hooking reader. I found it sad, emotive and uplifting.

I absolutely loved this novel! I haven’t read Lucy Barton but I didn’t feel it was necessary, the gaps are all filled in well. However, having fallen in love with these characters I will now definitely go back and catch up! I didn’t personally think it was as good as the Olive novels but it’s very much in Strout’s style and she builds a world so well. Highly recommended and thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

There seems to be to camps with Strout's novels - those who like the Olive Kitteridge books and those who like the Lucy Barton books. I'm firmly in the Olive camp, so it was unfortunate that I came to this new book not knowing that it was a Lucy story! Hence it's no surprise when I say that I was not keen on it. Strout seems to have a different style of writing for the two character books, and I just don't get on with the Lucy style. This book focuses on Lucy's first husband William, and her relationship with him while they were married, and now post-divorce as she goes on a road trip with him to discover more about his family.
Lucy fans will no doubt love it.

5★
“Grief is such a—oh, it is such a solitary thing; this is the terror of it, I think. It is like sliding down the outside of a really long glass building while nobody sees you.”

I loved this, which is no surprise since I’ve enjoyed Strout’s writing since I first read it. I’ve never been particularly fond of Lucy Barton herself.

She grew up in extreme poverty, was called smelly at school, and her home life was violent, due to her father’s post-traumatic stress after his World War 2 experiences in Germany. They lived an isolated life outside of town.

She’s just buried her second husband, David, who was raised as a Hasidic Jew, so he was another kind of outsider, and they understood each other as nobody else could.

“My husband’s name was David Abramson and he was—oh, how can I tell you what he was? He was him! We were—we really were—kind of made for each other, except that seems a terrifically trite thing to say but— Oh, I cannot say any more right now.”

This is like leafing through letters from a friend. Lucy frequently interrupts herself, saying she must add one more thing. Or sometimes she says she can’t talk about it right now. Some of it is new news, some of it is catching you up on what she might not have told you in the past, or reminding you of what she did tell you, because you’re old friends.

By that, I mean that she’s referring to ‘her’ first book, My Name Is Lucy Barton, and the short stories that ‘she’ wrote about her hometown of Amgash, Anything Is Possible. You do not need to have read those books to enjoy this one. She brings you up to speed with anything important.

Lucy is sixty-three now, a well-known author whose books are sold all over the world. She has travelled everywhere, but she has never really lost her feeling of awkwardness, of not belonging, of being invisible.

“I have always thought that if there was a big corkboard and on that board was a pin for every person who ever lived, there would be no pin for me.

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.”

She mourns David but keeps on keeping on, largely because she is still strongly connected to the two daughters she had with William, her first husband. The girls are adults, close to each other, and they shop and lunch with their mother. William lives with his third wife and their ten-year-old daughter.

The exes have settled into a kind of fond, companionable relationship, so much so that it’s easy to think they will end up together again – happily ever after! Then the prickliness between them becomes scratchy again, and it's thank goodness she’s out of there!

Very early in the book she tells us about Joanne. She frequently drops these kinds of bombshells.

“About a year after our marriage ended, William married a woman he had had an affair with for six years.”

But they'd raised two daughters during the twenty years they were married, so there is a lot of family history between them, much of it happy. There are many nostalgic reminiscences about family celebrations, and ‘Remember Whens’.

She’s writing ‘today’, telling us anecdotes and truths as they occur to her. She moves through her life story in a linear order, but of course when she is reminded of her childhood or young married life, she stops to talk about it. She is more sophisticated and worldly, and is embarrassed sometimes by William - his clothes or his manner - which is when she thinks “Oh, William!” with fondness.

William has asked her to go with him to research his mother’s family history in Maine, because he’s discovered some shocking news, and he needs Lucy with him. They will fly together then rent a car and stay in towns along the way. It is trite to say it’s a journey of discovery, but of course, it is.

Lucy does not write as if she’s a literary author; she writes conversationally, almost embarrassed to say how foolish she was, how inexperienced, how awkward, how invisible. She is emotional and raw and very insightful – now.

She thinks it’s only in retrospect that she has some idea of what was going on. I'm inclined to think she was easy for someone (William) to measure himself against and be sure he'd come out ahead.

When William’s mother, Catherine, who features largely in the book, took them on family holidays to fancy resorts, Lucy said people lounging around the pool knew how to relax and order drinks.

“. . . how did they all know what to do? I feel invisible—as I have said—and yet in that situation I had the strangest sensation of both being invisible and yet having a spotlight on my head that said: This young woman knows nothing.”

That is something like the quotation I opened with, where she wrote about grief being like sliding down a glass building (obviously visible) but nobody sees you.

There is a time when they are driving that William reminisces about something odd he’d seen Lucy do during their marriage and how he’d laughed at her. Telling her now, he laughs again.

“I looked out the window of my side of the car, and my face became very warm.
‘You’re a strange one, Lucy,’ he said after a moment.
And that was that.”

She remembers that David loved her, admired her, was thankful they had met.

“And then he would say—every morning he said this— ‘Lucy B, Lucy B, how did we meet?
I thank God we are we.’

Never in a thousand years would he have laughed at me.
Never. For anything.”

It’s a journal, it’s a road trip, it’s a family history, it’s an exploration of one woman’s invisible life except it isn’t invisible. She’s the crucial hub for her family and her extended family. I wish Lucy would just keep adding to her letters or journal or reminiscences so I could check in with her from time to time. I do like her as a character now.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for a preview copy. This is due to be published in October. I sure hope she is working on another one - either Elizabeth Strout or Lucy Barton, that is. :)

Elizabeth Strout’s immersive, piercing stories and novels place ordinary lives under her microscope. I missed reading the first two novels concerning the life of Lucy Barton, New York author with a terrible past. “Oh William!” tells of her first husband, William, a bafflingly distant but distinctive man who, when this novel opens, has aged and seen his wife walk out, and the two former soulmates embark on a joint journey of memories and stunning family revelations. The author weaves a masterful dense tale, the human insights are profound, and an intimate, lyrical style knits it all together tightly. The storyline cannot be described as momentous, and a sense of domestic ordinariness drags some of the chapters down, but I was moved to near tears a couple of times, and came away from a fast read thoroughly wrung out. Oh William! is a minor key triumph, one that will send me backward to read the other two series’ books.

What a delight to return for a third time to the world of Lucy Barton, the central character from “My Name is Lucy Barton” and “Anything is Possible.” This time we learn more about her first husband William, who was looking after their two small daughters while Lucy was in hospital in the first book, and from whom she was divorced in the second.. Here he becomes a fully rounded person through a series of anecdotes and vignettes from his life, and we learn about his relationship with his mother and the other women in his life, and how he remains close to Lucy through all their life changes and into older age. This also adds more to the story of Lucy, who despite an upbringing of neglect, lack of love and humiliatingly grinding poverty, William wanted to marry because when he met her she was “filled with joy.” As always, Strout builds up a rich and absorbing portrayal of a series of people with all their foibles, weaknesses and opinions, with even the minor characters seen in perfect little cameos. I would love to read more about Lucy, her second husband David and her daughters, so I hope this will not be her last appearance, but she will remain both unforgettable and one of my favourite characters in literature.

I start by saying that I did not read My Name is Lucy Barton (yet). However, I feel that did not make a difference in the enjoyment of this book. When needed, the author makes small shout outs to what was written in the previous book, allowing the reader to understand everything that is going on.

Lucy Barton is our narrator, and in this book she is telling us the story of her first husband, William, and lets us see the dynamic of their relationship many years after the marriage has ended. William has several life changing events at the same time, and Lucy is there to help him through them.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the way it was written, as if we are reading a transcript of Lucy's thoughts. It is difficult to pull it off and not turn it into something that is difficult to follow and understand, so I was really impressed with this book.

Recommend to all of those that have read My Name is Lucy Barton, and to all of those who just want to read a good and insightful book.

A review in portuguese will also appear on https://peixinhodepratablog.wordpress.com/

The third book from Elizabeth Strout, while I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it did take me a while to get into it. It is an interesting and intriguing read about Lucy who is widowed, she reconnects with her ex and friends she has made.

Absolutely wonderful. Had never read Elizabeth Strout before - partly put off by the covers which I thought looked rather whimsical. My mistake as I loved it. Very much in the Richard Ford area but with more kindness and variety.

A third book about the wonderful Lucy Barton and I could not wait to read it. Once I started I could not stop and read the whole book in one afternoon.

William is Lucy's first husband and the father of her two grown up daughters. In this book she is in her sixties and has recently lost her second husband. She still has a friendly relationship with William and they tend to lean on each other in times of need. Her character is that of an author and a born story teller and Oh William! is a gorgeous rambling sequence of Lucy's memories and thoughts about her origins, her marriages and her daughters.

Elizabeth Strout is a very skilful writer and this book reads rather like a genuine memoir. Lucy is a very damaged character and it becomes clear that her desperate childhood situation affected her relationships throughout her whole life, including that with William. It was sad to see that even successfully raising two daughters and becoming a famous author did not give her a feeling of self worth.

This is not a sad book though. There are many beautiful moments and some really funny ones. The passage where Lucy tells William he looks like a dork (her word) because his trousers are too short is hilarious but there are lots of gently humorous moments too. By the end both Lucy and William have discovered many things about themselves and about the years they spent together.

This is a lovely book, a totally enjoyable read and easily worth five full stars.

I really enjoy Elizabeth Strout’s writing and the way she draws us in so deeply into character’s innermost thoughts as well as their everyday lives, which are not extraordinary. I have never warmed to Lucy the way I have with other characters, but I don’t think this is necessary to enjoy or take something positive from this book. Her writing is as flawless as ever and this makes for a good read.

This is the sequel to Lucy Barton. It is typical of Strout's style, plain prose but which somehow seems mysterious. It very much reminds me of Sally Rooney's style in that way. This tells the story of Barton, decades after the first book. She is widowed and tells the story of her ex-husband, William and his discovery of his past. This is beautifully pitched and wonderfully realised.

I love Elizabeth Strout's novels so I was very pleased that this lived up to my high expectations! There are many interweaving stories about the history of Lucy and William's relationship and they are all provided in luscious detail. Although there's a lot of detail I enjoyed this and I think it's a strength of Strout's writing.

Loved Strouts previous novels…….however this is less of a full novel and more a rambling about a previous husband. It was a very strange book. I did finish it in order to see if I’d missed the plot. Wouldn’t recommend unlike her other books.

Elizabeth Strout Oh William! Viking (Penguin Random House)2021.

Thank you, Net Galley for this uncorrected proof copy for review.

My first, but certainly not last, novel from this talented writer. I am glad to see that Lucy Barton’s story has been partially written, as here in Oh William! she appears as William’s former wife (he was her first husband) and I would like to know more of the woman who took his last name but relinquished it gladly after eleven years. Who is this woman who became William’s wife, took his name despite her friend’s interrogation, said she did not care about being a feminist, wanting so much to be free of herself, and yet, after William’s mother dies becomes Lucy Barton again? Lucy Barton for the remaining nine years of their marriage? Effected the change almost by chance when she had her driver’s license renewed? Then, took it so seriously she bothered with court documents to do so? Left William, after twenty years of marriage but grieved over their separation? Is concerned about the pain for herself and their two daughters, but remains resolutely apart?

And now, she and William are having coffee together. This is a feature of William’s life, as is the gentle morning wakening, being greeted later by his second wife, Estelle, and listening to their chatty daughter, Bridget as they breakfast together at a round table in their spacious apartment.

The story moves gently from past to present; from comical to sad; from shaded, drifting imagery to realistic, almost sharp-edged events. Almost two years ago they have met and, surprisingly on this occasion William greets Lucy’s pleasantry with a phrase that alerts her to a change in his usual self-satisfied existence. William appeals for her help in dealing with his night fears. They are located around his mother, Germany and his father, and death.

Throughout the encounter descriptions of William’s demeanour, dress, relationships with one of his daughters, and Lucy and William’s past travel to Germany meander. Or they seem to. This first description of the relationship between William and Lucy sets the pattern for the way the narrative evolves, allowing the reader into their personalities, their relationships with other characters, and with their environment. Each diversion has a point, makes an impact on the overall narrative, and contributes to the elegant layering of the story that unfolds as William and Lucy’s relationship past and present becomes clear.

Immersion in Oh William! is at times uncomfortable as slights suffered by Lucy at his hands are touched upon, then allowed to drift away. Lucy recognises the challenges but does not want to engage with them; she draws attention to her feelings but diverts herself and readers by adding another layer of the story. Immersion in Oh William! can also be an utter delight. I felt both as I read and look forward to similar experiences in Elizabeth Strout’s other novels.

A strange rambling story which made me feel as tho I was listening to the reminiscences of Lucy and William rather than reading a plotted novel. Well written as all Elizabeth Strout’s novels are, this seemed to have very little purpose.