I was so excited to read this, eagerly await anything by Elizabeth Strout. Thankfully this didn't disappoint. Strout's usual insightful writing was incredibly enjoyable.

I just couldn’t get on with Strout’s style of writing. It wasn’t a novel, more of a diary which, I’m afraid, I just found uninteresting and boring.

Maybe it’s because the author is American and I’m British that I just didn’t get it!

Lucy Barton is a very annoying woman - I just wanted to shake her! As I haven’t read any of Elizabeth Strout’s previous work, I found this book hard to get into, and it didn’t spark any great interest or sympathies with me, it was a bit of a chore to read. Undoubtedly well written, yet dare I say…boring? And rather depressing too.

A difficult book to review, the prose was well written but felt disconnected, and I struggled to engage with the story.

I think the book may have worked better for me if I'd read some of the authors previous work but coming into this as my first book, I felt like I was missing something somewhere.

Perhaps not one to read as a standalone, first introduction to the author.

I loved this book and didn't want to put it down. The development of the story was beautifully written. the characters were well developed - from previous stories - but I came with no preconceptions. Elizabeth Strout knows how to write and this is an excellent read. the book was engaging throughout.

A really enjoyable book featuring Lucy and her ex William. This book is the third in a series and I wished I knew that as I think it would have made this book more enjoyable. I am going to read those and come back to this book and see how I like it a second time around.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin General UK - Fig Tree, for the electronic copy.

This is a pleasantly light read which reflects upon and examines family relationships from the point of view of Lucy Barton. Written as if Lucy herself is confiding in the reader, it really is quite absorbing.

Lucy grew up in abject poverty and suffering parental abuse; she was isolated from the modern world and continues to be prone to anxiety attacks when she feels out of her depth. She met William at college and he became her anchor in the world - he and his mother Catherine. They had two daughters but Lucy left William after 20 years of marriage. She considers herself to be invisible; William is self-absorbed.

William's father was German and went to Maine as a prisoner of war. His grandfather left William a wealthy man, Catherine was stylish and played golf.

When William's present wife Estelle gives him an Ancestry-tracing voucher as a present, this really opens a can of worms.

All the while, William still leans on Lucy for advice and friendship. Gradually the story's conversations reveal long-held family secrets and opportunities for Lucy and William to address issues from their marriage.

Where will they end up? Oh!.............we'll just have to wait and see!

I sort of enjoyed this book although I wonder at it still. I sort of kept waiting for something to happen but I sorted out in my mind that this was just written down conversation that was more noteworthy in her personal diary. I have to admit that the endless crying by everyone was tedious and made me want to skip bits but I stayed true to the pages and got to the end and closed the last page with a certain relief. I think this will hit the mark of many people and I was intrigued by the style of writing bearing in mind that I am English and the author is American but it did nothing for me I'm afraid.

The best way I can describe this book is scattered, it's juat a bunch of scattered thoughts. I read the book and I thought.......oh, I dont know what I thought, then I thought Oh Elizabeth!

I found that writing style very irritating, stating "I thought ' then continually writing "I don't know what I thought " straight after!"

It's a different book and an easy read with a sort if storyline but not much happens. I don't think it is the kind of book for me.

I was hooked by the conversational writing style .I believe this is part of a trilogy but it read ok as a stand alone. There is a plot of sorts though slow moving and information about the relationships of characters in the book is revealed little by little. On the whole, reading this book was like an encounter with a friend or relative who lets you know what they are thinking continually . Nice for a change but I couldn't read too much of this genre
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Initially I found William rather selfish and annoying, and couldn't understand why Lucy still put up with him. But it was an interesting read and I felt I understood him a bit better by the end.

This book is completely different to anything I’ve read before and I enjoyed it much more then I was expecting too. It was a compelling book that follows Lucy as she reflects on life with her ex husband and long term friend William. The story explores family, love and loss intimately and I found it to be a lovely, easy read.

I really love Elizabeth strouts writing and this does not disappoint. It’s so beautifully done, I feel like each word just flows and before you know it you’ve finished the whole book. Oh William! Follows Lucy Barton but I can imagine this book works fine as a stand alone too. William is her first husband and they go over their lives together.

Oh Elizabeth, I love your books! Strout’s characters are so odd, her narrators so pleasantly objectionable, and Lucy Barton is no different. Oh William! is reputedly a story about her ex husband William discovering family secrets, but really it’s about Lucy and her relationships with her own emotionally and physically abusive mother and with William’s mother. William says she’s self-centred, and she is, but in Strout’s fictional worlds nobody is truly good or fully bad; everyone is complicated.

I loved the Olive Kittredge books and was looking forward to reading 'Oh William' (although I haven't read 'My Name is Lucy Barton' yet). I enjoyed the strong sense of being inside Lucy's head, privy to her thoughts as they come, with all the accompanying muddle and jumping around of real-life thoughts. The portrait of her and William's relationship felt both tender and real (flaws and all) and I'll miss being part of their lives now that I've finished reading.

Oh William continues to narrate the story of Lucy Barton and is a sequel to the novel of that name. Lucy is now a successful author and has been recently widowed. Exploring William’s past as well as his time with Lucy, the pair set off to find answers to a possible ‘scandal’ in William’s mother’s past. Narrated in deceptively simple prose, Stroud retells the story of failed relationships, the affect of death and the thorny relationship with children caught up in these events.
I was unaware that this is the third part of a trilogy and that there was a middle book, Anything is Possible, which follows other aspects of Lucy’s life. This didn’t detract at all from my enjoyment of the book but is one that I will read in the near future. Nevertheless I would highly recommend Oh William and look forward to reading more books by Elizabeth Stroud.

Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for my free e-copy,

This is the first Elizabeth Strout book that I have read and I must say I really enjoyed reading it.

Vey different style to my usual books, how its from one person and you read about every single thought of the main character Lucy and her time with ex husband - William,

Its almost a memoir style novel and revisits an old character from a previous book - although this didn't affect my enjoyment or the storyline.

I grew to love Lucy, she was funny and witty and caring. You hear her thoughts and feelings and these flit about in the book. Could start the sentence talking about one thing and end up at quite another, which I enjoyed as that's what happens in real life.

I will be looking out for more books from Elizabeth and recommending to others.

This is a sequel to a book I hadn’t read and although it worked as a stand alone novel ,it referred to events in the first book which weren’t expanded upon ,which did affect my enjoyment in some ways.It’s more a series of reminiscences rather than a sequential story,and it’s very introspective and quite sad.
Probably not my preferred style of writing.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinion.

Not realising that this was part of a series, I read 'Oh William!' as a stand alone novel which worked well, although naturally there was key information about the characters that I took longer to decipher.

Elizabeth Strout's style of writing is very unique and unlike anything I have read previously. I see the appeal and can appreciate why others would really enjoy this book, but it wasn't for me. The casual 'chatty' style is not one I enjoy and, at times, I found it to be repetitive particularly with regards to the phrases used.

I havent read My Name is Lucy Barton and didn't know this was a sequel so definitely left me in a bit of a quandary as I wasn't familiar with the characters. I wouldn't recommend it's read as a stand alone book. In terms of the writing itself though it's typically fabulous as all Elizabeth Strout books are!!! Well written, sincere and full of character. For that alone it's worth 4 stars! Thanks to Netgalley, Elizabeth Strout and the publisher for the ARC.