I loved this book. Every word of it. It was the first book in a long time that I could not put down. Lucy is a woman of practicality and honesty. She sees herself as she is. Also I feel like I have gone through this time in her life with her. The pandemic. Aging. Her daughter’s trials. Losing friends and lovers. I am nearly her age.
“It is a gift in this life that we do not know what awaits us.”-Lucy Barton
#NetGalley #LucybytheSea #ElizabethStrout

Lucy by the Sea is Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout’s latest entry in the Lucy Barton Amagash series after last year’s phenomenal Booker nominee Oh William! It’s a stand-alone novel, but I recommend reading My Name is Lucy Barton, Anything is Possible, and Oh William! to fully understand the characters in this character-driven novel.

It’s March 2020, and Lucy’s ex-husband William, a scientist, feels that the new virus will be serious, so he begs Lucy to leave New York City. His friend Bob Burgess, who was a marvelous character in Strout’s 2013 The Burgess Boys, returns and offers Willam an empty home on the ocean in Burgess’s rural Maine village. Lucy doesn’t think they’ll be gone long and she packs only a small suitcase and doesn’t plan to take her laptop. William insists that acclaimed author Lucy needs her laptop, but she doesn’t see the need and William takes it. Later, that proves important to her story. Their fourteen-day quarantine grows longer and Lucy can’t stand the cold, the lack of green vegetation (having left New York when daffodils were beginning to bloom), and the isolation of having no one but William and occasionally Bob Burgess to talk with outside in the wind and cold. Lucy grew up in deep poverty and being cold is both a physical and an emotional deprivation that wounds her. As the weather improves, she begins walking more and also volunteers at a local outdoor food pantry where she begins to meet some of the townspeople.

As I read Lucy’s ruminations, I felt she was recreating what was inside my head and heart, especially in that first year of the pandemic. She perfectly captured the feelings so many of us had when we couldn’t concentrate, were afraid for our children, suffered from an inability to sleep or relax, and had difficulties understanding how those who didn’t share our opinions were acting. That she also captured some of the coping mechanisms we used, makes this novel a gift instead of a lament.

When Lucy realizes how much many of the townspeople resent those who’ve decamped there from cities, she begins to understand the deep divide our country was experiencing. Because she received a scholarship and attended college unlike the rest of her family and most of those in her hometown, she understood that she now had the means to live safely by the sea while others were losing their jobs or dying.

When rioters breached the Capitol on January 6, 2020, Lucy pondered,
“What if all the jobs I had taken in my life were not enough to really make a living, what if I felt looked down upon all the time by the wealthier people in this country, who made fun of me and my religion and guns. I did not have religion and I did not have guns, but suddenly I felt that I saw what these people were feeling; they were like my sister Vicky, and I understood them. They had been made to feel poorly about themselves, they were looked at with disdain, and they could no longer stand it.”

While volunteering at the food pantry, Lucy became friends with Charlene, a younger woman who worked as an apartment cleaner. She began walking with her occasionally. Several months later, Lucy and Charlene were sitting outside and Charlene said, “I’m not going to work at the food pantry anymore.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Well,” she tugged her coat closer to her and said, “When the vaccines come out—and they’re coming—I’m not going to get one, and so I won’t be able to work there.”

“They told you that?”

“Yup.” Charlene picked at one eye with a gloved hand.

I almost said, why won’t you get a vaccine? But I did not say that, and she did not tell me why.

“I’m sorry,” I said, and she said, “Thanks.”

We sat there in the quiet, and then she said, “Well, let’s get walking.”

Lucy by the Sea is a book with themes and lessons that keep nudging my soul telling me to be quiet and listen without trying to fix or explain. It’s a novel I read in less than a day. I plan to return to explore it often.

Summing it Up: Read Lucy by the Sea to explore the Covid world we all encountered. Fall into it to ruminate on what most of us have yet to fathom about how we changed, stagnated, became embittered, worried, and learned or didn’t learn to accept that our world was a different place. Experience the depth and humanity of the brilliant characters Elizabeth Strout creates and be grateful to live when those characters periodically reappear in fresh new novels to entertain and comfort us.

Rating: Five Stars

Publication Date: September 20, 2022

Category: Fiction, Five Stars, Gourmet, Grandma’s Pot Roast, Book Club

Author Website: https://www.elizabethstrout.com/

Read an Excerpt: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/706911/lucy-by-the-sea-by-elizabeth-strout/

What Others are Saying:

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/elizabeth-strout/lucy-by-the-sea/

The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/books/review/lucy-by-the-sea-lucy-barton.html

Publishers Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780593446065

Star Tribune: https://www.startribune.com/review-lucy-by-the-sea-by-elizabeth-strout/600207451/

LUCY BY THE SEA is the fourth book in the Lucy Barton/Amgash series. I’ve read eight of Elizabeth Strout’s nine novels/short story collections, and I think LUCY BY THE SEA is my very favorite.

The newest Strout follows Lucy’s story from OH, WILLIAM! and explores her life during the pandemic. I wondered if it was too soon to read a story centered around 2020. I’m not sure why the story worked for me — either hearing it in Lucy’s familiar and gentle voice, getting lost in Strout’s prose, or revisiting old characters from all of Strout’s previous novels — but reading this felt so cathartic. I think the events from the last few years can still hold an isolating power over us, but Lucy (or Strout) reminds us that we are connected in our humanity.

“I have come to notice this in life. You can become bigger or bitter, this is what I think. And as a result of that pain, I became bigger.”

I’m so grateful for the early e-book galley. I will now have to purchase a copy for my shelves.

Elizabeth Strout is one of my favourite writers and Lucy by the Sea does not disappoint. One of these days I'll reread all the Lucy and William novels so that I can better appreciate the complexity of the timelines, but for now I'll just enjoy them as they come.

Elizabeth Strout has written another winner in Lucy by the Sea. The characters are a continuation of “Oh William”. The setting begins in NYC with the Pandemic and what it was like to live in NY during these tumultuous times. Early in the book, William gets Lucy to leave NY and go with him to Maine. Most of the book is about Lucy’s thoughts and observations surrounding the pandemic…the exact same things we were all living and thinking, but she brilliantly puts it down on paper. There were times I laughed out loud, and other times I teared up. The middle of the book was a surprise; I won’t spoil it for you. Of course there was a good part of the end of the book about her two daughters. Very quick and enjoyable read.

OK, yeah, I'm going to be one of the few reviewers here who really didn't like this book. Lucy's negativity really grated on me. Instead of seeming real and honest and truthful, she just came across as ungrateful and bitchy. I get that part of Lucy's charm is her cranky nature, but it didn't take long before I simply wanted to slap her silly. She was just too much this time. I struggled with the "casualness" of the writing - I'm usually okay with a more conversational style but this one was just too simple, too jumpy, and too rough for my taste. I don't need pretentious, but I do need clear sentence and paragraph structure. Finally, and most important, the multiple political references completely ruined it for me. I knew Covid was a theme in this book, and I was prepared to cut it some slack for that, since I went into the book knowing that. But it wasn't just Covid. It was over-the-top, freaked-out-about-breathing-within-3-blocks-of-someone-else, shower-in-scalding-water-after-coming-home Covid. It was George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, The Election, and The Capitol Riots. All within 300 pages. I don't care to hear the opinions of people I know when it comes to these subjects. I certainly don't want to hear it from a book character.

I find books by Elizabeth Strout to be both beautiful and deeply moving, and this one is no exception. I’m not sure how she does it. It seems almost magical, maybe the way an Olympic athlete makes incredible feats seem effortless. Also, I feel as though I’m somehow a better person after reading her books, and the effects linger for months.
In this book, Lucy moves from New York City to Maine to escape the Covid pandemic. She is taken by her ex-husband, William, who, early on, sees how serious the situation is, and insists she move to Maine with him immediately.
It’s September of 2022 as I write this, and the past two and a half years of living through the pandemic has been challenging on many levels. Reading about how Lucy deals with all of this was comforting and reassuring. I related so well to her shock, her confusion, her losses, her fears, her loneliness, her impatience, and finally, her partial acceptance of this new “normal”. Reading this helped me process the trauma of the last two years. I highly recommend this as a very enjoyable read, but also as a way to gain a new perspective on the pandemic, and possibly be comforted.

Thanks #NetGalley @RandomHouse @PenguinRandom for a complimentary e ARC of #LucyByTheSea upon my request. All opinions are my own.

The fourth in the Lucy Barton series finds Lucy coaxed into a life of isolation in coastal Maine by her ex-husband, William, during the pandemic lockdown of 2020. As Lucy and William face long, quiet days in forced proximity, they rekindle their friendship and put a voice to their fears, anxieties, and shortcomings.

I hadn’t planned on reading books in the Lucy Barton series because Strout’s style of story telling which is heavily character-driven and melancholy with almost no plot is not my favorite. However, as I continued to see good reviews roll in for Lucy by the Sea, FOMO gripped me and I decided to take a chance. Most of the reviews, though, stressed the importance of reading Oh William! first to better appreciate Lucy by the Sea. I did read Oh William! and even though Strout is a brilliant writer, it was as sad and depressing as I expected. In addition, I didn’t appreciate the (religious) profanity. It earned 3 Stars from me and I haven’t reviewed it. I will say that the background provided in Oh William! did enhance my reading experience of Lucy by the Sea.

Elizabeth Strout is a master of characterization, and I admit that I grew to like Lucy. She’s more resilient and stronger than she knows. I can especially relate to her worries about her adult children. In my opinion, William is unlikable and unreliable even though he shows some sweetness towards Lucy and has mellowed in his older age. That being said, I think Strout’s subtlety in constructing their complex relationship, the multilayered depth of characterization, and the obvious love she has for her characters is all admirable.

Even though Lucy by the Sea is still a melancholy story, I did make connections with some of the content. Although recounting the early days of the pandemic is a bit boring, it was relatable and I can remember feeling and thinking some similar thoughts. One interesting thought that Lucy has is that she has always felt isolated and on the outside looking in. The isolation of the pandemic wasn’t a new feeling for her. I remember thinking that the lockdowns weren’t that bad for me either. I was retired and didn’t have the stress of working from home or losing my job. I’d happily stay home and read every day, all day! When I grew stir crazy, I just took a drive, ordered something from a drive through (wearing a mask and wiping everything down!), and sat in the parking lot reading for an hour. Aside from not getting together for family parties and other celebrations, I didn’t feel that deprived.

I also appreciated that there was less (religious) profanity in Lucy by the Sea than in Oh William. This significantly bettered my reading experience.

In addition to the pandemic, Strout touches on various events that turned political in the last couple of years. It’s not overly opinionated, but she does mention certain events.

Strout included a tiny bit of plot in this story. William convinces Lucy they need to leave NYC in the early weeks of the pandemic. Lucy has parental anxiety and control issues. This causes some angst between Lucy and her daughters. Lucy and William are learning how to be better friends with each other (forced proximity trope)….could it rekindle their relationship? In addition to outward action, Lucy spends a great deal of time reflecting and experiences some internal growth by story’s end.

(May contain spoilers) One element in stories I’m not particularly fond of is open-ended conclusions. I don’t need the story tied up in a bow, but I need a satisfactory conclusion that doesn’t leave me guessing. All I want to say about this is that I don’t think I trust William as much as Lucy does. (no spoilers!). Maybe she’s planning another installment in the Lucy Barton series.

Thought-provoking themes include love, loss, depression, hope, isolation, regret, anxiety, trust, friendship, poverty, childhood memories, friendship, aging, and enduring love.

I’m definitely recommending Lucy by the Sea for fans of Elizabeth Strout and the Lucy Barton series. Some readers might not want to read this much about the pandemic (especially if you have lost a loved one or friend). I can certainly recommend Lucy by the Sea for fans of well-written and reflective (melancholy) literary fiction. Strout makes ordinary characters memorable and the minutia of daily life somewhat interesting.

Content Consideration: pandemic, death as a result of Covid-19, infertility, loss of a pregnancy, infidelity, language

I received a free electronic copy of this timely novel from Netgalley, Elizabeth Strout, and Random House Publishers. I have read Lucy by the Sea, number 4 in the Series Amgash, of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.

Our look into the lives of William and Lucy Barton begins on day one of the United States' reactions to the worldwide Covid pandemic, the search for vaccines, the oscillating rumors of always fatal to no worse than a bad cold, the actions of the highest office in our land that added to the failure to make an honest stab at controlling the infections.

We see the pandemic through the eyes of Lucy Barton in stream-of-consciousness first-person snippets, creating a remarkable picture of how it was-is in our world even today. Elizabeth Strout always brings us a grand story. Lucy by the Sea is no exception.

OH, how I love Lucy.

This is the fourth book in the Lucy Barton book series. I have only read the third (Oh, William!) which I enjoyed and now the fourth instalment, Lucy by the Sea which I LOVED.

The book tells the story of what happens when a divorced couple, Lucy and William, are locked together during a raging pandemic. Is touching and heartfelt and full of lessons.

Strout's writing is simple but effective and gives you a look into the head of Lucy Barton. During this novel, Barton is navigating the challenges and isolation that came along with the COVID pandemic, lockdown and a time of political upheaval and societal division in the United States while worrying about her daughters, exploring the relationship with her ex-husband William and grieving the loss of her recently deceased husband David.

I love how you get the perspective of a 70-something woman looking back on how her life has unfolded to date: the mistakes, learnings, anxieties, lessons. This book especially showcases her empathy for others. Her love for her family. Her angst and comforts.I simply adored this book.

The only thing that I didn't like about it was that I hadn't read the first two.You can absolutely read this as a stand alone novel; but I feel that one may appreciate the story more with all of the background perspective. I will definitely go back and read the first two books.

Thank you to @randomhousepublishinggroup and @netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lucy by Sea is a very different book than I normally read. It is slow paced and the reader gets continual thoughts and opinions of the main character, Lucy. I had a hard time wanting to pick up this book after I'd put it down. I never felt strongly about the characters or very connected to them it all seemed vague to me.

This is the seventh book that I have read by this author. As I was reading this book,, I felt as though I was visiting with a friend, catching up on her life and struggles.
Her prose is crisp, concise and always thought provoking. I look forward to reading her backlist and any future novels.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the pleasure of reading and reviewing this digital ARC.

Lucy Barton is our main protagonist who must go to a house in Maine with her ex-husband and friend due to isolation and a virus that spreads across the country.

All these years I tried to avoid books about the pandemic, so it was my first book about it. I was shocked, and this book awakened in me all the feelings of anxiety that I experienced at the beginning of the pandemic when no one knew anything. I can say that I will continue to avoid books about the pandemic. As the story progresses, we learn more about the daughters of the main character and about their lives; the author skillfully described all these feelings. We see the inner world of the main character as she experiences these events, it's hard. Most of the book takes place in the head of the main character in her feelings, emotions, memories. I liked the author's language, the fact that she seems to be talking with you in the same room, she tells this story, but still this book is not for me.

I can recommend this book if you want to read about the pandemic or really love the main character because this is not the first book about Lucy Barton.

#NetGalley #LucybytheSea

Lucy by the Sea is a novel filled with problems, but reading it is comforting. Elizabeth Strout is an amazing author and her characters will become your friends. Lucy is a familiar face in Strout's stories as is William, her ex-husband. Living together again to quarantine during COVID seems a likely scenario as they are both alone. Or is romance in the air? Strout's beautiful writing makes the couple's dull days fascinating, not monotonous. Like all parents Lucy and William encounter problems with their children and worry about them constantly. Much of their anxiety is warranted. Everyone should read Lucy by the Sea and all of Strout's novels. Her novels allow her readers to understand more about themselves.

Lucy by the Sea will take you back to a time when people where hunkering down during the pandemic. Elizabeth Strout is a master storyteller at weaving a tale that will draw the reader into the story. I highly recommend this book.

I’m not really sure how to describe this book. Boring, seemingly pointless, and very odd are the descriptive words that come to mind. Lucy is frisked away from her New York apartment to small town Maine at the start of the pandemic. From there we are basically privy to what seems to be her daily diary for the next year. Grab you yet? Me neither. Not to mention the fact that re-living the worst part of the pandemic is not exactly a great enticement. Too soon perhaps.

In any event I appreciated the opportunity to read this book as offered through Net Galley. This is an award winning author so maybe I’m way off base, but I just didn’t get this one.

When Lucy is urged by her ex-husband William to flea New York for the Costa Maine she feels he is being an alarmist but once they settle in and see the tragic stories of Covid victims and she loses a good friend to the disease she becomes more than aware of the seriousness. She really doesn’t like the place the living and it seems some of the people there don’t like them either. They even go as far as to change their license plate from New York to Maine license plates so hopefully they will not be accosted by the locals anymore she is doing her best to get by and get through it but as time goes by and family problems arise with her daughter Lucy starts the wonder if she’ll ever see New York again. I know a lot of people said they liked this book and it is a part of a series I haven’t heard of before but I don’t think you have to read the series to get what’s happening in the book. I found the book read like a long letter from a friend or a relative and the narration was more style of communication as opposed to storytelling I can’t say I overwhelmingly love this book but I did read the whole thing And it was interesting enough but I see that a lot of people love this book and you may love it I thought it was intriguing enough to read until the end if that says anything about the book Berean it wasn’t boring it just wasn’t intriguing or a page turner if you know what I mean. I’ve received this book from net galley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

The first book of this series, My Name is Lucy Barton, was such a surprising pleasant reading experience. Since then, I look forward to reading each book of the Lucy Barton series. I read them as “journals” by the main character where she is brutally honest and very introspective, rather than a memoir that others will read where she needs to put her best foot forward. Instead of thinking of Lucy as whiny or repetitive or judgmental, I think of her as an author who is just writing down her thoughts as they come to her and is self-aware that she is all of those things. This latest book in the series takes place a few months after Oh, William! just as the pandemic begins. I highly recommend reading that book first to set up the relationship Lucy has with her ex-husband William and their children. I love how many of the story arcs are continued, how realistically she writes the pandemic isolation, and how she better navigates some of her relationships.
I have been so fortunate to have Random House send me each of the Lucy Barton books for early review. This book publishes on September 20th. And I highly recommend it to readers of Strout’s previous novels and to those who are looking for a book with an older honest main character.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Emani Glee at Random House, and Elizabeth Strout for an ARC of this book!**

"...This had often broken my heart, to realize that you never know the last time you pick up a child. Maybe you say "Oh, honey, you're getting too big to be picked up" or something like that. But then you never pick them up again.

And living with this pandemic was like that. You did not know."

The insightful, wise, unique and poignant woman we know and love as Lucy Barton is back in the fourth installment of the Amgash series...and this time, COVID-19 has created one giant knot in the tangled threads of her life. When the pandemic gets serious, Lucy is encouraged by her ex-husband William to leave her cozy NYC apartment behind and join him in a cottage in Maine. '

Of course, this is a pandemic...and isolation comes with the territory. And Lucy is now isolated with the ONE man who has troubled her mind for so many years. Add to this her worry about her daughters, interactions with new friends that leave her even more confused about her place in the world, and fears for her own mortality, and her mental plate is BEYOND full. Has the pandemic brought these former flames together for a reason...and when the dust settles, where will their relationship stand? Will Lucy's family and friends all live to breathe just one more day? And WHY does Lucy herself feel so...off?

After a few other experiences hit a LITTLE too close to home (and the pain we all have lived and are living through) during the pandemic, I had essentially sworn off of COVID and pandemic related books...until I was offered the opportunity to read this one. There's something about Lucy that makes you feel as though you've known her forever, and could easily sit in a chair on a porch, listening to her regale you with stories from all different times in her life. She speaks with an air of wisdom, but also with the relentless curiosity that ALL the best writers possess, and her reflections on the pandemic and the cultural climate that ensued were on point. I always enjoy hearing the thoughts that amble gently through Lucy's mind.

My enjoyment of Lucy as a narrator aside, It was still hard to read this book at times because so much of it is TRULY tied to COVID, and other than Lucy's reflections on the past, the pandemic talk and circumstance takes up much of the narrative, so if it's 'too soon' for you to dive in, I would recommend instead jumping into this story in a few years (I hope!) or whenever it feels emotionally accessible for you.

Still late to the Lucy Barton game, I jumped into this series with Oh, William and feel that that installment gave me sufficient basis for background where William was concerned. However, I felt the lack of background knowledge more keenly in this read, since Strout makes mention of other characters (including some references to Olive Kitteridge, another character I know only by name), so perhaps I would have gotten even more out of this book if I'd read those selections from her back catalog as well as the first two Lucy books (which I sadly still have not gotten to yet!)

I also appreciate that the Lucy books are on the shorter side and Strout inserts lots of breaks and pauses throughout. Why is this important? This structure is essential because it keeps the text from feeling TOO stream-of-consciousness or hard to follow, and it also compels you to read just a little bit more. As sad as the subject matter was overall, I felt Strout handled it with the same honesty and frankness that I adore in Lucy, and the ending was sprinkled with the perfect amount of hope we could all use without feeling too sappy or conclusive.

I'm not sure if the stage is set for a book 5, or if this is Lucy's curtain call...but either way, have your roses ready...and a box of tissues or two. When it comes to Lucy by the Sea, there won't be a dry eye in the house.

4 stars

I have somehow never read a novel by Elizabeth Strout before, but I’ve always heard wonderful things. I also didn’t realize that there were other books based on Lucy’s story before this book, but I think this still does really well as a stand-alone novel. The writing was incredibly sharp and smart and I just loved this book! It was a little hard to read a book set in the height of the COVID pandemic, especially because the characters and their story felt so real, but this is still a fantastic read. I look forward to reading more from Elizabeth Strout!