As I was reading Edgar & Lucy by Victor Lodato, I realized it’s been a while since I’ve read such an excellent book. I loved this book from the very beginning to the very end. It’s a long book that you don’t mind at all that’s it’s long, as a matter of fact, I would have gladly kept reading had there been more story to tell. But like the perfect book that it is, it ended on just the right note and left me completely fulfilled.

The title of the book refers to Edgar and his mother Lucy. Lucy is widowed and a bit wild. Edgar is a thoughtful child dealing with the ramifications of being an albino.

If I had to come with one word to describe this book it would be relationships. Every relationship is so developed, complicated and intricate like they are in real life. There is Edgar & Lucy, Edgar & Florence, Edgar & Conrad, Edgar & Jackie, Lucy & Florence, Lucy & Frank, Lucy & Ron, and even more smaller relationships. When you finish reading the book, you feel like you know these people, that they are your friends.

While your getting to know all these characters and their relationships you are surrounded by prose so moving. The writing so beautiful. When we sit out on our back porch in the summer, we face an area of woods at the back of the lawn. Sometimes when there is a breeze, all of the leaves are nodding at once. I’ve watched them and wished that I could describe it. Well, Victor Lodato did and much more beautifully than I ever could:

“The congress of leaves shivered and rolled, a voluptuous tossing that culminated in a vigorous nodding, as if all the trees agreed on something. The decision was unanimous; the answer; yes.”

This book has everything: beautiful writing, excellent characters, and a few turns of plot that I didn’t see coming at all. Excellent.

I received an ARC of this book.

3.5 From the beginning I just loved Edgar, an eight year old albino boy, the light of his grandmother Florence's eye. Their relationship is so special and tender. His young mother Lucy, scarred by her past and the traumatic death of her husband is not much of a mother and is very self centered. Things will change quickly for our little group and the reader is taken on what is at times an intense emotional journey.

It is a journey in other ways as well, as we learn the back stories of our characters, what made them whom they are now, and why they act the way they do. The characterizations are amazingly thorough and we watch as the present circumstances propel them to change, gain understanding. The first part of the book has a great deal of welcome humor and the pace moves quickly. In the second to last section, I felt this changed, the pace slowed and I think some of the scenes added little to the story and served to slow the pace. There are quite a few sexual scenes and graphic language is sometimes a factor. I didn't like Lucy in the beginning, felt sorry for her when I learned her story but it wasn't until the end that I embraced her as a character. I loved the Butcher who will play an integral part in the positive change that will eventually envelop our characters. I did feel, that Edgar at age eight acted more grownup then most of the adult people in his life.

The ending was wonderful, an emotional relief after the roller coaster of our journey and the last chapter is perfect. Think this is a book to enter into with the mindset that while at times the reading is difficult, it is the journey that matters. If you take little Edgar into your heart you will want to know how he fares after everything he goes through. I did.

ARC from Netgalley.

Brilliant and richly–layered, dealing with the tragedy of mental illness and the complications of love.

The burden of grief for a mother losing her son, a wife losing her husband, a son losing his father he hardly remembers, a father losing a son through horrible circumstances. Then the loss of a grandmother. This is a hauntingly intense story of family dysfunction and mental illness and most of all love. It's edgy and sometimes eerie with moments of horror but hope, moments where you will laugh and cry, and characters I loved and hated at the same time . I have an affinity to young narrators or when the narrative point of view reflects what is going on in those young minds, how they interpret what they see and feel . So it was easy to fall for Edgar Allan Fini, eight years old - albino and borderline autistic . He lives with his mother Lucy, who's not exactly the model of motherhood to put it mildly and his grandmother, Florence who cares for Edgar when his mother could not, who finds solace in the loving care of Edgar.

I was captivated by the narratives of these three characters and through their perspectives on themselves and each other, their stories and that of deceased Frank unfold. Into their lives comes the Butcher, who I liked a lot and Conrad, the ominous bearded man in the green truck. I'm finding it difficult to say more about the plot without giving anything way so I won't give any more details. The writing is wonderful but it's a long book . I may have given it five stars but there were times towards the end that I felt it was a bit drawn out. I was left feeling somewhat ambivalent about what happens to Edgar but this is not in any way a criticism of the novel. I think we are meant to feel this way. Definitely recommended but hold on to your seat because like me you might want to climb inside this book and rescue Edgar.

This was a buddy read with my two very good Goodreads friends, Diane and Esil. Thanks again for a great discussion and your much appreciated thoughts on this.


I received an advance copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.

Edgar and Lucy, what can I say? I loved the writing. I loved the beginning. I loved Edgar and his grandmother Florence. I was heading to an enthusiastic 5 stars, and then you floundered a bit, and then you got solidly back on track at the end. So I've landed on a sincere 4 star rating. Spoilers are a real risk here, so here is an attempt at a few non-spoilery thoughts:
-The book opens with 8 year old albino Edgar, who lives with his grandmother Florence and mother Lucy. The story goes back in time, as we find out how the three came to live together. Then the story moves forward as we find out what happens in the next few months.
-The story is told primarily from Edgar's point of view, although other points of view are regularly mixed in. Edgar is exceptionally sensitive and precocious, but he doesn't always see things for what they are. I loved his perspective -- the mix of insight and mistaken understanding. Other characters are also mired in their own deep subjectivity.
-Lodato has some awesome writing skills. He gets right into his characters' heads, showing us the twists and turns of their complex thoughts and feelings. He pulls off combining extremes of heartbreak and humour. He throws in some tinges of surreality that worked really well.
-But around two thirds in, these strong skills got away from him. Some of the humour started feeling silly. And the sources of heartbreak got a bit too tangled. It started to feel like a bit too much of a good thing.
-But Lodaro pulled it together and redeemed himself in the end. And overall, I remain so impressed by his writing, storytelling and emotional deftness.
Highly recommended for readers who can weather some rough patches. I would love to read Lodato's next book to see what he does next. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy. And thanks to Diane and Angela for another excellent buddy read.

loved the line "Having a life meant having a story." This is just one line from such an excellent book. As an albino, Edgar lives with his mother and paternal grandparents, we are not sure what happened to his father... He needs attention, but with his mother out of the house a lot, he turns to his grandmother, Florence. All of these characters are very well developed and they all need attention and love so much. Poignant and sensitive, I recommend this book for its writing and character development.

By VICKI ROCK
“Edgar and Lucy” by Victor Lodato, St. Martin’s Press, 544 pages, $27.
Eight-year-old Edgar Fini remembers nothing of the accident that killed his father. He and his mother, Lucy, live with his paternal grandparents, Florence and Pio. Edgar was born with albinism.
His grandmother dotes on him. He doesn’t have friends his own age.
This family is failing to deal with the grief. When Florence dies, Lucy just wants to find another man. Lucy is an alcoholic. Then Edgar is kidnapped.
These are excellent characters, but it is a very dark tale. There is a lot of foul language.

First I would like to thank you for providing me a copy of this novel in exchange for a review.

I have to be honest and say that I can't remember the last time I couldn't finish a book but unfortunately after getting through about 25 percent of this book I couldn't get any further.

This book is quite long, over 500 pages, and even though I found the writing itself to be wonderfully descriptive and eloquent, the characterization for me fell flat. I not only couldn't connect with the characters I didn't like the characters. The mother is neglectful and selfish, and the grandmother who genuinely cares about Edgar has a strange, almost compulsive relationship with the boy.

I am not going to harm the overall rating for this novel by giving it low stars as I do believe that some people will love this book even though I didn't and the thought of reading another 300+ pages of it seemed just a little too daunting and depressing.

An emotional read regarding being an outcast, dealing with a journey into madness and learning about family secrets that come to the surface. Don't all lies at some point?

Synopsis
Edgar and Lucy is a page-turning literary masterpiece—a stunning examination of family love and betrayal.
Eight-year-old Edgar Fini remembers nothing of the accident people still whisper about. He only knows that his father is gone, his mother has a limp, and his grandmother believes in ghosts. When Edgar meets a man with his own tragic story, the boy begins a journey into a secret wilderness where nothing is clear—not even the line between the living and the dead. In order to save her son, Lucy has no choice but to confront the demons of her past

Review

EDGAR AND LUCY will definitely be among my very favorite novel of 2017.
Throughout 544 pages I enjoyed each chapter, never felt slowed down. The characters jumped of the page, became intimate, real.
I will be anticipating other reader's feelings, not everyone will agree with Edgar's decisions. I for one chose to understand how emotions, under certain circumstances, can lead one to trust another humanbeign, perhaps wrongly so...
This is an extraordinary novel. A story of deceit, trust, possessiveness, grief, misunderstanding and love, with characters I will not soon forget.
I want to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this advance copy

4.5 Stars rounded up

Having a life meant having a story. Even at eight, Edgar knew this. What he didn’t know was his own beginning. Newborn brains were mushy. If you wanted to know how your life had started, you had to get this information from other people. But what if these people were liars?

Edgar was born with albinism, giving him what some referred to as an angelic appearance along with his slight build, and with his white hair on the longer side. As a result, some of the larger, older boys pick on him.

As this story begins, Edgar is eight years old, and lives with his mother, Lucy, and his paternal grandparents, Florence and Pio. He’s lived there all his life with them. Once upon a time when he was just a baby, his father lived there, too.

…he knew—but only vaguely, a borrowed memory—that his father had died on a bridge. But that was a long time ago, before Edgar had yet to utter his first word. And so, to the boy, the father remained in the lump and shadow of a half-lived dream. His father was something at the edge of things, but he wasn’t a person, exactly.

Edgar was given the name Edgar Allan Fini at the insistence of his father. He is closest to his grandmother, Florence, she dotes on him, he doesn’t have any real friends his own age, really, he knows all the people his grandmother knows, the shops and the shopkeepers, the people at the cemetery where they go to place flowers and pray. He loves his mother, but Lucy is rarely around him between her job and her desire for the attention of men, she’s often out of the house, and Edgar resents this. As much as he resents her “dates,” he longs for that attention. As dependent as he is on his grandmother--which she encourages--she also needs Edgar. It would be easy to label her promiscuous or a bad mother, but Lodato also portrays her as another wounded soul, immersed in the grief and confusion that seems to have always been a part of her life.

Lodato has created some very flawed, quirky and believable characters that Lodato develops slowly and naturally. I really enjoyed the majority of this book a great deal, but it took me a little while to fully connect with it. I still enjoyed it, though from the beginning, but it felt more as though it was setting the stage for more. After that, I was fully engaged and had a hard time putting it down. While the story has some dark moments, there are also some charming ones. There are even some gorgeous descriptions of the landscape of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, and their legends included, which I loved. And, I have to say, there’s some very lovely prose.

An emotional read about life, love, mystery and madness.

Recommended.

Pub Date: 07 Mar 2017


Many thanks for the ARC provided by St. Martin’s Press!

At the beginning of this novel, I could not connect to the characters. But as the book developed, so did the interesting and fragile creatures that are Edgar and Lucy. By the middle of the novel, I felt like I had known this family my whole life, and shared their strife and heartache. Brilliant, heartbreaking tales of mental illness, grief, and of the true power of love that withstands life and death. A novel about family that encompasses the true idea that a family is not just born of blood, but of experience and shared trauma. Lodato produced a winner here, would love for more from him.

This book. Oh my. While it is early in the year, I am certain this will be one of my favorite books of 2017, one of my favorites of all time, and I will be on the lookout for more by Victor Lodato (genius)

The first third of book entranced me with its beautiful writing and unnerving depiction of ordinary lives. After I set the book down, the characters moved with me throughout my day in a pleasant way. Then, the book grabbed me by the heart. For each of the characters, an innocent yes was said that resulted in a life not imagined. A life that trapped them into being a person they were not. But like a prisoner, they did what they had to do to get through the day. And as with real life, just when I thought things were going to be wrapped up neatly, the unthinkable takes place.

A stunning book, beautifully written, quietly sad, it will stay with me for a long, long time.

This book has lots of symbolism entwined within the story of a family seen through the prism of time. These are the main characters: alcoholic mother; schizophrenic, suicidal father; loving grandmother; clinically depressed kidnapper; and an albino eight year old child with a very old soul. Doesn't sound very uplifting, does it? But...it's better than you may think. The writing is superb, and even though long, I wasn't tempted to skim through it as is sometimes my habit. If you're willing to make the commitment in what is a difficult read, it's worth the effort.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. When I started, I had several pretenses wrong, but I did enjoy it immensely. One, I thought Edgar and Lucy were a couple. Two, I had no idea it was 5hundred something pages which according to my Kindle told me I would be with this story for at least 10 hours. Three, I thought Conrad was a bad man (which he was) thinking molester.

While I did spend ten hours with this story, I was surprised when I finished that I did not want to let this family go. The characters were so believable and as such, I quickly became attached. Edgar was so strange and yet so lovable. His thoughts were so different for any normal child his age. When he was being picked on, half the time he didn't even understand what was going on. So there was the pity that I felt for him. Other times, his thoughts were so mature and wise, that I loved his intelligence and his ability to see things other could not.

There were a lot of quirkly characters in this book. Some I felt for and some I felt a lot for. Thank goodness Edgar had his Grandmother as Lucy had spiraled out of control. However, I'm not sure how I would have handled myself either in her situation. Frank did a number on her.

This was absolutely an awesome read and one that I will not soon forget. Edgar is definitely going to be with me for a very long time. His innocence, intelligence and kindness are attributes you just don't see in many children today. Mr. Lodato did a wonderful job in creating Edgar and Lucy and I am thankful and ecstatic that I was able to read his creation.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I read Victor's first book Mathilda Savitch and was in love with how dark and melancholy it was... and this one is much like it as far as tone goes but is much meatier. The book is LOOOOOOONG but the writing is fantastic and was easy to read and process. It's about young 8 year old Edgar who is an albino and he's small and frail and he lives with his mother and his grandmother. His dad, Frank is dead after committing suicide when Edgar was just a baby and his mother Lucy is coping by drinking and being promiscuous. The grandmother Florence is the main caretaker and then she passes on and then something happens which almost made me roll my eyes but the author knew exactly what he was doing. I loved the pace of the book, how it went in a certain direction and then brought you into the past and it all ties together. Why happened to Edgar? Why is Lucy the way she is (hint: dysfunctional family!) Will the man do the right thing? it's a mystery it's drama it's a very good story.

I liked the story outline, but I truly struggled, slightly bored when I started reading the book.
It was descriptive and well developed, but moved too slowly with minute details for me personally.
At the last 1/4 of the book I sat up and was reading with baited breath! It was fabulous!
The ending was not as satisfying as I would have liked. I would have liked to have known more about life after the kid napping and would have bought a 2nd book to read that!

I found this slow-reading, but it is certainly a poignant portrayal of mother/son relationship and the external strains on it and the characters themselves.