Lucy by the Sea is Elizabeth Strout's fourth Lucy Barton novel, all of them part of what has come to be known as Strout's Amgash (Illinois) series. The earlier books in the series are My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016), Anything Is Possible (2017), and Oh, William! (2021). The Amgash books followed Strout's Olive Kitteridge, a collection of interconnected short stories that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2009, and to the joy of Olive Kitteridge fans everywhere, Olive continues to make appearances in Strout's books - including several cameos in Lucy by the Sea. In between Olive Kitteridge and the first Lucy Barton book, Strout published The Burgess Boys, my own personal favorite of her novels.
"We are all in lockdown, all the time. We just don't know it, that's all. But we do the best we can. Most of us are just trying to get through." Lucy by the Sea, Elizabeth Strout, page 287
Lucy by the Sea, set largely in 2020 is also Strout's "covid novel," as it takes a brutally honest and vividly accurate look at how life was so drastically changed (if not ended) for so many people during the height of all the government-induced paranoia of that long, long year. As the novel begins, Lucy's ex-husband William has convinced her and one of their two adult daughters that they all need to flee New York City or face the likelihood of dying there. Consequently, Lucy and William quarantine themselves in a large rented home in Maine, while their daughter does the same with her husband on property belonging to her in-laws.
The novel resolves some of the situations left open in Oh, William! over the next few months as Lucy, William, and the few people they manage to see during all the confusion (all the while, of course, socially distancing themselves and wearing masks even outdoors) adapt to the new lifestyle foisted upon the world. The novel ends on what I will call a hopeful note only after Lucy, William, and both their daughters resolve soul searching issues of their own. Now I can't wait to find out how Lucy and William are doing in the relatively post-covid world. Here's hoping this isn't the final chapter in the Lucy Barton saga.
She's another author I've been meaning to read for too many years to count now. I want to read this book, but I need to read the ones that came before it first. And I think it's interesting to see how covid affected authors--some wrote covid novels like this, while others seem to have written more escapist stories instead. I'm just glad they kept writing. :D
ReplyDeleteI do think you should read the four books in order...same with the two featuring Olive Kitteridge, because of the way she constructs them. Otherwise, some of the characters will just be "names" to you in the later books. Luckily, they are all fairly short.
DeleteYou're right about how some authors refuse/d to address covid at all, while others were hitting the subject head-on. I found this one making me angry at times, as I looked back in such viviid prose about what we all went through so unnecessarily.
I loved this book, and everything else Strout has written for that matter. So far I haven't heard any rumblings of another Lucy book, but sure hope one is in the works! Lucy by the Sea made me want to pick up The Burgess Boys for a reread. Some characters reappeared and I had a hard time remembering their story...
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, JoAnn. The Burgess Boys was the first of hers I read, and I'm pretty hazy on the details. I do remember the brothers pretty well and the big plot twist in the story, but I could easily re-read this one again myself. Keep your fingers crossed for another Lucy Barton book.
DeleteYeah I liked this novel and it seemed very relatable with regards to the pandemic. It is interesting how she mixes in characters from her other books, like Bob Burgess and she even mentions Olive in this book! As Lucy & Olive are both in Crosby, Maine! I look forward to her next installment. Here is my review of Lucy ... https://www.thecuecard.com/books/sleigh-bells-ring/
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to your review. I may have already read it, but I'm going to go back and make sure. Olive was everywhere in this one seems like, she just kept popping up in mentions there for a while. And Bob Burgess was a key part of the narrative...and was very likable in this new context. Some of the covid stuff she brought back into my mind still makes me shudder.
DeleteI read Olive Kitteridge and liked it a lot although it was not an easy read. I have the second book about Olive, but I did not realize that the Lucy Barton books had a connection to the Olive books. Very interesting. It is also good to hear that you liked The Burgess Boys; I have a copy of that one too.
ReplyDeleteI need to get started on more of Strout's books. I don't know where I will find the time to read everything that I want to.
Olive spends some time in the Lucy Barton books, but it is less and less as each goes on because Olive, in this last one, is confined to an assisted living facility of some sort now. Everything was third-hand, but she sounds like the same old Olive of her younger days in the ways that it counts. The Burgess Boys was my first of her novels, and I still remember those guys...even Bob Burgess shows up in Lucy by the Sea.
ReplyDelete