Lucy Barton is back! This time around, we are reunited with Lucy during the later years of her life, when she is in her sixties. Her two daughters Chrissy and Becka are both adults now and married with lives of their own, while her ex-husband William (the father of her daughters) has now moved on to marriage number three. Despite having separated decades ago, Lucy and William continue to be good friends and are always there for each other during all of life's ups and downs. This is why, when a dramatic change occurs in William's life at the same time that he discovers a long-buried secret about his mother, the first person he thinks of to call is Lucy. Together, they embark on a "journey" of sorts back to his mother's past — throughout which, in true Lucy Barton form, leads to an introspection on life, love, and family (both her own as well as her husband's).
While I loved this one overall, I have to admit that it did not have as huge of an impact on me that My Name is Lucy Barton did (for me, that book was a 5 star read all the way through!). It's hard to describe exactly — perhaps because there seemed to be more focus this time around on details about other peoples' lives and less on Lucy reflecting about her own life. Or perhaps the connected stories format from the first book as well as the shorter chapters that gave glimpses into various aspects of Lucy's life just worked better for getting the message across.
Either way though, this was definitely a worthwhile read and I absolutely enjoyed getting to reunite with Lucy, even if it was only for a short while. Between the Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge books, Elizabeth Strout has definitely solidified her status as one of my favorite authors. In addition to reading the rest of her backlist, I'm of course also interested in seeing what else Strout may have in store for us down the road. I will essentially read anything she writes at this point!
Received ARC from Random House via NetGalley.
No comments:
Post a Comment