4 Stars
I feel like I’ve just attended the most wonderful reunion in Crosby, Maine, with Elizabeth Strout’s family of characters (Bob Burgess, Lucy Barton, and Olive Kitteridge).
Bob is at the centre of this novel. He meets regularly with Lucy with whom he shares a deep friendship; in their conversations they share their fears, regrets, and hopes. He introduces Lucy to 90-year-old Olive and the two meet regularly, exchanging stories about ordinary people’s “unrecorded lives.” Then when a woman is found murdered, Bob, though he is semi-retired from his career as a lawyer, agrees to defend Matt Beach, the lonely and isolated man suspected of killing his mother. And of course Bob has to contend with the complications in the lives of his family members: his wife Margaret, his brother Jim and his family, and his ex-wife Pam.
The characters in Strout’s novels are so authentic: flawed and complicated and sometimes contradictory. Olive for instance, continues to be abrasive and judgmental though we also see that she can be caring and compassionate. Lucy can be patient and accepting but also dismissive of people and fears she may be arrogant. And Bob . . . well, it’s impossible not to like Bob. He’s sensitive, humble, generous, and compassionate. Lucy calls him a sin-eater: “’you absorb things, Bob. . . . I see you around town and everyone who has a problem seems to come to you.’” He listens to everyone and never abandons anyone, though he admits to being emotionally exhausted. He is not perfect, however, becoming irritated with and angry at people.
The book is a reflection on the complexity of relationships. For instance, we see Bob’s relationships with Margaret, Jim, Pam, and Matt; Lucy’s relationships with her husband William, Bob, Olive, and her daughters; Matt’s relationship with his mother; Jim’s relationship with his son Larry; and Olive’s relationship with her friend Isabelle. None of these connections is perfect but everyone tries to make and maintain meaningful connections that help sustain them. Lucy and Olive tell each other stories about other people, ordinary people whose stories are not recorded, “’stories of loneliness and love . . . And the small connections we make in this world if we are lucky.’” The overriding message is that all lives matter and “’Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love. If it is love, then it is love.’”
Another theme, like in other of Strout’s novels, is our inability to really know anyone. Lucy says, “’My point is that every person on this earth is so complicated. Bob, we’re all so complicated, and we match up for a moment – or maybe a lifetime – with somebody because we feel that we are connected to them. And we are. But we’re not in a certain way, because nobody can go into the crevices of another’s mind, even the person can’t go into the crevices of their own mind, and we live – all of us – as though we can.’”
The book even reflects on the meaning of life. In a conversation with Bob, Lucy comments, “’I keep thinking these days about all these people, and people we don’t even know, and their lives are unrecorded. But what does anyone’s life mean?’” Is the point of life “the maturity of the soul”? Olive speculates about the point of the stories she and Lucy exchange, and Lucy replies, “’People and the lives they lead. That’s the point.’” Later, when Bob asks Olive about the point of a story, Olive replies, “’That was about the same thing that every story Lucy and I have shared is about. People suffer. They live, they have hope, they even have love, and they still suffer. Everyone does.’” Bob must agree because when commenting on the complications of a marital relationship, he repeats, “’It’s life, Mrs. Hasselbeck, it’s just called life. . . . It’s just life, Mrs. Hasselbeck, that’s all it is. Life.’”
I love Strout’s writing style. The dialogue is realistic, the descriptions are vivid, and there are wonderful touches of humour. The prose is deceptively simple because it carries profound messages about the human condition.
It is not necessary to have read Strout’s earlier novels featuring these characters, but there is no doubt that this book will be more meaningful to those who have already encountered Bob, Olive, and Lucy. The novel is not action-packed but it is compelling nonetheless. It is so thought-provoking that one cannot but feel enriched at the end.
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
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