Elizabeth Strout - My name Is Lucy Barton

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Outstandingly good

I thought this was quite outstandingly good.  It is the first of Elizabeth Strout's books  have read, but it certainly won't be the last.

It find it hard to convey exactly what makes the book so good.  It is narrated in the first person by Lucy Barton who is now a successful writer.  For much of the time she is recalling a period in the 80s when she was slowly recuperating from an illness in hospital and a visit from her almost estranged mother causes her to remember her childhood, some of the people she knew then, her growing up and how this has affected the way she feels and acts.  She had a rural Midwest childhood of poverty and abuse; much of the cruelty and deprivation is implied or sketched from a child's perspective rather than fully described which gives it great power, I think – a little like a great artist capturing the essence of a subject in just a few brush strokes. 

And that's largely it, which doesn't sound like much, but I found it gripping and very involving.  Lucy's voice is beautifully done.  It is simple in a way, but has the tics and traits of phrasing and repetition which make it seem as though she's absolutely real and speaking to you personally.  What she has to say is often rather simple-seeming, but also genuinely profound, and her story, her relationships (especially with her mother) and her sometimes almost random-seeming recollections and musings are just a joy to read. The book is peppered with little gems of wisdom and insight, like "It interests me how we find ways to feel superior to another person, another group of people.  It happens everywhere and all the time.  Whatever we call it, I think it's the lowest part of who we are, this need to find someone else to put down."  Or the insight and kindness in, "…what I have done most of my life, which is to cover for the mistakes of others when they don't know they have embarrassed themselves."  Or the simple wisdom in "I learned that work gets done if you simply get on and do it."

Elizabeth Strout has created a truly beautiful miniature here.  She has the ability to paint vivid portraits of people, places and situations in just a few lines, so although the  book is short, it conveys more in its 200 pages or so than many books twice its length and more.  I loved this, and if you like an excellently written novel of character I think you will, too.  Very warmly recommended.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)