Elizabeth Strout - Oh William!

 

Rating: 2/5

 

Review: 

Not for me this time

 

I’m afraid that Oh, William! didn’t do it for me. I loved My Name Is Lucy Barton and both Olive Kitteridge books, but this really didn’t have anything like the same appeal; I struggled to well past half way but then gave up.

These are Lucy’s reminiscences of more of her life, especially with William, her first husband. This time I found Lucy’s narrative voice rather mannered, with her repeated little verbal habits like “...this is what I’m saying here,” or several instances of “I don’t want to say any more about that...” and then going on to say a good deal more about it. I’m sure it’s intended to be a representation of a genuine person’s voice, but for me it didn’t work this time. Also, the story which emerged in I Am Lucy Barton is beautifully structured, horrifying but ultimately humane and, for me, utterly riveting. Here, I really wasn’t all that bothered about what was happening. Elizabeth Strout makes some of her usual penetrating character studies and the odd shrewd take on aspects of life which kept me going for a while, but overall it didn’t grip me at all.

So, I’m sorry to be critical of an author whose other work I have liked and admired but this one really wasn’t for me and I can’t really recommend it.

(My thanks to Penguin Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)