#BookReview Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
Read in Braille
Viking
Pub. 2021, 256pp
My Name is Lucy Barton, 2016, was the first book I read by this author and I was struck by the writing style which seemed very different from anything else I was reading at that time. The character is very well drawn and I’ve often thought of the book since. Lucy has certainly stayed with Elizabeth Strout too as she wrote another book loosely based around her called Anything Is Possible which I haven’t read, and one that follows this book called Lucy by the Sea. I can see why she’s returned to Lucy as this book is about her life in her 60s where she’s left her first husband, remarried and is now alone again after her second husband dies. Her girls are grown up and married and William has remarried and has a young daughter. So there’s plenty to reflect on.
Elizabeth Strout’s prose is so distinctive and full of touching, beautifully observed details: “I saw him from afar and I saw that his khakis were too short. A little bit this broke my heart. He wore loafers, and his socks were blue, not a dark blue and not a light blue, and they showed a few inches until his khakis covered them. Oh William,I thought. Oh William!”
Lucy’s thoughts jump around as she recounts episodes from her life and tells the reader the reasons for her actions, and sometimes quite perplexing reactions to situations. She’s living with past trauma which resurfaces and takes her by surprise at times.
Lucy and William are brought together by a discovery made about William’s family and I enjoyed reading about them navigating spending time together now they are divorced; how they annoy each other but are also clearly still so connected and glad to be in each other’s lives. It’s gentle and touching.
Elizabeth Strout really knows how to make her readers feel the emotions Lucy’s going through and I very much enjoyed being in her company again. #Bookstodon#reading@bookstodon
