Lucy by the Sea
Ratings28
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings28
Average rating4.1
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From Pulitzer Prize–winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Strout comes a poignant, pitch-perfect novel about a divorced couple stuck together during lockdown—and the love, loss, despair, and hope that animate us even as the world seems to be falling apart. “No novelist working today has Strout’s extraordinary capacity for radical empathy. . . . May droves of readers come to feel enlarged, comforted, and genuinely uplifted by Lucy’s story.”—The Boston Globe ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker With her trademark spare, crystalline prose—a voice infused with “intimate, fragile, desperate humanness” (The Washington Post)—Elizabeth Strout turns her exquisitely tuned eye to the inner workings of the human heart, following the indomitable heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton through the early days of the pandemic. As a panicked world goes into lockdown, Lucy Barton is uprooted from her life in Manhattan and bundled away to a small town in Maine by her ex-husband and on-again, off-again friend, William. For the next several months, it’s just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea. Rich with empathy and emotion, Lucy by the Sea vividly captures the fear and struggles that come with isolation, as well as the hope, peace, and possibilities that those long, quiet days can inspire. At the heart of this story are the deep human connections that unite us even when we’re apart—the pain of a beloved daughter’s suffering, the emptiness that comes from the death of a loved one, the promise of a new friendship, and the comfort of an old, enduring love.
Reviews with the most likes.
I really loved this book. Others have covered the plot points and the story's expected - but still delightful! - overlap with Strout's other books, so I'll stick to how she made me feel: unexpectedly, utterly soothed.
‘Lucy by the Sea' is hot tea with honey in your favorite mug, in book form. It made me not only want to call my mom, but connect with strangers. Strout's writing always reminds me of the John Donne poem - “any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind” - because it's just bursting with humanity. This is no exception, and probably my favorite thing she's written so far.
No one writes characters better than Strout. Lucy, like Olive Kitteridge before her, is one of a kind, and with each book about her we go deeper and learn more.
Not necessarily my typical book, but that's what I love about book clubs and recommendations from others. Lucy by the Sea is an elliptical novel seated firmly in the mind of a just-past-middle-aged white female writer.
This had some surprising white people perspectives - the privilege of being able to tune out of troubling current affairs and having multiple spouses and extended family through multiple marriages. Despite these, Lucy did come from poverty and spends much of the novel connecting with, labelling and trying to understand others.
The time period of being set during the pandemic in Maine, USA allows for an interesting dissection of relatively recent events. There's COVID itself and all the anxiety, masks, lethargy and vaccinations surrounding it; the US presidential struggles and increasing political divide in the country; and human connection in a world of distancing and zooms.
I did enjoy this read, particularly the range of insights offered through the perspective being so close to Lucy and her memories. Will continue to venture outside my typical reading content.
Featured Series
4 primary booksAmgash is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Elizabeth Strout.
