My Name Is Lucy Barton
Ratings58
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings58
Average rating3.8
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the tender relationship between mother and daughter in this extraordinary novel by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Olive Kitteridge and The Burgess Boys. Soon to be a Broadway play starring Laura Linney produced by Manhattan Theatre Club and London Theatre Company • LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • The New York Times Book Review • NPR • BookPage • LibraryReads • Minneapolis Star Tribune • St. Louis Post-Dispatch Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable. Praise for My Name Is Lucy Barton “A quiet, sublimely merciful contemporary novel about love, yearning, and resilience in a family damaged beyond words.”—The Boston Globe “It is Lucy’s gentle honesty, complex relationship with her husband, and nuanced response to her mother’s shortcomings that make this novel so subtly powerful.”—San Francisco Chronicle “A short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but also simpler, more sudden bonds . . . It evokes these connections in a style so spare, so pure and so profound the book almost seems to be a kind of scripture or sutra, if a very down-to-earth and unpretentious one.”—Newsday “Spectacular . . . Smart and cagey in every way. It is both a book of withholdings and a book of great openness and wisdom. . . . [Strout] is in supreme and magnificent command of this novel at all times.”—Lily King, The Washington Post “An aching, illuminating look at mother-daughter devotion.”—People
Reviews with the most likes.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley.
Elizabeth Strout writes with grace and subtlety, and her writing is what makes this story the mix of beautiful and tragic that it is. It's a story about one woman, but it's laced with moments that shine a light on the lives of many different people, even if only for a page or two. Every character that appears is treated with the same compassion, and written with the same depth, as Lucy Barton herself. It's worth reading if you're looking for a short book with depth.
I loved this detailed character study of Lucy Barton, a complex woman: raised poor, deprived of affection, determined to get out. In this book, while she is hospitalized, her mother comes to visit and the ensuing five days reveal much.
My full review is here: Review of My Name is Lucy Barton
Another short, powerful book (I read this and [b:The Light of the World 22875479 The Light of the World Elizabeth Alexander https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1422811469s/22875479.jpg 42439931] back-to-back). I liked Strout's [b:Olive Kitteridge 1736739 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320430655s/1736739.jpg 3263906] so much that I avoided [b:The Burgess Boys 15823461 The Burgess Boys Elizabeth Strout https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351213545s/15823461.jpg 21553934] when I heard it wasn't as good. But this one is also excellent.
Featured Series
5 primary booksAmgash is a 5-book series with 5 primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Elizabeth Strout.
