Oh William!
2021 • 256 pages
Ratings20
Average rating4
15
Ratings20
Average rating4
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout explores the mysteries of marriage and the secrets we keep, as a former couple reckons with where they’ve come from—and what they’ve left behind. ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Time, Vulture, She Reads “Elizabeth Strout is one of my very favorite writers, so the fact that Oh William! may well be my favorite of her books is a mathematical equation for joy. The depth, complexity, and love contained in these pages is a miraculous achievement.”—Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House I would like to say a few things about my first husband, William. Lucy Barton is a writer, but her ex-husband, William, remains a hard man to read. William, she confesses, has always been a mystery to me. Another mystery is why the two have remained connected after all these years. They just are. So Lucy is both surprised and not surprised when William asks her to join him on a trip to investigate a recently uncovered family secret—one of those secrets that rearrange everything we think we know about the people closest to us. What happens next is nothing less than another example of what Hilary Mantel has called Elizabeth Strout’s “perfect attunement to the human condition.” There are fears and insecurities, simple joys and acts of tenderness, and revelations about affairs and other spouses, parents and their children. On every page of this exquisite novel we learn more about the quiet forces that hold us together—even after we’ve grown apart. At the heart of this story is the indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who offers a profound, lasting reflection on the very nature of existence. “This is the way of life,” Lucy says: “the many things we do not know until it is too late.”
Featured Series
4 primary booksAmgash is a 4-book series with 4 primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Elizabeth Strout.
Reviews with the most likes.
From the outset, I got sucked into this book. There's something so relatable, yet fascinating about the narrator's consciousness — the way she describes her perception of herself and others is true to the experience of personal relationships. The smallest, most random things about a loved one — like showing up to lunch with pants that are too short, or a sad look of disappointment— will suddenly overwhelm you with a crushing love for them. Similarly, small slights or gestures — a certain twitch of the mustache, a distant look, a dismissive response — will make you hate them.
Relationships are complex, mysterious. We can spend our lives with people and continuously learn new things about them, and have revelations about relationship dynamics 30+ years on. This book is really a fascinating exploration of all that, and something about the writing made it hard for me to put down.
While I was left thinking about Olive, I couldn't care less about William. Something about mediocre problematic men is just not compelling.
Lucy Barton is such a fascinating character whom we know from an earlier story and a novel by Strout. Here she is at her neurotic best, over-thinking things and trying to help other people understand what's going on. This is truly a voice-driven novel with, it must be said, a pretty thin plot. So read it for Lucy's voice and her character and don't worry about what's happening.
