Potholders

Monday, September 16, 2024

Good News!

I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Strout and most of her books. I didn't love Amy and Isabelle, and I think Abide With Me and The Burgess Boys only earned 3.5 stars, but for me, the rest of her books are easily four and five stars. 


Tell Me Everything was published on September 10, and it was probably my most anticipated book this year. I got excited when the cover design was revealed, and even more excited when I requested and was approved for an ARC. Once I had the book in my hands I wanted to read it in one sitting but somehow still savor it to make it last.

Strout tells us more of Bob Burgess' story; remember him from The Burgess Boys? But the book is about so much more and so many more people, including Bob's wife, Margaret, and his first wife, Pam. It's also the story of how Bob comes to defend a local man accused of murdering his mother. There is a small mystery about who committed the crime, but it's more about the changes that Bob helps the accused man make in his life. Bob's brother Jim also appears in this novel with some important revelations for Bob.

Bob meets Lucy Barton frequently so they can take walks together. Their relationship is one of good friends who share a special emotional intimacy until possibly, they don't. This part was a bit worrisome for me, but it all came together wonderfully at the end. In one of my favorite developments, Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge get together to tell each other stories about "unrecorded lives". I will be thinking about these stories and their meanings for a long time.

I greatly enjoyed revisiting many of Strout's past characters, especially Olive, Lucy, and Bob, and their interactions with each other now that many of them live in Crosby, Maine. Because Strout has caught the reader up on many favorite characters, this book feels as if it could be an ending to the Lucy Barton series. There were parts of the book that felt as if they might be moving too slowly, but Elizabeth Strout's novels have never been page-turners or plot-driven. They are stories of humanity, love, loss, empathy, and true human connections, and in these respects, this is one of Strout's best. 

Lucy stood up and pulled on her coat. "Those are my stories," she said, and then bent down to put her boots back on. "But you're right. They are stories of loneliness and love." Then she picked up her bag and said, "And the small connections we make in this world if we are lucky." And then to Olive's amazement, Lucy said, smiling at her with a gentleness on her face, "And I feel that way about you. A connection. Love. So thank you."
Olive said, "Wait." As Lucy turned, Olive said, "Well, phooey. I feel connected to you too. So there. " She stuck out her tongue.
 

Much of my enjoyment of this book was tied to the fact that Strout brings Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge together for some great conversations. Despite the fact that she can be a curmudgeon, Olive is one of my very favorite fictional characters. We get to know her in Olive Kitteridge and see her struggles to become “oh, just a tiny—tiny—bit better as a person" in Olive, Again. So what's the good news I was referring to?

I read this interview with Strout in The Guardian last weekend and then I got to the good news:

Any chance you’ll be revisiting Lucy, Bob and Olive?
I don’t know; but I do know that no matter what happens, Olive Kitteridge will never die on my watch.

I was half afraid that Olive was going to die at the end of Tell Me Everything, but she does not. Now I can keep hoping that maybe I'll get to visit with Olive again, especially because I now know that Elizabeth Strout will keep her alive. That's the best news I've heard in a long time! 

13 comments:

  1. Oh help... I have tears flowing at this good news! I was also so fearful of Olive dying in Tell Me Everything. I am in the Olive Must Live Forever Camp! (I am very glad I am not alone!)

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  2. I consider all of the books in the Elizabeth Strout Universe to be my desert-island books (because I can read them over and over and never tire of them) (although I agree completely with your assessment of Burgess Boys and Abide With Me). Anyway. I loved Tell Me Everything -- and I am SO HAPPY to know that Olive is in for the long haul! XO

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  3. Unlike everybody else, I am not a huge fan of Strout! I know!! I did really like Olive Kitteridge when I first read it. When I picked it up a second time I did not like it at all. I borrowed The Burgess Boys from the library and just could not get into it. But, your review of Tell Me Everything has me thinking that maybe I need to give it a try....

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  4. I really love Bob as a character, though I only met him in Lucy by the Sea and never read The Burgess Boys. I think this book really shows what an exemplary human being he is. We should all strive to be more like Bob!

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  5. Like Vera, I have never gotten into these books. I tried to read Olive Kitteridge, and I detested the character. She was everything I hoped to never be. But as I say often, my ability to enjoy a book depends on where I am in my head at the time. I have to find one character that is likeable. Since so many people love these books, I may try again.

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  6. Olive Kitteridge was the very first book I bought on Audible. I had found a beat up old copy of The Shipping News in our little free library and loved it and then went looking for more North Atlantic settings.

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    1. I love both Olive Kitteridge and The Shipping News, especially in audiobook format!

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  7. I finished this a couple of days ago and I loved it so much that I didn't want it to end! I am so glad that Olive did not die! I've enjoyed reading all of Strout's books and agree that The Burgess Boys and Abide With Me were not her best, never the less, I feel like I might want to go back and re-read each of her books.

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    1. I've thought about rereading The Burgess Boys and Abide With Me; maybe I missed something or need to see them with new eyes.

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  8. I love how you get these books and give us the scoop, I feel like you are famous, lol!! Love her writing!!

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  9. It's SO good and I agree that having Lucy and Olive come together was the best part. I'm glad Olive will carry on and I'm thrilled for Elizabeth Strout that Oprah has chosen Tell Me Everything as her next book for Oprah's Book Club.

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  10. Wow. This book has been on my TBR list for some time and now I am really looking forward to it. Your review is so good. I do enjoy the way Strout writes. Thank you Bonny.

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  11. !!!! I'm so excited for Tell Me Everything - the only Strout novels I've read are the Lucy and Olive ones and they've all been 4-5 star reads. I think I'm going to read Burgess Boys first, so it might be a little longer until I get to see all the characters come together. Something to look forward is always a good thing!

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