My Name Is Lucy Barton: From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge

Too often hyped books, and those from Booker lists, fail to meet expectations. I'm happy to report this is one of the exceptions.

Normally I don't get on with New York novels (don't ask me why, though I loved 'American Psycho' so it's not set in stone) but this one, again, is different. Its New Yorkness isn't the point, I suppose, though there's the image of the Chrysler Building and Bloomingdale's, MOMA, as reminders. It is significant, I think, Lucy Barton is an outsider, a girl from Amgash, Illinois who escaped childhood poverty and neglect to achieve success, though she carries the indelible scars of her origins and experiences. It made her ruthless, an outsider, introspective, an observer, a writer.

The novel is about the perennially difficult subject of family relationships- especially mother-daughter, also father-daughter, and sibling- therefore, speaks to all of us as readers, the universal human condition though, obviously, we each have individual experiences. It is, I think, also about class, though I know that's not supposed to exist in America. Lucy Barton's family and neighbours are from those who have been persuaded to vote for Trump's Republicans, the left behind.

It is cleverly structured, beautifully written, heartbreakingly sad, oblique in a way that could, in less able hands, frustrate; however, for the story Strout tells this approach works perfectly. It makes us pay attention, work a bit to read between the lines: what is not said is what has made Lucy Barton the flawed but sympathetic character she is. We are, at the same time, given the information we need to understand the nature of the cycle of trauma and abuse, how it goes down generations.

It's a powerful, personal story, that windens to encompass national and international events and how they impact upon not only those who live through them: WWII and Nazi Germany, Vietnam, AIDS, the Twin Towers. Who knows what the long-term consequences of our current pandemic will be?

In short, a small book with a powerful impact, rightly deserving its reputation. I will read more by the author.

Lucy Barton hospitalized and her mother from whom she is estranged comes to visit her. Lucy's life story is told through her conversation with her mother. This is a heavy and sad book but beautifully written. I would highly recommend this book of remembrance, redemption and acceptance and forgiveness with the caveat that the reader understand that it is a dark and heavy book to read.

This book, although short, is a tough read. It details a relationship between mother and daughter. The tale is set in a hospital where the estranged mother visits her daughter who is in recovery following a serious operation.

I wish I had not read this book over the Christmas period as I found it heavy going but I would read more by this author.

Having read a couple of the author's books, and loved them, I was really looking forward to this one. The book concentrates on the relationship between the main character and her estranged mother, whilst the former is in hospital recovering from illness. I was relieved that the book was only a short one, as I found the story unremittingly sad. Beautifully written, but very dark.

Lucy Barton grew up in poverty in a small town in the US, and her childhood was far from idyllic. At the first available opportunity she leaves home and moves to New York, eventually forging a successful career for herself as an author. The book is written from the perspective of the current day, and Lucy is recollecting a time when she was recovering in hospital from an operation and her Mother came to visit. She had not seen her mother for many years and feelings that have lain dormant are brought to the surface. The conversation between them is recorded in part in this book, interspersed with Lucy’s musings on love, marriage, parenting and career as well as her childhood and upbringing in rural Illinois.

This is the second Elizabeth Strout book I have read this week (the first being Anything is Possible), and she is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. How an author can turn a very ordinary conversation between a hospital patient and her visiting mother into a completely mesmerising and gripping novel is completely beyond me, but it is a skill that I wish I had. It is a very short book, but it manages to cram in an awful lot of wisdom and perception. It is also easy to read and is written in a very natural style with no pretensions to be anything other than what it is. The language is not flowery, it is just written as though we are eavesdropping on a conversation or being allowed to tap in to somebody’s thoughts.

Was there a downside to this book? Certainly not that I noticed. The writing style is definitely a little random at times, but I assume this is deliberate and, for me, it did not detract from the book’s perfection. Whether it contributed to it I am not entirely sure, nor to be honest, do I really care.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I’m not sure what else I can say. Just read it!!