This is my eighth Elizabeth Strout book and is distinguished by having so many of the familiar characters show up again. Her first main character, the cranky Olive Kitteridge, is now 90 and living in a retirement home. She is visited by Lucy Barton and the two tell each other stories and sometimes Olive complains that Lucy’s stories are pointless. Lucy, the novelist, tells stories and Olive, as always, is unable to leave her negative thoughts unspoken or even spoken diplomatically.
Strout’s books have both lovingly told stories of humdrum life in small towns like Crosby, Maine, and tales of an epidemic of misfortune and bad behavior in those settings. This one, perhaps because of the aging of the characters, has more focus on the humdrum. The exception is Matt Beach, suspected of killing his mother after caring for her most of his isolated adult life. Bob Burgess takes on the case and befriends him, encouraging his art and buying him his first cell phone.
Bob Burgess and Lucy become friends, taking walks together. These turn out to be somewhat transgressive: Bob takes the opportunity to smoke, which his wife dislikes, and Bob and Lucy develop crushes on each other. We are told about developments in the lives of adjacent characters including Pam, first wife of Bob Burgess; Jim, brother of Bob Burgess and his wife Helen; Margaret, Unitarian minister and wife of Bob Burgess. It is fun to be dropped into these lives for a time.
In Lucy by the Sea Lucy’s first husband William and their two daughters are brought together by the pandemic in one of my favorite of Strout’s books. While they are mentioned, I missed the two daughters’ presence in this one and William is known here mainly for his annoying habit of speaking about his scientific work too much.
The style of this Strout book seems different to me. In some way I can’t articulate, the telling seems to be almost childlike; perhaps that was because I listened to the audiobook rather than reading it in print. There was some philosophical discussion that seemed oddly elementary with characters talking about the meaning of life, but perhaps I’m just jaded and cranky like Olive.
Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything, Random House, 2024, 352 pages (I listened to the audiobook). Available in the public library.