Oh William!

Amgash #3

by Elizabeth Strout

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.”

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Audiobook, Contemporary, Book Club, Novels, Family

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 2021

About the author

Elizabeth Strout is the author of several novels, including: Abide with Me, a national bestseller and BookSense pick, and Amy and Isabelle, which won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in England. In 2009 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her book Olive Kitteridge. Her short stories have been published in a number of magazines, including The New Yorker. She teaches at the Master of Fine Arts program at Queens University of Charlotte.

Reviews

[Jack Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!

Elizabeth Strout has the most binge-able writing style -- I can't wait to go and read everything else she has ever written... immediately.

[Candi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“People are lonely, is my point here. Many people can’t say to those they know well what it is they feel they might want to say.”

A couple of weeks ago, I had my heart broken by Sally Rooney. Shortly thereafter, I decided to let Elizabeth Strout take a crack at smashing it to smithereens. Yep, that did it. Oh, Friends! There’s nothing left of it now. This little novel can be read at lightning speed, but Lucy Barton’s effect on me will be everlasting.

One could say this is a novel about William, or about Lucy’s attempt to understand her past marriage to William. Why she was drawn to him in the first place and William to her. Why she still feels a strong connection to him and vice versa. Well yes, of course it is about that. But it’s also an attempt to understand our connections to others – those we know quite well (or think we do), those whom we know very little, or those we see as a passing figure in our lives – or, perhaps one we’ve never even seen before.

Imagine, if you will, a huge web of invisible connections between all human beings. Something about us that is part of a greater picture, whether or not you believe in some higher being. In whatever way you can think of such a thing, just humor me a bit here. Are there some people that can sense this connection better than others? They may not understand it, but they can feel it. Could this then lead to empathy in certain persons? If so, then I believe that Lucy has been gifted with a massive share of this empathy. Not only does she feel things herself, she is highly sensitive to what others are going through as well. This can only happen through a strong desire to truly understand another.

“I have never had a feeling of belonging to any group of people. Yet here I was in rural Maine and what had just come to me was an understanding, I think that is the only way I can put it, of these people in their houses, these few houses we passed by. It was an odd thing, but it was real, for a few moments I felt this: that I understood where I was. And even, also, that I loved the people we did not see who inhabited the few houses and who had their trucks in the front of these houses. This is what I almost felt. This is what I felt.”

Oh, Lucy. I do know what you are talking about. Your musings go here, there and everywhere, much like our own minds work. Instead of sitting down to tea with you and having a chat, I felt like I was inside your head. And while I was there, I felt your pain, your confusion, and your joy! Lucy is a quiet person, she feels herself invisible, but what she has to say resonates loud and clear. She questions those choices we make. Were they the right ones? Don’t we all ask ourselves this – constantly?! And how we feel about something should not be discounted. It is a lived experience and when one wants to share it with another, we are really just hoping for an ear to listen. We aren’t looking for answers or to be told we are wrong about how we “feel”. How can our emotions be “wrong”? Poor Lucy knows what it’s like to be brushed off, and it is indeed a very lonesome feeling.

“A secretion of loneliness came to me. Because what I had said was true.”

This is a short book that contains a whole lot of substance. If you haven’t read Elizabeth Strout at all, please do! Her writing is effortless yet elegant and highly affecting. If you’ve read and loved Lucy Barton’s stories, then this is a must read. Every time I read her bits of wisdom, I feel so enriched.

“This is the way of life: the many things we do not know until it is too late.”

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Book Review Time! (Sorry, I couldn't resist)

Lucy is going through a transitional time in her life--Her husband, David, has just died, and Lucy is thinking through her life. At the same time, her first husband, William, is going through a difficult patch in his life as well. These two team up and go on an adventure together.

Oh William! is a bit of a mixed review, thus, the three-star rating.

The positives: Oh William! had some really interesting and complex relationships (which were not all clichés). This book also didn't have a tremendous amount of characters. The main characters, Lucy and William, really carried the book. Oh William! is the third book in a series; however, while I had not previously read the other books, this book was pretty easy to pick up.

What could use improvement: The prose was poorly developed, and the book was short, but it felt long, largely as a result of the author having paragraphs which were too long, and the entire book is exactly two chapters (not an exaggeration). There were too many sentences with "I". Although the storyline/plot was enjoyable, the book was missing quotable quotes. Finally, this book wasn't light at all. It definitely gave off "The Ride Share" vibes (a couple embarking on a hilarious road trip together), but this book lacked the funny.

Overall, a short read that packs a punch but better editing would have made that punch much stronger.

*Thanks, NetGalley, for a copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.

2024 Reading Schedule
Jan Middlemarch
Feb The Grapes of Wrath
Mar Oliver Twist
Apr Madame Bovary
May A Clockwork Orange
Jun Possession
Jul The Folk of the Faraway Tree Collection
Aug Crime and Punishment
Sep Heart of Darkness
Oct Moby-Dick
Nov Far From the Madding Crowd
Dec A Tale of Two Cities

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[Angela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Strout writes perfectly about our common human imperfections. She creates characters who are so realistic that it’s just so natural to understand what they are feeling or thinking, even if their experiences are different from ours. Lucy Barton is one of those so real characters and she’s back. If you enjoyed My Name Is Lucy Barton and Anything Is Possible, this is a must read. It continues Lucy’s story later in her life when she’s in her sixties and unlike the first two which are connected stories, this one is a novel. Lucy tells us in the beginning of the book that this story is about her ex husband William, but it’s soon apparent that it’s also about Lucy and the people in her life and by the end of the book, we know it’s about all of us, really, as Stout beautifully reflects on what we recognize as true in life. I was drawn in immediately with Lucy’s introspective and intimate thoughts.

Lucy and William have been divorced for years, but have remained good friends who rely on each other, who can be brutally honest with each other, and still the tender closeness between them is touching. He asks for her help now as he struggles with changes in his life and trying to deal with a revelation about his mother’s past . Lucy, of course steps up and is there to help William forward, but that means going to the past, his mother’s as well as his. Lucy’s past is present here as well and it’s heartbreaking when she recounts her relationship with her mother, the abject poverty she came from, the traumatic experiences of her childhood, her divorce from William, and the death of her second husband. But somehow I felt the same uplifting feeling as in the other books in the series, knowing where Lucy has come to in her life given where she came from.

I love how she tells the story with caveats at times, with stunning honesty, so we always see the good and the bad of situations, what Lucy loves about people and what she doesn’t, things she doesn’t necessarily like about herself, her own fears and feelings of inadequacy at times . “I need to say this, though”. “But there is also this .” Without giving away William’s story as told by Lucy, I’ll just say that Lucy Barton is one of my favorite characters and Elizabeth Stout is one of my favorite writers . Strout dedicates this book to her husband “And to anyone who needs it - this if for you” . What a beautiful sentiment. What an extraordinary writer !


I received an advanced copy of this book from Random House through NetGalley.

[JanB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do we ever really know anyone? Do we even know ourselves as well as we think we do?

Elizabeth Strout has a keen understanding of the human condition. I’ve said more than once that she can write about the ordinary in a most extraordinary way, and she respects her readers enough to never overexplain, which makes for an enriching reading experience.

Perhaps Strout says it best on her website:

It is not “good” or “bad” that interests me as a writer, but the murkiness of human experience and the consistent imperfections of our lives.
— Elizabeth Strout

This is a short book but it demands to be read slowly and savored to pick up the nuances, as often there is more to be read between the lines than what is actually being said. It's one of those quiet books that grows on you with reflection.

Lucy Barton of Anything is Possible and My Name is Lucy Barton is now in her 60s and a widow. She and William, her first husband and the father of her children, have been divorced for years but remain friendly. William is going through a rough spot as he discovers the truth about his family history that has left him wondering if he ever truly knew his mother at all.

Lucy talks to us as if we were sitting down and having a chat. She had an impoverished childhood filled with things so horrendous that she can’t even speak of them, but is now a successful, celebrated author.

William is often cold and distant, and was an unfaithful husband to his wives. As Lucy helps William through his current crisis, we are privy to her most private and introspective thoughts as she works out the mystery of who she is and her relationships with others.

This a profound reflection on the human condition and relationships between spouses, parents and children. “Oh, William” can be “Oh, anybody”, for don’t we all have those secret places within us full of doubts, struggles, and weaknesses?

“This is the way of life,” Lucy says: “the many things we do not know until it is too late.”

Olive Kitteridge first stole my heart, but Lucy is in the running as my favorite Strout character. Lucy makes me want to be a better person who can see the human weaknesses behind the façade, to show grace and understanding to others because we do not know their personal struggles and demons.

* I received a digital copy via Netgalley for review. All opinions are my own.
* This was a buddy read with my friend Marialyce, and one that inspired much reflection and discussion

[Whitney Erwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the Olive books by Elizabeth Strout and loved them so I was super excited to read this new novel of hers. Sadly, this one isn’t for me. The whole time I was reading I kept thinking that this books feels plotless and just like it was going nowhere. Lucy and Williams characters and the interaction between them is plain boring. I did not connect with this book at all. I had to push through to finish it.

Thank you Net Galley and Random House Publishing for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

[Will Byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughout my marriage to William, I had had the image—and this was true even when Catherine was alive, and more so after she died—so often I had the private image of William and me as Hansel and Gretel, two small kids lost in the woods looking for the breadcrumbs that could lead us home.
This may sound like it contradicts my saying that the only home I ever had was with William, but in my mind they are both true and oddly do not go against each other. I am not sure why this is true, but it is. I suppose because being with Hansel—even if we were lost in the woods—made me feel safe.

--------------------------------------

People are lonely, is my point here. Many people can’t say to those they know well what it is they feel they might want to say.

My Name is Lucy Barton (2016) had been a very successful novel for Elizabeth Strout. She had even written a followup, Anything is Possible, (2017) a collection of stories, in which Lucy visits her Mid-West relations after a prolonged absence. Laura Linney was starring in a one-woman show of the former. Strout was there for a rehearsal when Laura opined that maybe William, Lucy’s ex, had had an affair. A lightbulb went off for Strout and she realized that William had a story of his own. Thus was born Oh, William!


Elizabeth Strout - image from Time magazine

She carried forward details about William from the prior books and built outward, or dug deeper, from there. There were some real-world elements of William’s tale. William’s father was a German POW, held in Maine, and his mother, the wife of a farmer who was using POW labor, fell in love with him and left her husband. The POW camp is a real place.

So my husband and I took a field trip. We went up there, we went to all the places that Lucy and William go on their own trip, and I took furious notes on everything I saw. And when we came back I settled down and wrote their story. - RandomHouse Book Club kit

Caveat Lector
You should know before diving in too far that, while I have read Strout’s Olive books, I have not read her prior Lucy Barton books. As Oh, William! is a third in that stack, this is not a trivial shortcoming. There are likely to be connections between this book and the prior two that I missed. But I have read up on those a bit, and acquired some gist. That said, I believe Oh, William! can be read, enjoyed and, hopefully, reviewed as a stand-alone. Just sayin’, cards on the table.

On the other hand, I felt very personally touched and engaged by the novel. I am of a common demographic with William, (we even share TWO names) and re-viewing the events of a lifetime is a natural hazard of this place in our existence. One thinks about the ages, the events, the people, the possibilities, the chances missed, and caught, the attempts that failed or succeeded, the misreads and the insights, the absence of understanding and the wise perceptions, maybe the bullets dodged, the awful relationships that never happened, the good ones that did, maybe the actual bullets that impacted elsewhere. In a way one might see this novel as a look back over William’s life from the point of his final days. A life examined. It could also be seen as the life of a relationship examined, the intersection of two trunks, Lucy and William, meeting, intertwining, then branching out in separate but linked directions.

In any such examination, whether of a life or relationship, it is natural, I believe, to wonder what might have been. Could we have performed better in the roles in which we were cast, or in which we had cast ourselves. To wonder why the director led us to this spot, to stage right instead of left, and always wondering at the playwright, and whether there was ever a script at all. This question of choices is one Strout takes on here. How much freedom of choice is there, actually, how much decision-making? William and Lucy talk about her decision to leave him.

I would like to know—I really would like to—when does a person actually choose anything? You tell me.”
I thought about this.
He continued, “Once every so often—at the very most—I think someone actually chooses something. Otherwise we’re following something—we don’t even know what it is but we follow it, Lucy. So, no. I don’t think you chose to leave.”
After a moment I asked, “Are you saying you don’t believe in free will?”
William put both hands to his head for a moment. “Oh stop with the free will crap,” he said. He kept walking back and forth as he spoke, and he pushed his hand through his white hair. “…I’m talking about choosing things. You know, I knew a guy who worked in the Obama administration, and he was there to help make choices. And he told me that very very few times did they actually have to make a choice. [This was taken from a conversation Strout actually had with an Obama official, about how the decisions to be made were so obvious that there was little choosing required] And I always found that so interesting. Because it’s true. We just do—we just do, Lucy.”

And how might it be that so much of our lives is so constrained? A lot of that is based on where we began. Marx would call it class, and that is a very powerful force indeed. Strout digs into the specific roots of this for her characters. Lucy had grown up poor and miserable, (I have no memory of my mother ever touching any of her children except in violence.) and never felt entirely comfortable, persistently invisible even, (I have always thought that if there was a big corkboard and on that board was a pin for every person who ever lived, there would be no pin for me.) in the more middle-class world in which she lived with William, a parasitologist researcher (a nod to her father of the same profession) and teacher, despite her successful authorial career, despite living in a nice neighborhood in Manhattan, despite raising successful children. She is not the only major character haunted by an impoverished childhood. It is made quite clear that this other character had been severely damaged by that experience and that it had driven many life decisions.

The external of the story is William’s discovery at age seventy-one that he has a half-sister he had never known about. William and Lucy had remained on friendly terms, despite their divorce and subsequent remarryings. William’s third wife has left him. Lucy is widowed. He asks her go to Maine with him to look into this never-suspected sibling. Although it seems a bit odd, Lucy agrees to go along. It gives them both opportunities to look back, not just on their own lives, but on the lives of William’s parents. Coming to this revelation so late in life raises an issue. Is it ever really possible to truly know anyone? Lucy had kept much of her early life hidden away. William’s mother, Catherine, a very large presence in their marriage, had done the same. William had kept plenty of secrets during their marriage, including multiple affairs. He covered his true feelings with a friendly façade, and Lucy loathed him for that. But Lucy had kept a part of herself turned away from him as well. Her family’s rejection of her marriage to William left a lasting scar. The externals of their trip reveal some buried truths, but this is a novel about internals, not physical action.

How does one cope with the challenges of dealing with other people, with those to whom we are closest? There is the challenge of knowing who they truly are in the first place. And then there is the challenge of letting our true selves be seen, to allow ourselves to be vulnerable, to trust others with our most delicate emotional parts. This is almost certainly universal. Who among us does not have at least one secret (and I would bet that most have more) that we keep hidden even from our closest friends, our lovers, our mates, parents, children, priests, shrinks, not to mention the police?

There was an amazing film released in 1973, Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage. (Recently remade for HBO) It examines ten years of a union doomed to failure. The original was a revelation for me. My gf at the time urged me not to see it, concerned about the impact on my view of whatever-it-was we had. Oh, William! reminded me of that, less as a forensic analysis of a marital corpse, but as a broader view of a lifelong connection, in their marriage, and beyond it, a friendship. It looks at what went into building their marriage, at what kept it from being more than it was, and at the impact of William’s mother on their lives. Even after they split up, Lucy often says He is the only home I ever had.

One of the many triumphs of Oh, William! is how Strout offers up many small bits, pointing out the things about their interactions with each other that drove them crazy, that show without telling.

He stared at me, and then I realized he wasn’t really seeing me.
“Did you sleep?” I asked him, and he broke into a smile then, his mustache moving, and he said, “I did. How crazy is that? I slept like a baby.”
He did not ask about my sleep and I did not tell him.

The past is our inevitable root. We are not ents, that can simply follow our needs and drag ourselves away from where we sprouted. That past is inescapable, even if we can change our external circumstances, move up in the world, move away from the painful parts that formed us. But we live in the present, and the past often appears to the here-and-now in the form of ghosts, of one sort or another. When William and Lucy visit Fort Fairfield in Maine, it is truly a ghost town, barely even a town any more. Images they see in the local library conjure a long dead era. In a way their marriage, if not their friendship, is a spectral presence, long dead, although still hovering in the room.

I usually try to come up with something that did not sit well in a book, gripes of one sort or another, elements that might have been better. This time, really, I got nuthin’.

There is so much in this novel that is beautifully portrayed, insightful, wise, and moving. A penetrating portrait of two people and their half-century of connection, warts and all. Oh, William! is a masterwork by one of our greatest fiction writers, at the peak of her creative power. Oh, Elizabeth. You’ve done it again.

There have been a few times—and I mean recently—when I feel the curtain of my childhood descend around me once again. A terrible enclosure, a quiet horror: This is the feeling and it was my entire childhood, and it came back to me with a whoosh the other day. To remember so quietly, yet vividly, to have it re-presented to me in this way, the sense of doom I grew up with, knowing I could never leave that house (except to go to school, which meant the world to me, even though I had no friends there, but I was out of the house)—to have this come back to me presented a domain of dull and terrifying dreariness to me: There was no escape.
When I was young there was no escape, is what I am saying.

Review posted – November 5, 2021

Publication dates
----------Hardcover = October 19, 2021
----------Trade paperback - April 26, 2022

I received an ARE of Oh, William! from Random House in return for a fair review. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.

This review has been (or soon will be) cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!



=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the author’s personal, Twitter and FB pages

Interviews
-----The Guardian - Elizabeth Strout: ‘I’ve thought about death every day since I was 10’ by Kate Kellaway
-----Time - Elizabeth Strout Knows We Can’t Escape the Past by Annabel Gutterman
-----Entertainment Weekly - Howe a literary conscious uncoupling and Laura Linney helped Elizabeth Strout write Oh, William! - by Seija Rankin
-----Bookpage - Elizabeth Strout: The heart and soul of an emotional spy by Alice Cary – for Anything is Possible
-----WBUR - Author Elizabeth Strout explores marriage, memory and class in 'Oh William!' - audio - 9:26

My reviews of other books by Strout/b>
-----2019 - Olive, Again
-----2008 - Olive Kitteridge

Items of Interest from the author
-----WBUR - excerpt
-----Random House - Book Club Kit
-----Literary Hub - excerpt

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Strout returns with her beloved Lucy Barton, now 63, reflecting on her enduring relationship with scientist William Gerhardt, her first husband, with whom she has 2 daughters, Chrissy and Becka, leaving him after almost 20 years of marriage. Strout writes exquisitely with her understated prose, powerful, compassionate, empathetic, and profoundly moving, interspersed with her gentle humour and wit. This novel carries her trademark humanity and wisdom, her understanding of what it is to be human, with her authentic depiction of multigenerational characters, family, marriage, parenthood, friendships, trauma, love, loss, grief, loneliness, and the lifelong impact of our childhoods. She captures the resilience of the human spirit, the joys, frustrations, fears, pain, and how we can come to understand ourselves too late in life, and perhaps never comprehend those close to us.

Lucy and William have a intimate and supportive relationship that transcends their later marriages, William to Joanne, and then Estelle with whom he has a 10 year old daughter, Bridget, and Lucy, who has recently lost husband David Abramson, a Hasidic Jew, a marriage more of soulmates who understood each other and the traumas each had lived through. William and Lucy still refer to each other using their longstanding pet names, Button and Pillie, he is there for her after David's death, he still has the familiar distance and unavailability, but it does not come between them and their strong bond. When William discovers unwelcome secrets about his mother, Caroline Cole, it is to Lucy he turns, asking her to accompany him to Maine to find out more. It's a trip where each learns more about themselves and each other, I was particularly touched when William states 'You steal people's hearts, Lucy', generating a unforgettable sense of happiness in a Lucy who has always felt invisible, and a strong sense of not belonging or having a home.

One of Strout's greatest strengths are her unerring truths about humanity in her brilliant characterisation, she left me recognising myself and others I know in elements of her characters, and I can be more forgiving of William's failings, partly because I have known so many similar men, particularly in academia. Lucy is aware that she brought her own issues to the marriage, not least the PTSD she cannot shake, acquired as a result of her family and the isolated childhood of extreme poverty in Amgash, Illinois, although she learns other truths about herself from William that come as more of a shock. The author's kindness towards and acceptance of our human flaws, and her instinctive understanding of long standing human relationships, family and marriage are at the heart of this stellar novel. A superb read that I highly recommend. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear Ms. Strout is bringing back to Amgash series and author Lucy Burton with the third novel by taking us emotional journey about her ex husband William, the daughters they raised, her loss of her husbands,the career she built, confidence she gained, her walk down to the memory lane of her childhood.

It was so illuminating to hear a clear, real, genuine, natural voice talks with you honestly, sharing her memories, coming clean about her complex feelings, self critiquing about herself, her life choices and the realistic friendship she’s formed with her husband William for years even their marriage failed, her sincerity and the way she tells her story like you’re talking to her face to face while you’re sharing a bottle of wine easily help you to connect with her!

She’s getting through a lot... poverty, neglect, punishment, loneliness from her childhood... freedom, self discovery, experiencing new things at college and marriage with William...her relationship with her mother in law Catherine who mostly act so kind around her but also made her question about her self worth... the betrayal of her husband... the invisible wall she’s built around them... Stressful Cayman island trips, khaki shorts, disinterest about golf, losing the safety she felt for her husband...divorce...finding her own worth... learning to express herself via words...experiencing more relationships...helping William when he hits the bottom as like he helped him to get through the loss her husband... being one who is keeping his secrets for years...

Years have passed... they married with different people... they evolved, they changed, they got older but they were always for each other for the hardest times they’ve been getting through...

A honest, emotional, unique story is told by one of sincerest, direct storyteller Lucy Barton who is created by skillful Pulitzer Prize winner author!

Of course Olive will always be my favorite character she gave birth but this book helped me to resonate with Lucy Barton as well when I have a chance to know more about her!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy Barton, my favourite of all of Elizabeth Strout’s literary characters, returns once again to regale us with her reminiscences and observations.



Lucy is middle aged and recently widowed, and her ex-husband, William, is in his seventies and in his third marriage. They remained friends after their divorce and respective marriages and supported one another during various difficult times in their lives.



It was shocking to me that William turned out to be such a cheater. At one point in this story, he assured Lucy that he had never loved any of the women he’d had sex with on the side during their marriage. Poor Lucy endured the marriage for as long as she could. She felt safe with William's "authoritative personality" - he was "home" to her - until she could no longer endure the situation. I was glad that she eventually left the marriage, and also very glad that she found the love of her life in David. Lucy and David understood one another. David and she “came from nothing” as William’s mother used to say about Lucy whenever she would introduce Lucy at a gathering that Catherine had been hosting.



Catherine Cole was an enigma, Lucy declares. She dominated Lucy’s life and feelings about herself as long as Catherine lived. In the presence of the very haute couture Catherine, Lucy felt that she could never escape her very humble past, and it ultimately affected her marriage.



A word on the writing style of this novel: Lucy was “chatting” with us. She openly addressed the reader throughout the novel. The writing was conversational and informal. At this later stage in her life, Lucy is more confident (although she still suffers from panic attacks and PTSD) and exclaims her feelings all over the place: “Oh my, how I loved Catherine Cole.“ (But did she really? Who knew the real Catherine Cole? Certainly not her son or daughter-in-law, as this story would reveal.



I was so entertained: it was like I was having a one-sided gossipfest with Lucy Barton. I would nod or groan at appropriate intervals, but Lucy held court, and I listened, enraptured! Much is explained and becomes clear toward the latter half of the novel. (Karma is indeed lying in wait for all of us!)



I have always credited Lucy with being a very loving and forgiving person, so I always looked forward to the passages in Strout’s other novels when Lucy would make a brief appearance.

I didn’t know what to make of that ending, except to accept that Lucy could not go against her own kind nature and leave William to his own sorrowful devices - which is what he deserved! That man wasn’t even faithful to himself! I get that his mother never showed him any affection, but he was a scientist: an educated man. He must have figured out by the age of 70 that he was looking for love in all the wrong places, and instant gratification leaves you pretty empty after a while.



I’m glad that Lucy was able to see William more clearly in the end. (Strout credits Laura Linney’s performance in the stage adaptation of My Name is Lucy Barton for inspiring Strout to continue Lucy’s story. I, for one, am very glad that inspiration struck again!)

A very enjoyable read which I am rating a solid 5 out of 5 entertaining stars.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Please check out this and other reviews on my partnered blog, Crossing the Pond Reviews:
https://crossingthepond.reviews/2021/...

[Canadian Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Strout! You did it again! You brought back to life another character who is so endearing to me: Lucy, with all her naïveté even as she ages.

This is a charming and intimate story of Lucy and her 1st husband, William, and their relationship as friends. Also a reflection on who she was and is- still learning about herself all these years later at 63.

The characterization is so Authentic. The writing so simplistic. So Strout Like. So enjoyable.
5⭐️

[Mark Porton · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is such a special thing to read a book and feel so close to the characters that you don’t think you’re reading it at all. Rather, you feel you’re actually part of it.
 
Whether the reader identifies with one of the main characters such as ex husband and wife, William and Lucy, or you’re a voyeur sitting on the side watching it all unfold.
 
It’s all so natural, understood and visceral.
 
Comparable to watching aspects of your own life with the pain, desire, loss and regret.
 
Yes, it’s all here, and some.
 
Gems like this make your hand reflex to your mouth, the reaction is autonomous. You are sitting at their kitchen table or in their car, listening, talking or ignoring. You don't need to imagine.
 
Being absent. The consequences are life changing. Women are usually out the door, while their men are not even present. A sad truth.
 
Women attuned and available, men estranged and remote.
 
So, that’s all I have to say about this, the best book I’ve experienced in 2021.
 
5 Stars

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

LE MOGLI, I MARITI GLI EX E (AFFETTUOSAMENTE) GLI ALTRI


Sulla copertina: illustrazione di Giordano Poloni, come quelle che seguono.

Peccato quell’oh esclamativo e quel punto esclamativo. Non ho molta simpatia con le esclamazioni, le trovo facilmente enfatiche, spesso ridondanti, sempre un po’ esagerate. Sorrido: perché gli esclamativi affollano sempre più la nostra scrittura, soprattutto quella di messaggi e social. Non siamo più sicuri di quello che diciamo, e probabilmente ancor di più temiamo di venire non capiti, addirittura fraintesi: e allora, vai coi punti esclamativi, e, abbonda di emoji, caso mai non dovesse esser sufficientemente chiaro, una bella faccina rafforza quel che stiamo cercando di dire, chiarisce, toglie dubbi. Chi può più scrivere un semplice grazie se non l’enfatizza con un bel punto esclamativo?
E quindi, sì, proprio, peccato quell’oh esclamativo e quel punto esclamativo. Perché autorizza la Strout a ripetere esclamativi ed esclamazioni nel corso del racconto.



E così, tra Oh William e Oh Lucy, oh Estelle e oh Catherine, oh Elizabeth, tra “passerotto” e “grillo”, gli iperglicemici nick che si sono reciprocamente regalati lei e William (e qui quanti punti esclamativi servirebbero?), con smaccata voglia di civettuoli ammiccamenti – non solo l’io narrante è la Lucy Barton dei due romanzi precedenti, ma Strout riciccia fuori anche i fratelli Burgess, e chissà che non ci abbia provato anche con Olive Kitteridge per poi cancellarla – rivolgendosi in seconda persona direttamente al suo lettore o forse a un determinato ascoltatore, forse l’uno e l’altro, alternando – in un mondo alquanto ovattato popolato da un’umanità che sembra buttarsi alle spalle i peggiori traumi come se la vita fosse una tazza di tè e pasticcini – piano piano Strout accende luci, e mette punti fermi, sistema l’arredo con gusto e garbo e nel mentre lascia scivolare momenti pregnanti e verità, tocca corde intime, forse sue, sicuramente dei suoi personaggi, e quando è particolarmente brava fa vibrare anche le mie.



Matrimoni (minimo tre), tradimenti (minimo…?), famiglie, figli incrociati, fratellastri e sorellastre, figlie abbandonate, patrigni e matrigne, professioni ben retribuite, eredità e vite agiate (da qui la mia sensazione di ovatta?), qualcuno (Lucy) ha un passato più nero del nero ma insiste a perdonare e ad amare tanto l’artefice del suo male (mai capito perché Lucy Barton sia legatissima all’orrida madre)… Tra i fili nascosti – ma poi probabilmente per nulla nascosti, solo che avevo irresistibile voglia di citare il titolo di uno splendido film di uno dei miei registi preferiti – c’è quello dell’invecchiare, del cambiamento e aggiustamento che comporta, di quel momento in cui ci si guarda allo specchio senza riconoscersi perché gli occhi hanno memoria di un altro volto, di quel momento in cui si diventa trasparenti nel senso di invisibili, di questa strana età della vita che richiede accortezza, e chissà mai perché il nostro cammino non si ferma quando siamo al top, una vita al massimo e poi alé, basta, sembrerebbe molto più logico, e invece questo lungo prolungamento che è tutto un contare i limiti che aumentano, le debolezze che crescono, questa appendice cui sembriamo tanto attaccati.



Pressoché privo di trama, di accadimenti, di fatti, costruito su momenti, memorie, epifanie, flash, visioni, racconta persone, parla della gente più che di una storia, Elizabeth Barton/Lucy Strout torna per la terza volta, e cuce insieme una sorta di memoir del suo alter ego, e a me sembra forse la migliore prova delle tre, con andamento sciolto, meno strutturato, più libero.
Che poi, invece, proprio così prive di storia e fatti queste asciutte centosettanta pagine non sono: accade un sacco di roba, agnizioni, scoperte, riconoscimenti. Ma Strout/Barton racconta tutto con tale apparente nonchalance, senza sottolineare, verrebbe quasi da dire che lo fa tra le righe, lasciando la sensazione che comunque non siano gli eventi che le preme raccontare, quanto palpiti, attivi fuggenti, fessure, intermittenze.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This is the way of life: the many things we do not know until it’s too late.”
I loved this book.. love this author.
I breezed through this because I wanted to hear more of Lucy’s thoughts on her life.. mostly about her life with her first husband William, who she is still close to.
Lucy is 63 in this book, my age now.. so her thoughts were so relatable to me.
Thoughts on her troubled youth and how it related to her life, William and his philandering, their children, William’s ex wives, her own second marriage.
Lucy is helping William through some life situations in this book.. actually, I think they are helping each other.
This was delightful!
Recommended!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC!

[Sandysbookaday · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCERPT: As we drove, William suddenly made a noise that was almost like a laugh. I turned my face toward him. 'What?' I said.

He kept looking straight ahead at the road. 'Do you know one time when you and I had a dinner party - well, it wouldn't have been called a dinner party, you never really knew how to pull off a real dinner party - but we had some friends over, and long after they had gone home, way after I had gone to bed, but then I came downstairs and found you in the dining room -' William turned his head to glance at me. 'And I saw -' Again he gave an abrupt sound of almost laughter, and he looked straight ahead again. 'And I saw you bending down and kissing the tulips that were there on the table. You were kissing them, Lucy. Each tulip. God, it was weird.'

I looked out the window of my side of the car, and my face became very warm.

'You're a strange one, Lucy,' he said after a moment. And that was that.

ABOUT 'OH WILLIAM!': Lucy Barton is a successful writer living in New York, navigating the second half of her life as a recent widow and parent to two adult daughters. A surprise encounter leads her to reconnect with William, her first husband - and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante. Recalling their college years, the birth of their
daughters, the painful dissolution of their marriage, and the lives they built with other people.

MY THOUGHTS: After having read the first two Amgash books, My Name is Lucy Barton, and Anything is Possible, which focussed on Lucy's earlier life - i.e. leading up to 63, and on people she has known at various times in her life, respectively - I was excited to pick up Oh William!, which looks at her current relationship with her ex-husband, father of her two daughters, and sometimes friend, William.

Lucy is still grieving the loss of her second husband, David, who, I feel obliged to point out, was a much nicer man than William. William liked to belittle Lucy, mainly I think to cover his own feelings of inadequacy, the reasons for which come to light in Oh William!

Sometimes, in my head, I am very much like Lucy Barton. I try not to be, although I love Lucy to bits, but I am. And that is the thing about Strout's characters - we are able to recognise bits of ourselves in them. But the point that I am getting to is that unlike Lucy, I would have never agreed to go on a trip with my ex-husband, not even with the temptation of finding a half sister he never knew he had, and discovering more about the first marriage of his mother, another unknown. Okay, I might have been momentarily tempted, but I would never have gone. But then William and Lucy have a totally different relationship to mine which is completely non-existent and will remain that way.

We learn a lot about William which, I guess, is the whole point of this book. He is exposed, warts and all, and I was left liking him even less than I had originally.

Oh William! is, like it's two predecessors, a book that I completely lost myself in. I hope that it is not the last in the series. I want to know if Chrissy will succeed in becoming pregnant and carry to full term. I want to know Lucy in old age. I am not yet ready to say goodbye to this family.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#OhWilliam #NetGalley

I: #elizabethstrout @penguinukbooks

T: @LizStrout @PenguinUKBooks

#fivestarread #contemporaryfiction #familydrama #sliceoflife

THE AUTHOR: Elizabeth Strout is the author of several novels, including: Abide with Me, a national bestseller and BookSense pick, and Amy and Isabelle, which won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in England. In 2009 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her book Olive Kitteridge. Her short stories have been published in a number of magazines, including The New Yorker. She teaches at the Master of Fine Arts program at Queens University of Charlotte.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Penguin General UK - Fig Tree via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Oh William! for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Journey
Elizabeth Strout has contributed significantly to my favourites bookshelf with her two unforgettable characters: Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton. Both women were crafted from the discerning and expressive observational talent of Elizabeth Strout. Lucy Barton spent her early life in abject poverty, an extreme situation that shaped her personality and life expectations. Throughout her previous books, (“My name is Lucy Barton” and “Anything is Possible”) we watched as this sensitive, doubting, and inconspicuous woman took courageous steps out of grim poverty to become a writer, a mother and a husband.

“I have always thought that if there was a big corkboard and on that board was a pin for every person who ever lived, there would be no pin for me.”

Oh William! is the third book in the Lucy Barton saga, where she is sixty-three years old and recently widowed to her second husband David Abramson. David was her soulmate, someone she understood and who understood her. Lucy’s reflection back into her marriage with David is touching with its deep sense of loss and an appreciation of the loving support each provided in coming to terms with trauma, guilt and companionship.

William, of book-title recognition, is Lucy’s first husband and father to their daughters, Chrissy and Becka. He was difficult to reach emotionally and a man who cheated on each of his three wives. While separated by different partners and a broken marriage, Lucy and William somehow remained friends. When William, now seventy-one, discovers complex family issues, he asks Lucy to return to the family home in Maine. The double entendre of a journey: a personal journey of discovery, within a travel journey, provides the theme for Lucy and William to explore deep underlying issues, coming to terms with the choices they made or did not, and an appreciation of their value and achievements.

Elizabeth Strout has an ability to connect us to her characters, which I have eagerly done with Olive and Lucy. The slight frustration with this book is that I couldn’t connect as easily with Lucy this time. I don’t know if the magic had slipped or my mood wasn’t right. Nevertheless, if you have followed Lucy Barton, then you can’t let this one go. If you have enjoyed Elizabeth Strout’s introspective characterisations, then this novel provides a further opportunity to soak in the beautifully crafted personalities that live through her work. I would recommend this book, and I want to thank Random House Publishing, Penguin UK, Viking Books and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in return for an honest review.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite of this trilogy…..but I enjoyed it.
The beginning was FANTASTIC - hooked instantly!
It slowly started to go downhill at William‘s 70th birthday party.
Too much too soon with Lucy‘s judgment of what people were wearing, of speeches given, and the guests who attended.
I like to see Lucy use her critical voice for things much more directly relevant to her, than to who was wearing what, or gave the best birthday speech.
There was something lost in Lucy‘s voice that I deeply cherished from her in last two books.

I don’t think it matters what I say…. or what I rate this.
Elizabeth Strout fans will read it!
I hope readers DO LOVE IT!

Elizabeth Strout is enmesh with relationships. I like that quality myself - and value the type of introspective writing she contributes to the world. Ordinary people - whose lives matter!!
Her humanity as a writer, and a person, comes through beautifully.
That said- the ‘content’ - storytelling - of ‘this’ tale didn’t interest me as much as her other books.

I still have a warm heart for this lovely author.

I’m not fully sure what the ultimate purpose was for this ‘entire’ book …. I felt it was a little bit disjointed to be honest.
But here are a couple treasures that had me giggling.

“Your khakis are too short and it depresses the hell out of me. Jesus, William, you look like a ‘dork’”.


Oh William, I thought. Oh William”
“He looked exhausted; there were darkish circles around his eyes. He said ‘Hi Button’ and sat down next to me. He had with him a small suitcase with wheels, it was dark brown, too toned. I understood that it was expensive. He looked at my wheelie suitcase which was a blazing violent color, and he said, ‘Really?’”

Many thanks to Random House, Netgalley, and Elizabeth
Strout for the privilege of this advance copy.

3.5 rating
> rating UP ….. for the love that Elizabeth is and her body of work in general.

[Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize!

4.5⭐

“I feel invisible, is what I mean. But I mean it in the deepest way. It is very hard to explain. And I cannot explain it except to say—oh, I don’t know what to say! Truly, it is as if I do not exist, I guess is the closest thing I can say. I mean I do not exist in the world. It could be as simple as the fact that we had no mirrors in our house when I was growing up except for a very small one high above the bathroom sink. I really do not know what I mean, except to say that on some very fundamental level, I feel invisible in the world.”

The third book in her Amgash series, Elizabeth Strout’s Oh William is divided into two parts. The first half explores Lucy Barton's relationship with her now ex-husband William Gerhardt. Now in their sixties and early seventies respectively, both Lucy and William have moved on – William having been married twice since parting with Lucy and Lucy having married and recently widowed. However, they are cordial and friendly with one another, can depend upon one another in their times of need and remain confidantes. The second part of the novel sees Lucy and William embark on a road trip to Maine in search of details about William’s family history. The narrative follows Lucy as she navigates widowhood, her past and present relationship with William and their time together as friends and parents to their adult daughters, both of whom are married and settled. Both William and Lucy find themselves confronting their respective childhood memories, relationships with their parents, and the impact their respective upbringings have had and still have on their present lives, relationships and insecurities. We accompany Lucy on her journey as she explores her memories from past relationships and marriages, losses and grief, parenthood, friendship, and codependence and in the process gain a deeper understanding of not just herself but also those around her.

"This is the way of life: the many things we do not know until it is too late."

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout is a beautifully penned novel. As with all of her books, Elizabeth Strout's prose is simple yet elegant. The first-person narrative follows Lucy’s train of thought (close to but not quite a stream of consciousness narrative), often flitting between past and present, digressing and often going off-topic but ultimately making a “point” justifying her occasional rambling. While this style of expression might not appeal to everyone, I found it very real, relatable, insightful and comforting. Her simple words, yet so full of meaning, the depth of emotion and profound insight behind every ”point” she makes touches your heart and inspires introspection.

“But we are all mythologies, mysterious. We are all mysteries, is what I mean.- This may be the only thing in the world I know to be true.”

Please note that I would not recommend this as a standalone novel. I feel that to fully appreciate this novel one should have read the preceding books in the series.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

When silence is noise…

Oh, friends, I love this book, I really do…but I love a couple of Strout’s other books more.

We’re talking flavors, here. Strout seems to have two: Minimalist and Natural. I do better with the Natural flavor (ha, because it feels most natural to ME), and it’s livelier and more energetic.

Oh William! has the Minimalist flavor (along with My Name Is Lucy Barton). It has simplistic language, which feels a little self-conscious. It just doesn’t hit the spot. My soul doesn’t feel all pogo-sticky, probably because my soul is naturally all jumpy, and the style of Oh William! is all quiet. Mismatch city (more like mismatch small-town).

I could keep going with the flavors, but I want to get down to business. Even though the book and I are a little mismatched style-wise, we’re matchy-matchy in every other way—which basically means I still loved the book. It gets its super coolness from the way the sparse language puts the story in high relief. What I mean is, because it’s such a quiet book and the language is so simple, the drama underneath pops up big, emotions screaming off the page. The silence creates its own noise. For example, Lucy and William are quiet during a car ride, but there is tension out the ying-yang. That Strout can create such strong undercurrents is the biggest reason the book works so well for me. And it seems effortless.

And here’s another thing: William is pretty boring and passive, but Strout makes him interesting nonetheless. His life seems sort of coated in Valium, it’s so damn quiet, yet I was interested in him—why? Again, this is Strout’s art. Strout takes ordinary people and zeroes in on their little insecurities, their imperfections, their secret habits, and what they’re really thinking (in contrast to what they’re saying), and she makes all of this so vivid and relatable. Strout has an amazing ability to see a person’s insides. And she makes us feel like we know their essence.

One perspective thing was very clever. Strout gets us to love Lucy, and as happens when we listen to a good narrator, we think she is flawless. But William at one point tells her she’s self-absorbed. I stopped in my tracks. Hm….is this true? Can I see that, too? Is William right on? It makes me see Lucy from his perspective all the sudden. And then I laugh because after all, she isn’t real; she’s just a character in a book. Again, this Strout lady is smart!

If you’re looking for plot, there’s not much of one. That’s okay because the book is rich with psychological insight and wisdom. The tone is conversational, which I always love. The story is about Lucy reflecting on her life with her ex-husband, William. They also hang out in the here and now, and all sorts of memories pop up. They are both in their 60s and they both married others after their divorce. She looks at their long-ago marriage and their current relationship, as well as their kids, infidelities, other spouses, and her childhood.

Things this book did to me:

-Gave me insights into myself.
-Sparked memories (both good and bad—eek, stop the bad ones!). Very intense!
-Made me think of the underground feelings and thoughts happening (both mine and others) during conversations.
-Made me look at how having a long history with someone often binds you forever, whether you like it or not.
-Made me realize that even though each of us is unique, we’re often the same in the ways we act and react.
-Made me mull over interesting philosophical and psychological questions. Does a bad mother create a kid with low self-worth? Do we choose, or do things just happen?

Complaint Board (not very strong complaints, I must say):

-The Minimalist flavor. (Already discussed in excruciating detail!)

-Panic attack disappears without a trace. There’s a panic attack that’s here one minute, gone the next. In Anything Is Possible (which I loved), a panic attack is described vividly. It was so palpable. Here, Lucy barely mentions it’s happening; Strout doesn’t describe it or build tension around it.

-Thumbs down for visions! William has some “visions” (Lucy might have had a few, too, but I can’t remember). I don’t like visions! Thank god they’re not all hokey or paranormal or anything, but I still didn’t like them. I love to read about what people are thinking, but I don’t like to hear about their dreams or visions. Cut it out! I think I would have felt better if Strout had called them “imaginings,” but that probably wouldn’t have fixed it, because it’s just semantics.

-William is a big blob. He never grew on me, and it’s hard to know what Lucy saw in him. I guess it’s that “history binds you forever” deal I mentioned.

-Open your mouth, please. I like talkers, and damn, both Lucy and William are pretty much tongue-tied. So even though Strout is a genius when she gets the silence to talk, I think I would have preferred a couple of chatty Cathys who did shut up long enough to allow those poignant silences.

Bottom line: Don’t let the simple language fool you. This book is a superb character study and is chock full of wisdom and psychological insight. The style mismatch was the only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. I recommend this book to lovers of literary fiction. And Strout fans will not be disappointed!

Interesting tidbits about Strout:
-She was first published when she was 45 (I love a late-bloomer story!).
-She spends a lot of time trying to figure out what it would feel like to be another person—that intrigues me. Maybe all writers do this? It sounds like such a good idea, and something really hard to accomplish.
-In the Acknowledgements, she thanked Laura Linney! (WTF?) Would love to hear that story!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a big Elizabeth Strout fan. Her writings tend to be stream of consciousness stories, moving seamlessly from one idea to the next. Instead of a run on sentence, it’s a run on one sided conversation. Which makes it sound tedious, but trust me, it’s not.
Oh William! is the third in the Lucy Barton series. Here, Lucy is writing about her first husband, William. They’ve managed to stay on good terms, despite divorcing when their daughters were in their late teens. He’s now on wife #3 (Lucy was #1), a much younger woman, with a young daughter. I found it interesting that they were able to stay close, despite affairs and their divorce. I’m not sure I could do that.
As always, Strout writes about characters. The plot, such as it is, is secondary. These are people you feel you know, with all their weaknesses and faults. The writing is understated, there’s no flowery prose here. But it’s heartwarming. She cares about these folks and it comes through. Lucy tries to understand William. Why did he cheat on her? “But who ever really knows the experience of another?” This is a book of epiphanies, of folks finally understanding not just their family members but also themselves.
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

[Jayme]

DNF at 40%
Not rating.

The Publisher sent me an unsolicited ARC, and when I accepted it, I didn’t realize it was the third book in a series.

Had that been made clear-I wouldn’t have downloaded it.

I think it CAN be read as a standalone-as our protagonist, Lucy Barton, fills you in on the family history-but maybe because I did not have a “history” with these characters, I just wasn’t feeling invested in the outcome of this story.

I am guessing if you read and enjoyed the first two, you will feel differently! 💗

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review posted on blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend...

Have you ever felt deeply connected to an author, as if the two of you were simpatico?

That is how I feel about my “relationship” (lol) with Elizabeth Strout - I feel as though we are connected, and as though when reading her books, she is speaking directly to me. (As if that were even remotely possible...one can hope, however!).

When I began reading “Oh William” - I will admit to feeling as though Elizabeth Strout was just talking (to me - lol) about her life, even though I knew she had written this book in the character of “Lucy Barton” and about Lucy’s first husband William. Soon, however, I was swept away, by Lucy, her children, and of course, by William.

Lucy Barton unpacks a lot here: from her unresolved feelings for her parents and specifically her mother; to what happened in her marriage to William, and their children; and his current marriage.

Lucy Barton is a character who, through the last 3 novels, you can’t help but like, through trials and tribulations, Lucy perseveres. She is kind, hard-working, and honest. Far from perfect, Lucy does her best and that is something I think we can all strive for. To know her, frankly, is to love her.

As an aside, at the beginning of this book, Lucy Barton had an encounter with Pam Carlson, ex-wife of Bob Burgess, of “The Burgess Boys” - another novel by Ms. Strout - which just happens to be one of my favorite novels by Elizabeth Strout, after the Olive Kitteridge series. I adore Bobby Burgess, perhaps because I recognize a kindred spirit. So, Ms. Strout, if you read this and if you take requests, I would love it if you would consider writing another book about Bob Burgess, whose story broke my heart.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Elizabeth Strout for the arc.

Published on Goodreads, Instagram, and Twitter.

[Laysee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second Review, June 25, 2023

It is a rare opportunity to attend a webinar featuring Elizabeth Strout. In this program, ‘Between the Lines with Elizabeth Strout and Melanie Oliveiro’ on June 25, 2023, organized by the Singapore National Library Board, Strout discussed the creative process in her latest novels, Oh William! and Lucy by the Sea.

Below is a gist of some of the thoughts that Strout shared in response to questions from participants.

The most honest / real thing about Lucy Barton:
Lucy’s tremendous isolation. She has no cultural references. There is always a blank spot in terms of her relationship with the world.

Why did Lucy say she felt safe with William
Quote: “William is the only person I felt safe with. He is the only home I ever had.” My question is: William cheated on her many times. Why did Lucy not feel safer with David, her second husband?

Strout replied that Lucy met William when she was young. He did provide her with a sense of safety. Yes, it does not make sense, but it does not mean that she did not feel safe with him. It makes sense that she felt it and wondered about it herself.

On the relationship between Lucy and William
William has benefited from Lucy’s love; Lucy has benefited from William’s love. They have stayed friendly. That’s not unimportant. It said something good about both of them.”

The characters she writes about:
“I write about real people and try to show these tiny moments of grace.” One such moment for Lucy is William recognizing the joy in Lucy. He is the only person who really knows her. “My characters sidle up to me. Much of what I write comes from observations I’ve had in my entire life. They are not fleshed out ahead of time.” Her characters evolve as she writes a book.

How similar is Strout to Lucy Barton?
“Lucy’s background is not my background at all.” Strout grew up in small towns in Maine and New Hampshire. She is acquainted with the children who lived in poverty and recalled a third-grade boy who never spoke a word in class. His teacher chided him for dirt behind his ears and said that everyone could afford a bar of soap. Strout was shocked. She said she wanted to give a voice to impoverished folks like that child. She is interested in portraying class. She also said that like Lucy who is a writer, “I write so that people do not feel alone.”

It was a great pleasure to 'meet' Elizabeth Strout. She came across as personable, authentic, and approachable.

First Review, Feb 26, 2022

Oh, it is pure delight to read Elizabeth Strout’s writing again and to get re-acquainted with Lucy Barton, the protagonist in two earlier books, My Name is Lucy Barton (2016) and Anything Is Possible (2017). In Oh William!, we meet an older Lucy (age 63) who has just lost her second husband, cellist David Abramson. By now, Lucy has become a successful writer with two healthy adult daughters.

In this new novel, we get echoes of Lucy’s early life and are reminded of her impoverished and traumatic childhood growing up in Amgash, Illinois. We see how the damage Lucy sustained from a harsh and abusive mother continues to cripple her in adulthood. Fame could not erase Lucy’s sense of non-existence or, in her own words, of feeling invisible.

As the title suggests, this novel is about William, Lucy’s first husband (age 71), whom she left after twenty years of marriage. I love knowing that this divorced couple continue to be friends and meet frequently for coffee and conversation. Their genuine affection for each other made me wish they were still together. As I read, I wanted to know why two people who love each other cannot remain committed to each other in marriage. Lucy lets us in on her concern for William who is facing two new life crises. While coping with her own grief, Lucy finds herself taking a trip to rural Maine with William to help him navigate his past. On that trip, we become privy to the difficulties in their marriage, not just the titanic issues but also the seemingly small and toxic behaviors that subtly corrode a relationship. “Oh William!” is Lucy’s expression of affection and exasperation when she is moved by William’s sadness or foibles.

A few times I marveled at Lucy’s loyalty to William who is not loyal to her. In fact, of William, Lucy said, “William is the only person I ever felt safe with. He is the only home I ever had.” This was repeated on another occasion, “And even through our Difficulties… William never lost this authority. Even as I thought of us as being Hansel and Gretel list in the woods, I always felt safe in his presence.” That seemed misplaced given what I knew about William and his women. David, her second husband, on the other hand, was more like her in his childhood deprivations. She said of him that (unlike William) “Never in a thousand years would he have laughed at me. Never. For anything.” Why then did she not feel safer with David? Or more at home with him? That was when I thought ”Oh Lucy!” would make an equally fitting title for this story.

Strout had an easy conversational prose style in this novel that made it somewhat comforting to read. It was as though I was seated at a café and listening to Strout tell me the story of Lucy Barton. In it one catches glimpses of her empathic understanding of human needs, failings, and longing for companionship and compassion. The following quotes rang true:

“Grief is such a - oh, it is such a solitary thing; this is the terror of it, I think. It is like sliding down the outside of a really long glass building while nobody sees you.”

“People are lonely, is my point here. Many people can’t say to those they know well what it is they feel they might want to say.”

By the end of the novel, Lucy concludes: “But when I think Oh William!, don’t I mean Oh Lucy! too.” That is absolutely spot on!

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short novel that packs a big punch.

In Oh William, we follow Lucy Barton, later in her life, as she reflects on her relationships with her family and her first husband, William.

Not long after the passing of Lucy’s second husband, Lucy ends up offering her support to William when he receives some surprising news. William has discovered that he has a long-lost relative his mother had never previously mentioned. The pair go on a trip to try to reconnect with this newly found relative.

This book is a short one - it’s comprised of two chapters and is told entirely from Lucy’s perspective. It’s easy to finish in one sitting. There is not much plot, but it was nice to float along with Lucy’s narrative.

I thought there were some great insights on childhood trauma and how the effects of that can carry on into adulthood. One example is how Lucy’s abusive upbringing left her uncertain on how she was supposed to behave “correctly” in her new social sphere as an adult.

The second half of the novel is when I became invested in Lucy’s story. Lucy's relationship with William after their divorce was both sweet, funny, and slightly painful.

Overall, I enjoyed this conclusion to the Amgash series. I only wish there was more of it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the arc in exchange for my honest opinions.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh William!

But seriously, for most of the book I was thinking Oh Lucy! Oh, how I loved having Lucy Barton back. Lucy's second husband, David Abramson, has passed away and Lucy is looking back on her life, her first marriage to William Gerhardt, with whom she has two daughters. While David was the perfect husband, William was a cheater and yet, he and Lucy have remained close, confiding in each other, and supporting each other. In this book, William will learn some truths about his family.

Lucy is telling her tale through a conversation with the reader. At 63, she has come a long way from when we first met her. She has grown, is a published author and mother. She has her insights and observations. This book is just as much about her as it is William.

As Lucy looks back on her marriage, having children and moving on, she begins to see her ex-husband and herself in a new light.

This is a book about relationships, about mental health, about being a parent, about feelings both resolved and unresolved, about awareness and about insight.

Strout knows how to get to the nitty gritty of human emotion. Her books focus on relationships and contain unique and interesting characters. If she writes it, I am going to read it! Strout delivers every-single-time!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize - which (having first read the book in June 2021) lead my to a second read as part of a back to back re-read of the four Amgash series books: “My Name is Lucy Barton”, “Anything is Possible”, “Oh, William” and “Lucy By The Sea” (due to be published October 2022).

I think the best way to regard this series is as a series of three novels – which are ideally read as back to back due to the way they strongly complement each other and with the short story collection “Anything Is Possible” seen as more of a companion volume.

This book was 9th in my Booker longlist rankings - my Bookstagram rating, ranking, summary review and Book themed Golden Retriever photo is here: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChYcUdIo3...

2021 REVIEW

“Because I am a novelist, I have to write this almost like a novel, but it is true – as true as I can make it. And I want to say – oh, it is difficult to know what to say”

This novel is the third in Elizabeth Strout’s “Amgash” series – although perhaps better thought of as her Lucy Barton collection after the first novel in that series “My Name is Lucy Barton”. This book is I think best seen as a fairly direct sequel to that novel and best read back to back with it
(with “Anything is Possible” a companion set of short stories which illuminate both novels).

As an aside I was typing this review while listening to the Women's Prize online short list reading event featuring Yaa Gyasi and Claire Fuller - and both when asked for a writer than inspired them picked Elizabeth Strout (and Yaa Gyasi specifically "My Name is Lucy Barton" for its depiction of mother-daughter relationships)

In that book we hear something of Lucy’s first husband William – of his upbringing (son of a girl who ran away with an ex German Prisoner of War on his return to America) and of the early disintegration of their marriage with its roots in Lucy’s spell in hospital which is the centrepiece of the novel.

But we do not hear too much as Lucy as a writer (for the conceit of the novel is that it is actually a book written by Lucy years later when she is a successful novelist – at least in the eyes of others) is unable to tell it, as she says there ……..

This is not the story of my marriage, I cannot tell that story: I cannot take hold of it, or lay out for anyone, the many swamps and grasses and pockets of fresh air and dank air that have gone over us. But I can tell you this; My mother was right: I had trouble in my marriage. And when the girls were nineteen and twenty years old, I left their father, and we have both remarried. There are days when I feel I love him more than I did when I was married to him, but that is an easy thing to think – we are free of each other, and yet not, and never will be.

But in this novel, set many years later, starts by contrast

“I would like to say a few things about my first husband, William. William has lately been through some very sad events – many of us have – but I would like to mention them, it feels almost like a compulsion; he is seventy one years old. My second husband, David, died last year, and in my grief for him I have felt grief for William as well”

As circumstances/events in her own life and that of William (the break up of a marriage, some news on his mother’s early life) both change the dynamic of the relationship between Lucy and William (and their two now adult children), while giving Lucy the chance to finally tell the story of her marriage, a story written in and around the story of what happens to her and William after these events – a story which, just like the conversations with her mother on the hospital bed allow Lucy to obliquely re-evaluate her own past, her actions and character and the actions of others.

Just as in the first novel the most heart-wrenching parts of the book are when Lucy reflects on small (or sometimes large) acts of kindness from others which she still remembers to this day - the impacts of which, the reader intuits, would astonish those who did them. And I think it is in that spirit that the moving dedication “And to anyone who needs it – this is for you” is written. In some cases also Lucy reflects on the equally lasting impact of more hurtful remarks or expressions – again one feels that the person making them would never have realised the harm of their remarks.

And this I think gets to another key part of the novel – Lucy’s increasing realisation that, despite being a novelist writing realist fiction, it is almost impossible to know what others think, feel or believe – a brave allusion for Elizabeth Strout as an author famous for what Hilary Mantel calls her “perfect attunement to the human condition”.

Overall I think a must read for any fans of Lucy Barton.

But when I think Oh William!, don’t I mean Oh Lucy! too? Don’t I mean Oh Everyone, Oh dear Everybody in this whole wide world, we do not know anybody, not even ourselves! Except a little tiny, tiny bit we do. But we are all mythologies, mysterious. We are all mysteries, is what I mean. This may be the only thing in the world I know to be true.

[Henk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The unknowable nature of humans, even the most seemingly simple, ordinary ones. Ramifications of childhood traumas, class in America, mixed with an almost rambling quality in the tone of voice, but the book definitely works.
We do not know anybody, not even ourselves, except a little, tiny, tiny bit, we do. But we are all mythologies, mysterious, we are all mysteries is what I mean. This might be the only thing in the world I know to be true.

I liked this so much more than I imagined upfront; Elizabeth Strout is a discovery for me. Thanks Booker jury!
Lucy Barton, the main character of Oh William!, talks in a chatty way about her first husband William. For 11 years she carried his name, and for over 20 years she was married, with two now adult daughters from the union.

The narrative is rendered in a very readable, talkative manner, impressive how the author brings the main characters to live from a mere nightmare and some reminiscing.
Class in America is definitely an important topic, with Barton coming from humble, rural origins while her ex-husband was a professor at a New York university, a parasitologist.
He is however far from flawless: You only want what you can’t have is something a character remarks to him, and he seems systematically to undermine the (possibility) of happiness in his life. Meanwhile Lucy, coming from abject poverty and having childhood trauma, is also clearly influenced, even as an adult, by her upbringing.

So many anecdotes full of life make the characters vibrant, while touching upon themes as depression and feeling invisible despite being a published writer. The secrets and traumas we still have inside us as adults are depicted in a very accomplished manner by the author.

The plot of Oh William!, featuring an ancestry website in the US (which clearly doesn’t have any privacy regulation in place), is not the key component to the book. Still as a vehicle to reflect on older love and loss, childhood and World War II reverberating through lives and social upward mobility (much easier apparently in the 50s, with a German prisoner of war, apparently one of thousands who worked in Maine as reparations after the war, going to MIT) the plot serves its purpose.

Lucy being an overly concerned, overly responsible woman, narrated with such sharpness (People are lonely, is my point here. Many people can’t say to those they know well what it is that they feel they might need to say) is a joy, and I am looking forward to reading the other parts of the series.

[Marialyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

People go through a huge amount of upset and tragedies in their lives. Whether it is through the loss is a loved one through sickness, or the dissolution of a marriage, or even the loss of a child, one carries the scar of this on their very soul.

We know why we suffer loss because of illness, accidents, or old age and in its way, we do understand the why. However, when a marriage ends, we, at times, are left to wonder why. What is it that makes one believe that we once loved, but now feel so different from that emotion? Do people grow while leaving the other mate behind, or is it perhaps the idea that these two people should never have married?

Elizabeth Stout explores these and other ideas in her newest book, Oh, William, and delves into reasons marriages fail, focusing on that of Lucy Barton and William. She puzzles through the concept of how our childhood, our parents, our environment shape who we are and who we eventually become which can often be a warning disaster sign in a marriage’s future.

Ms Stout is able to read people well and her focus on them and their formulating years makes her story one of possibly bringing forth understanding. She makes it seem as if many of us drift through a marriage, not really knowing why a partner reacts and does what they do,

She gives credence to the idea that personalities are formed early on and only some can break through to because something different.

This book made me sad. I had such hope for Lucy and William, a couple who seemed to, even though being divorced with other marriages and infidelities in their lives, still cared for one another. Can poverty be something you can’t escape from, and leave its indelible marks upon you? Are secrets kept hidden, a course through which you travel eventually finding yourself blown away by their relevance?

If you enjoy books that seem to ponder and wonder about our human nature and maybe as an end result, understand why things fail, this might be a book you are looking for.

Jan and I enjoyed our journey down Lucy and William’s road.

[Phrynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A third book about the wonderful Lucy Barton and I could not wait to read it. Once I started I could not stop and read the whole book in one afternoon.

William is Lucy's first husband and the father of her two grown up daughters. In this book she is in her sixties and has recently lost her second husband. She still has a friendly relationship with William and they tend to lean on each other in times of need. Her character is that of an author and a born story teller, and Oh William! is a gorgeous rambling sequence of Lucy's memories and thoughts about her origins, her marriages and her daughters.

Elizabeth Strout is a very skilful writer and this book reads rather like a genuine memoir. Lucy is a very damaged character and it becomes clear that her desperate childhood situation affected her relationships throughout her whole life, including that with William. It was sad to see that even successfully raising two daughters and becoming a famous author did not give her a feeling of self worth.

This is not a sad book though. There are many beautiful moments and some really funny ones. The passage where Lucy tells William he looks like a dork (her word) because his trousers are too short is hilarious, but there are lots of gently humorous moments too. By the end both Lucy and William have discovered many things about themselves and about the years they spent together.

This is a lovely book, a totally enjoyable read and easily worth five full stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loneliness, grief and the long tentacles of ones childhood. The scars inside, often so different from the person we let others see. Here, Lucy lets the readers into her long relationship, friendship with her first husband, the father of her two grown daughters. Told in a straighforward manner, a conversational tone, we encounter a Lucy that is both vulnerable and wiser. Now older, she realizes how many of life's trials, her childhood, her marriages, her writing career have all blended into the person she has become. There is tenderness and empathy in her relationship with Wliiam. A forgiveness and acceptance that she has now found. The brashness she had used in the past to cover her internal insecurities have led to a new, stronger and accepting Lucy. I liked this Lucy. She could be any of us, that have hopefully reached the age where we can accept who we are. I think that is what appealed to me. Why the character of Lucy appeals to readers in general.

Though it is not necessary to read Strouts previous books, this one could stand alone, I think it would
enrich the reading experience.