Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

11 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Best one of the series for me. Captured the COVID years pretty accurately.

Having gone through 9/11 and now being 23 years later, seeing kids grow up without it being taught in schools, seeing how those who know what it was but wasn’t there to experience it can only view it as a point in time, makes me think it’ll be the same for future generations regarding COVID and that this book could help them to grasp a sliver of a semblance of what that period was like for many of us.

I think the book also did a pretty good job of capturing the essence of conflict lots of mothers and daughters, the longing of our mothers to be closer and the distance daughters need to grow into their own stories.

I still think William isn’t good enough for Lucy, but he is certainly devoted to her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ashley_turch's review against another edition

inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I didn’t know it was part of a series until halfway through. Is it worth reading the others?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, and Miscarriage

Minor: Infertility, Police brutality, and Death of parent

Reflects on most current events that happened in the US in 2020

asienerbrown's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Cancer

phoevincent's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

jra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility and Infidelity

deedireads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Lucy By the Sea is another cozy, resonant novel by Elizabeth Strout. While I didn’t love it as much as I’d hoped, watching Lucy process the pandemic does feel almost therapeutic for we who lived it.

For you if: You love Elizabeth Strout novels (and have read the other Amgash books).

FULL REVIEW:

Lucy By the Sea is the fourth book in Elizabeth Strout’s Amgash series, which features the beloved protagonist Lucy Barton. I’ve heard from many people that this is their favorite Amgash book. While I still think Anything Is Possible was my favorite, Lucy By the Sea delivers yet another of Strout’s signature quiet, resonant reading experiences.

This one follows Lucy and William through the COVID-19 lockdown; William convinces Lucy to leave NYC for a seaside cottage in Maine, and we re-experience all the anxiety and turmoil from those early pandemic days alongside them. I was afraid this would feel triggering, but for me at least, I found that watching Lucy process these feelings was surprisingly therapeutic. And of course, this is Elizabeth Strout, so the book is also about relationships, growth, and the emotions that make us human. I particularly loved getting to know her daughters so much better. (Also, there is a small crossover with Olive Kitteridge, which was fun.)

While I did enjoy this one, I think I may have read it too soon after Oh William! to truly love it. Without getting into spoilers, SEA did feel like it reversed some of the choices Strout made in WILLIAM, to its detriment in my opinion. Lucy’s extreme dependence on anyone but herself also started to get to me. But at the same time, she’s such a kind person experiencing relatable things, and Strout writes relationships and interiority so well, that Lucy has also started to feel like a friend.

If Strout writes more Amgash books, I’ll gladly read them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, and Grief

Moderate: Infertility and Miscarriage

Minor: Eating disorder

isaarusilor's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Police brutality

maiahhtratchh's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

I’m trying to find a constructive way to put into place my feelings of this book but I just can’t. The characters are so insufferable and blatantly narcissistic. There are just some perspectives that are not necessary and add noise to complicated modern issues. Having old aged white people of sufficient means looking into the political issues of 2020/2021 is not necessary (they are typically the voices that dominate conversations anyways). Especially when they blatantly sympathize with Nazis and romanticize cops (and cop violence). The characters are toxic, their relationships are toxic and this story doesn’t make me “see the other side” as much as it makes me see that ignorance is the biggest danger to our political landscape.

she writes a novel romanticizing a Trump-supporting cop who murders someone and gets away with it then states how she loves the cop she wrote… like it’s very upsetting to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Hate crime

Trump supporter sympathizing; cop sympathizing; cop violence; nazi sympathizing

feebles640's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Dementia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Eating disorder

The book covers 2020/2021 and discusses current events in America at that time (covid 19, black lives matter, Trump, attack on capital)

franklola's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Bullying, Racism, and Religious bigotry