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sonia_a_pinto's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.5
3.5!
Não gosto tanto dos livros da ES quando ela se centra em duas ou três personagens.
Não gosto tanto dos livros da ES quando ela se centra em duas ou três personagens.
hegemb's review
5.0
Elizabeth Strout cements her place as one of my all time favourite authors with this book. I don't know anyone who writes about the human experience like she does. Her characters feel so real, their lives so real that I feel i know them all personally. Reading this book is like being in the room while Lucy tells her story and she makes you feel like a friend and a confidant. I can’t wait to read “Lucy by the Sea”!
reidob's review
3.0
I am big fan of the Olive Kitteridge novels; I find Olive's voice to be compelling and amusing at the same time. The Olive books are also very sad, but in a way I find profoundly moving. Olive digs her own holes and has great difficulty stopping her shovel when she finds herself in one. We come to understand Olive's deep trauma and the fact that her prickliness has everything to do with her inability to trust that anyone can truly love her.
Oh William! has much the same tone to it (which makes me sad for the author, as one has to assume that she would not choose to write from such a bleak place if there were not some truth to it in her own life). This book is a follow-up to the well-regarded My Name Is Lucy Barton, which I have not read. Perhaps if I had I would have found the jerky narrative voice of Lucy to be less disconcerting. It seems that in this book Strout is allergic to the idea of complete sentences without some sort of ellipse or elision. It could well be that the novel does not stand on its own two feet without the earlier volume, though I also find it instructive to have the perspective of coming in cold to Oh William! and being able to evaluate it without the emotional connection to My Name Is Lucy Barton.
Overall, I found the story of the book interesting in a rather narrow way, by which I mean that this is really a character study of several different kinds of persons who are not, in their unexamined state, all that compelling. The two main characters, Lucy and William, are deeply self-involved and, to varying degrees, self-pitying. Both are dealing with deep trauma, particularly Lucy, but there are only so many times we can read about the same results of the same traumas without thinking that the character (and, by extension, the author) is being rather self-indulgent in her naval-gazing. Yes, I know I am being uncharitable here, but it's worth remembering that these are fictional characters and therefore the issues and sufferings brought forward were choices made by the author. Our obligation are readers to suffer along with them is considerably less than if they were our friends.
I do intend to read Lucy Barton; it's quite possible my opinion of this book may change when I do. But I would far rather read a third Olive Kitteridge novel than another one with these characters.
Oh William! has much the same tone to it (which makes me sad for the author, as one has to assume that she would not choose to write from such a bleak place if there were not some truth to it in her own life). This book is a follow-up to the well-regarded My Name Is Lucy Barton, which I have not read. Perhaps if I had I would have found the jerky narrative voice of Lucy to be less disconcerting. It seems that in this book Strout is allergic to the idea of complete sentences without some sort of ellipse or elision. It could well be that the novel does not stand on its own two feet without the earlier volume, though I also find it instructive to have the perspective of coming in cold to Oh William! and being able to evaluate it without the emotional connection to My Name Is Lucy Barton.
Overall, I found the story of the book interesting in a rather narrow way, by which I mean that this is really a character study of several different kinds of persons who are not, in their unexamined state, all that compelling. The two main characters, Lucy and William, are deeply self-involved and, to varying degrees, self-pitying. Both are dealing with deep trauma, particularly Lucy, but there are only so many times we can read about the same results of the same traumas without thinking that the character (and, by extension, the author) is being rather self-indulgent in her naval-gazing. Yes, I know I am being uncharitable here, but it's worth remembering that these are fictional characters and therefore the issues and sufferings brought forward were choices made by the author. Our obligation are readers to suffer along with them is considerably less than if they were our friends.
I do intend to read Lucy Barton; it's quite possible my opinion of this book may change when I do. But I would far rather read a third Olive Kitteridge novel than another one with these characters.
mumseyjes's review
4.0
I enjoyed the Olive books, so picked this up to read on a sunny day after a long walk in a park. I wanted something relatively light and entertaining; and this book hit the spot. I loved the way she delved into what people know about themselves and each other. The impact of early childhood relationships on personalities as well as other relationships as we age was well described and so very true.
anniebz's review
2.0
I found the writing style affected (how many times do I have to read "and the thing I want to say is this" - just say it!!) and the protagonist intensely annoying. I struggled through about 100 pages, but couldn't finish the book.
whitcam430's review
5.0
I don’t know what it is about Elizabeth Stout’s writing that always tricks me into 5 star ratings. I guess I just really like her writing style and storytelling. I don’t relate to the old white people she writes about and yet I get sucked in to her stories. I also just learned that this is the third book in a series. Whoops. I wonder if I will like the first two? I accidentally did this with Olive, Again and it turned out I like the sequel better than the first. Maybe I will just leave it at that.
lizziekam's review
5.0
Yes, in fact I am reading all of Elizabeth Strout's books all at once. I fell into My Name is Lucy Barton (a second read) and now can't stop inhabiting the world of these lonely characters.
katielovesbooks134's review against another edition
3.0
I asked NetGalley for an advanced copy of this and was so excited to receive it! I have read Olive Kitteridge, but neither of the original two in the Amgash series featuring Lucy Barton. But I was able to pick up Oh, William! with no problem. Lucy is in her 60s and has a platonic relationship with her ex-husband, William. These two embark on a road trip together to discover things from William’s mother’s past. While the book features Strout’s classic, characteristic prose, it was not enough to move the narrative for me. I wasn’t invested or drawn in and I was a little bored.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this advanced reader’s eCopy.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this advanced reader’s eCopy.
michelleyendo's review
5.0
"We are all mythologies"
Another beautifully written novel by Elizabeth Strout.
Another beautifully written novel by Elizabeth Strout.