A review by ericageorge91
My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

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

2.75

The first time I read this book, I finished it feeling nothing but indifference. I thought the stories were random and meandering and I kept waiting for something to shift and for me to start really caring but it never happened. It felt like a literary version of waiting for my body to sneeze. 

Going into it a second time around, knowing that there’s no plot to be had, allowed me to appreciate the story a lot more. 

I knew Lucy was a lonely character, but it took the reread for me to notice that Strout is writing this story as an extension of the character’s loneliness. Lucy just seems to be chatting her stream of consciousness to the reader like we’re her friend lending her a listening ear and she loves us—just loves us! Reading it with the Lonely Bitch lens, I’m able to see how pervasive Lucy’s loneliness was and realize that her random stories (crying subway children, the Met statue of the father and his children) are more intentional than I thought. 

References to child abuse (physical, emotional, sexual) and neglect, discussions of infidelity, war, gun violence
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