My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016)

I wish I had a book club to discuss this book because I feel there are so many levels to it, many have passed by me. Makes me want to read it again, more slowly, to pick up all the nuances. That it was, on the surface, so seemly simple, is wonderful. The narrative dips and swirls like memories do, making it seem more realistic to me. Just really loved it! ( )

I don't get it. this was just ramblings to me about a dysfunctional, poor family. And not all that interesting ramblings. Maybe if I read some other reviews, ill find out I missed the point or maybe i don't care enough to bother. ( )

Lucy Barton has to spend several week in the hospital and while there, thinks about her life as she talks with her mother. The writing is sparse, but that is intentional. I finished this book, still not really knowing who Lucy Barton is. In many ways, I sympathize with her, but the book is so unemotional in its telling that I'm frankly not sure what to think. There are so many hints of more complicated things in Lucy's life that leave the reader wondering what just happened, even after rereading a section a few times. I think that this book is probably meant to be a deeper read than I made it. ( )

There's a fine line between being introspective and being self-absorbed and, for me, Lucy Barton crosses it. This book's only saving grace is that it dovetails with Anything is Possible, which I'm reading at the same time. That book's expanded backstories about the characters Lucy Barton and her mother talk about are fascinating. ( )

Strout tenderly explores the need that each of us has to have a deep and meaningful relationship with our mothers even though they abused us as children and continue to abuse us as adults. Her writing is beautiful. She gets across the psychological inability to break ties with parents who hurt us and the longing to mend those relationships in our adult lives. While not going into great detail about the main character, Lucy's, past, she gives us enough information to know Lucy was severely traumatized by both parents. Yet Lucy transcends her past in terms of "making it" in New York City, but clearly never really deals with the emotional scars of her past. She is forced to deal with it when her mother visits her while she is sick in the hospital, but her mother's mixed messages and refusal to answer her questions or ask about her life serve only to confuse Lucy and are evidence of continuing abuse that she cannot see. This is a beautifully written book dealing with a difficult subject in a new way. It is not one of those horrific, in your face stories about abuse that make Oprah's book lists. Rather, it's graceful literature. ( )