My Name is Lucy Barton is Lucy’s life story (to a point) told in her own words, looking back. Herself a writer, Lucy pieces together memories of her coming-of-age amidst an exceedingly difficult childhood. The slender first-person novel, My Name is Lucy Barton (it is under 200 pages), is the account of titular character Lucy Barton. There is a fourth Lucy Barton book, Anything Is Possible (2017), that I have not yet read. I recently read Strout’s Lucy Barton novels, which begin with My Name is Lucy Barton (2016) and includes Oh William! (2021) and Lucy By The Sea (2022) a subtle bluntness mixed with Strout’s masterful use of voice in each novel create a compelling mirror of our time, our society, our individual struggles. There is unquestionably a magic at work here. Something in her sparse writing makes readers feel seen their life experience, or the life experience of those they have loved looms large, mirrored through her written word. Since the publication of her 2009 Pulitzer-Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge (or for some even before then), readers have recognized the understated brilliance of American novelist Elizabeth Strout.
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