The Strout-verse. Part 1
I try my best not to read a novelist’s complete bibliography in one go: generally, one is stuck with the same style, and it can get tiring. I start even disliking the author! However, there are exceptions: a few years ago I read all of Jonathan Coe’s books and it was an enjoyable experience.
When I read that Elizabth Strout’s latest novel, Tell Me Everything was going to be a culmination of her whole work, in which her two main characters Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge meet, I decided to read everything she has written in order to fully experience the “Strout-verse”.
Here are the first three, and before I begin, a disclosure: some of the books I have read more than once and in one case there’s a novel that I read a year ago and have no wish to revisit! I’ll indicate this one later.
Abide with Me (2006) which I read one year ago
Elizabeth’s Strout’s second novel lays the blueprint to most of her work, it’s a small village, where the whole community know each other, gossip and work together. There’re small shops and each person has a designated role.
Problems occur when the village priest starts to become unhinged due to grief and begins to commit a series of acts which make him the centre of attention.
My problem with Abide with me is that it’s way too inconsistent. There were times where I laughed at the villagers worries and concerns but there was also way too much repetition. The book took an intellectual slant quoting Bonhoeffer and Tillich. As much as I admired her for doing so, I’m not sure they were necessary, In fact she’s never done that again.
My overall impressions is that Abide with Me has a lot of unfulfilled potential. The only reason I am including it is that the book is referenced in the novel Lucy by the Sea (which I still have to read).
The Burgess Boys (2013) – the first read
The Burgess Boys is quite important in the Strout canon as the Burgess brothers, Jim and Bob crop up now and then in the Lucy Barton books (the proper name for them is the Amgash series but I’m going to use Lucy Barton).
On the surface, the plot is simple: Jim and Bob’s nephew throws a pig head in a mosque and disrupts the Somali community in the town of Shirley Falls. What makes the book so special, at least for me, is that Strout manages to add a lot of layers to this narrative. Through this one action, the book functions as a commentary on migrant communities, the importance of family, the hypocrisy of legal systems, marriage, love and the psychological affects of love breaking down, whether it is between a married couple or between children and their parents,
There is a lot to take in with The Burgess Boys but Elizabeth Strout never makes the novel overcomplicated. What also makes the novel stand out is the dynamic of The Burgess Boys. Jim is brash, doesn’t suffer fools, even impulsive. Bob is easy going, a wall flower and not too proactive. Both work in law but Jim will embrace it with vigour, Bob treats it more like a job. Both brothers have the same sort of attitude with their sister; Although they don’t like her Jim and Bob will help but Jim is the more dynamic in doing so. Bob will just hang around.
The Burgess Boys was a pleasure to read and showcases how Elizabeth Strout’s skill at creating a deceptively complex novel and deriving enjoyment from the reader in the process.
Oliver Kitteridge (2008) – my second read
I first read the Pulitzer Prize winning Olive Kitteridge back in the year it was published, and I could not see the fuss behind it. Now sixteen years later this reread has made me realise:
That this is a brilliant novel.
Perfection.
The book is an interconnected set of short stories. All feature the title character: either as the focus or a bystander.
The genius lies in the fact that all these stories are not presented chronologically but they lead to a clear picture of Olive Kitteridge’s character, marriage, job, her son. It’s a jigsaw puzzle and fun to discover details about Olive which lead to what phase of life she’s in. At the same time Elizabeth creates a large cast of characters who are also connected to each other.
One of my personal favourite stories, and it’s difficult to choose one is Security: Olive Kitteridge goes to New York to visit her son and second wife. In a series of mishaps, the wife’s children from previous men irritate her, the person above her son’s flat, who has a parrot who spouts religious phrases annoys her, she decides to leave. Olive’s son just tells her that Olive’s character can be frustrating. Olive leaves in a huff and then is arrested by airport security, something she takes pride in.
Within that story a lot of themes emerged: mainly parent/child relationships: Most of them in Olive Kitteridge, and the Lucy Barton ones for that matter, are fraught, almost at the point of estrangement. Old age/the passing of time: Olive Kitteridge is feeling disconnected from society since she is getting old. Especially when it comes to values. Americana: there is something distinctly American about these stories. Not only do they capture a small-town culture, but Olive herself embraces a time when America was a more homely land of solid traditions, which now seem to be crumbling.
Each story’s themes hit hard but embraced me with a warm fuzzy feeling, that thick tartan blanket on winter’s night. These stories are so well crafted that one cannot help admiring them. Olive Kitteridge, at this point, is the reading highlight on this little literary journey.
