#BookReview Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout @VikingBooksUK

About the Book

Lucy Barton is a successful writer living in New York, navigating the second half of her life as a recent widow and parent to two adult daughters. A surprise encounter leads her to reconnect with William, her first husband – and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante. Recalling their college years, the birth of their daughters, the painful dissolution of their marriage, and the lives they built with other people, Strout weaves a portrait, stunning in its subtlety, of a tender, complex, decades-long partnership.

Oh William! captures the joy and sorrow of watching children grow up and start families of their own; of discovering family secrets, late in life, that alter everything we think we know about those closest to us; and the way people live and love, against all odds. At the heart of this story is the unforgettable, indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who once again offers a profound, lasting reflection on the mystery of existence. ‘This is the way of life,’ Lucy says. ‘The many things we do not know until it is too late.’

Format: Hardcover (256 pages)         Publisher: Viking
Publication date: 21st October 2021 Genre: Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

At one point in the book William tells Lucy, ‘You steal people’s hearts, Lucy’ and it’s clear Elizabeth Strout has found it difficult to part with the character who first appeared in My Name Is Lucy Barton and more recently in Anything Is Possible. Oh Willam! definitely feels like the final instalment in Lucy’s story.

The book is narrated in the first person by Lucy in a conversational style, without chapter breaks, shifting back and forth in time to include memories of her traumatic childhood and the early years of her marriage to William and its subsequent breakdown.  As Lucy reflects on her own actions, things she could have done differently, and missed opportunities, it feels like something of a confessional. At one point, William accuses Lucy of being self-absorbed; it’s a fair accusation but then aren’t we all self-absorbed to some degree?

Although William and Lucy’s marriage involved much disappointment, including infidelity, what comes across is the continuing affection they have for each other.  The phrase ‘Oh William!’ occurs frequently, sometimes reflecting Lucy’s exasperation with William, at other times her feelings of pity, of tenderness or of understanding of what he’s going through.  After a period apart, during which much has happened in both their lives, they quickly return to being close confidantes.  And, of course, their daughters, Chrissy and Becka, provide a lasting link between them, evoking memories of happier times.  At one point, Lucy wonders, ‘What is it that William knew about me and that I knew about him that caused us to get married?’ The journey they take together to investigate a secret involving William’s family history left me disappointed that they couldn’t have made their marriage work. However, as Lucy reflects, ‘This is the way of life; the many things we do not know until it is too late.’

The most striking part of the book for me was the final section in which William and Lucy visit the area where William’s mother, Catherine, grew up and he learns more about his mother’s early life. It was here that I got the most sense of Lucy being a successful novelist as she imagines Catherine’s journey to a new life with William’s father. ‘Oh, I could see young Catherine half-running, half-walking down that windswept November dark road, and getting to the train station without her boots, just her shoes and snow on the ground…’ 

Oh William! demonstrates Elizabeth Strout’s trademark careful dissection of the way people act and interact, their hopes and regrets, and their struggles to come to terms with loss and disappointment.

In three words: Tender, insightful, acutely-observed

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About the Author

Elizabeth Strout is the Pulitzer prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge, as well as The Burgess Boys, a New York Times bestseller, Abide With Me and Amy and Isabelle, which won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize. She lives in New York City and Portland, Maine. (Bio credit: Publisher author page/Photo credit: Goodreads author page)

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