Tell Me Everything
Elizabeth Strout
Tell Me Everything
Elizabeth Strout
It's autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer, Lucy Barton, who lives nearby in a house next to the sea. Together, Lucy and Bob talk about their lives, their hopes and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, befriends one of Crosby's longest inhabitants, Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive's apartment, telling each other tories. Stories about people they have known - 'unrecorded lives', Olive calls them - reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.
Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everything is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, 'Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love'.
Review
Chris Gordon
In the end, of course, it is Olive Kitteridge who tells it like it is. However, before that happens, you do get to spend an entire wonderful year with Bob Burgess and his dear friend, Lucy Barton. Elizabeth Strout’s poignant new novel, Tell Me Everything, is a faultless examination of people and all their complexities and connections. It is an utter joy to read.
We arrive back in Maine as autumn begins and travel through the year with Lucy and Bob as they meet each week for a walk to their favourite bench. This walk and friendship become Bob’s favourite time; with Lucy he feels seen, heard, and, most importantly, understood. His year is turning into a busy one with his wife, the town pastor, having work issues, his family suffering and, as the town lawyer, he has taken on a heartbreaking murder investigation. Meanwhile, Lucy finally has become friends with Olive, now living in a retirement village and still sharp as a tack. The women discuss unrecorded lives – people they knew and how their lives went this way or that.
Strout’s superpower as a writer is to ensure everyone unites on some level without extra romance or fuss. I adore the way she unveils a curious detail to create extra pathos when needed. Her writing is seamless, dignified and inviting. I found her last novel, Lucy by the Sea, to be perfectly timed as an account of the fear, anxiety and pain caused by the global pandemic. This novel proves that Strout is still looking after her readers. Tell Me Everything examines our ability to find hope in one another. It is about the love we hold, and it shows that sometimes, most times, this is all we need.
And yes, you can enjoy this novel without having read any of her others, but why would you?
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