My Name is Lucy Barton A Novel

i love a complicated mother daughter relationship, and this has multiple, and a useless husband that we love, and the effects of poverty on family relationships and your view of the world OH i was blown away

I loved this so much. The characters, the way it was written in short snippets. Loved it.

Loved this and will continue with the rest is the books in the series. Recommended for those who like introspective narratives.

Disclaimer: this is not a review

I always read Strout's books quickly. I have been thinking about being alone (how much I like it, how much I dread it) even though I don't think the book is about that. And I'm putting a lot of pressure on dead people to talk to me. Why did we make this life so boring? I wish I can borrow my body to someone else.

A painful and profound read, more please.

Book #16 Read in 2016 My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout This book was just an ok read for me. I almost gave up on it but it was a short read so I stuck with it. Lucy is reflecting back on her life, namely when she was in the hospital while ill. Through short chapters and reflections, Lucy details her complicated relationship with her mother, how her financial status has improved as well as the love she has for her children. I wish that there was more of a linear plot to it. I borrowed this book from the public library.

4.5/5

4 stars |

Easy read, entertaining storyline that had a relatable main character :)

Really liked the prose work and structure here. Insightful and dynamic relationship between mother and daughter, very much coloured by poverty and family dynamics. Short, sweet, doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Astute observations peppered throughout. Will continue with the next, at some point.

This book was both beautiful and sometimes hard to read. It's an honest and above all else loving celebration of the relationship between mothers and daughters, and it's also an amazing and unique cut into the sources from which a writer draws her story and non-negotiable writers' rules through which she learns to guide her work. My heart intermittently was broken and then became full again, which I suppose is the message about the universally flawed reality of family and love about which Strout writes. The peripheral characters that are brought to life in this story are tremendous, and Lucy's mom is an absolutely indelible character. I loved her, and wanted to shake her, and wanted to hug her, in so many turns. I wanted to live in this book for a while longer than it lasted, and will certainly come back to it more than once. Worth the hardcover buy.

My Name is Lucy Barton is about Lucy Barton (obvi). Lucy reminisces on her time in the hospital when her mother came to visit. Lucy has a complicated and somewhat estranged relationship with her whole family, but still loves her mother and seeks her approval and care. This is a short and quiet novel that gets in to some heavy family dynamics. Lucy grew up extremely poor and alludes to different types of abuse from her father and mother. Lucy hasn’t seen anyone in her family since she left for college, got married, and had two kids. Her family didn’t come to her wedding and have never met her children. This novel packs an emotional punch into a short book. It’s spare but well written. I found myself rooting for Lucy and feeling sad for her upbringing but understanding her love for her mother. If you like quiet but emotional fiction, I’d recommend this to you! It’s a bit more subtle but has a similar feel (although different writing style and characters) to All Grown Up, which I also really enjoyed. Maybe I’ll have to read Olive Kitteridge soon.

This book is not one that will make you laugh out loud and declare that all is right with the world. It is one that disturbs and provokes and pesters you with the complications of life and relationships. You will have questions, you might have a few answers, you will dislike the majority of the characters - but you should love them too. You should want only good things for them from here on out, but chances are that will just be an empty hope on your part. Our lives are not linear and smooth. And neither is Lucy Barton's.

But I think I know so well the pain we children clutch to our chests, how it lasts our whole lifetime, with longings so large you can't even weep. We hold tight, we do, with each seizure of the beating heart: This is mine, this is mine, this is mine. Actual rating: 4.5/5 - I really enjoyed this book. I don't know if that makes me a sadist, but there's just something addictive about it. It's the story telling, I think; though I have to agree, it is as depressing as they say it is. This reminded me so much of The Glass Castle, except this one centers on the relationship between mothers and daughters. It's also not a memoir, though it feels very much like one. The first parts were melancholic, but the last 50 pages were downright depressing. You have been warned. I mean, just look at this quote - I feel that people may not understand that my mother could never say the words I love you. I feel that people may not understand: It was all right. asdfkljadflkadjf. I still loved it though. Someone please read this and share insights with me :( I have questions. :(

Lucy está internada después de que una extracción de apéndice se complicara un poco... y se encuentra con su madre, a los pies de la cama. No la veía hace muchísimos años. A partir de ahí vendrán las anécdotas, flashes de su infancia, adolescencia y adultez que irán dibujando la imagen entera de esa familia, cómo funcionaban, cómo han crecido (o no), el lazo que los une a cada uno. Está muy cargado, sentimentalmente hablando. Y puede llegar a ser un poco deprimente. Me gustó mucho, pero siento que la imagen que me quisieron mostrar no estaba completa, siento que algo me faltó. Pero en un todo, es una excelente novela corta escrita de manera maravillosa que te lees en un día y que te hace reflexionar un montón.

So this book is a bit weird. It's about poverty and abuse and divorce and a rocky relationship with your mother. Like I said weird. So this book is basically one huge flashback with lots of smaller flashbacks within. (Y'all, Idek) So there are all these asides and smaller chapters that just tell short stories about her childhood. And that throws off the flow. ("I'm sorry, but you've thrown off the Emperor's grove.") It's a relatively short book but it's truly an emotional journey. It talks a lot about AIDS (why Idek) and rocky marriages (like why does literally every marriage in this book have to end badly??). And a ton about her mother. Lucy has a strange relationship with her family. She basically escaped the poverty that had been in her family for generations and her family low-key resents her for it. But she still loves them. And, from what I'm picking up from those weird flashbacks, they were abusive as well. (view spoiler)[ Like Lucy gets locked in her dad's truck for hours?? And then there's this story of her dad catching her brother dressing in his mother's pearls and making him walk around town in it. I hated that scene. (hide spoiler)] So there's all these weird dynamics. But, I guess the main takeaway from this book is that part of us will always love our family no matter how they treated us or how far away we live. Family is about dropping everything to spend days with you in the hospital.

Qué?

A wise book.