Elizabeth Strout
Oh, William! by Elizabeth Strout is a character-driven novel unfolding in the first-person voice of Lucy Barton, a successful novelist in her early sixties. Lucy is still grieving over the recent death of her second husband. She maintains a wonderful relationship with her two married daughters and enjoys a great friendship and connection with her first husband, William.
When William’s third wife leaves him, he turns to Lucy to help him navigate the separation. Through an ancestry research service, he learns he has a half-sister who was abandoned by his mother when she ran away to marry the man who was to become William’s father. He decides to visit Maine where his half-sister lives to see what he can discover about her and about his mother’s background. Lucy agrees to accompany him.
Strout’s characters are vibrant and skillfully drawn in telling details. The true strength of the novel, however, lies in the narrative voice. Lucy’s perspective and interiority is realistically rendered. It reads like an intimate conversation with a close friend. Her voice is plain and sincere; her tone, conversational. She hesitates, repeats herself, flounders to find the right words, and peppers her speech with colloquialisms. She includes anecdotes of her childhood and marriage. She rambles. She announces she doesn’t want to talk about a subject but then talks about it. She drops words like “I guess” or “I suppose” to reflect the tentative nature of her thoughts. She reveals details about her painful childhood, her marriage to William, his infidelities, her decision to leave, and her marriage to her second husband. She shares her insecurities and fears. She explores her childhood trauma and the impact it has had on her past and present adult relationships. She is endearing, compassionate, generous, and with an authentic interiority. Strout peppers Lucy’s forthright diction with a highly effective use of the word “Oh!” This simple exclamation packs a wealth of meaning depending on the context. It resonates on many levels. At different times, Lucy uses it to reflect frustration, appreciation, gratitude, sympathy, tenderness, and love.
Lucy’s relationship with William is another delightful piece in the novel. Their relationship is built on years of knowing one another’s strengths, weaknesses, and foibles. Their conversational banter and bickering is authentic and believable; their support for one another, genuine. Lucy’s feelings toward William fluctuate. At times, her interiority reflects anger at William’s emotional absence and past indiscretions during their marriage; at others, she experiences overwhelming compassion and tenderness towards him.
The novel explores a variety of topics including the fabric of relationships; why some work and others don’t; the long-term impact of childhood trauma; how trauma can propel the choices we make; and the tricks memory can play on us. This compelling, skillfully executed novel, with an endearing character at its center, invites us to immerse ourselves in her candid and sensitive reflections.