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Anything is Possible: Find your ambition and make your dreams real with this book Paperback – 26 February 2018
by
Elizabeth Strout
(Author)
Elizabeth Strout (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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A stunning novel by the No. 1 New York Times bestselling, Times Top 10 bestseller and Man Booker long-listed author of Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton
Anything is Possible tells the story of the inhabitants of rural, dusty Amgash, Illinois, the hometown of Lucy Barton, a successful New York writer who finally returns, after seventeen years of absence, to visit the siblings she left behind.
Reverberating with the deep bonds of family, and the hope that comes with reconciliation, Anything Is Possible again underscores Elizabeth Strout's place as one of America's most respected and cherished authors.
Anything is Possible tells the story of the inhabitants of rural, dusty Amgash, Illinois, the hometown of Lucy Barton, a successful New York writer who finally returns, after seventeen years of absence, to visit the siblings she left behind.
Reverberating with the deep bonds of family, and the hope that comes with reconciliation, Anything Is Possible again underscores Elizabeth Strout's place as one of America's most respected and cherished authors.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin (General UK)
- Publication date26 February 2018
- Dimensions12.9 x 1.7 x 19.8 cm
- ISBN-109780241248799
- ISBN-13978-0241248799
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Product description
Review
It's hard to believe that a year after the astonishing My Name Is Lucy Barton Elizabeth Strout could bring us another book that is by every measure its equal, but what Strout proves to us again and again is that where she's concerned, anything is possible. This book, this writer, are magnificent. -- Ann Patchett, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of 'Commonwealth'
This is a shimmering masterpiece of a book...Strout is a brilliant chronicler of the ambiguity and delicacy of the human condition. Anything is Possible is a wise, stunning novel ― Observer
The words appear on the page as if breathed there ― Sunday Telegraph
Anything is Possible is wonderfully readable because Strout really can write you into a world until you feel you are there with her, in that house, that life, that little Podunk of a place ― The Times
Strout's compassion for her fellow creatures, as these anguished, lean stories prove, is as keen as a whip and all the more painful for it ― Guardian
The work of Elizabeth Strout suggests that she pays a similar quality of unseparate attention to life, which she - not passively, but actively - takes in, listening to, looking into it, reflecting up on and freeing it once more, remade, in beautifully placed words, onto the page to live again for us, her fortunate readers ― Daily Telegraph
Anything is Possible is absolutely wonderful. Here is a writer at the peak of her powers: compassionate, profoundly observant, laser-cut diamond brilliant ― Literary Review
Anything Is Possible confirms Strout as one of our most grace-filled, and graceful, writers ― Boston Globe
There is immense humanity in Strout's writing....her masterful economy of prose creates a rich tapestry infused with emotional wisdom...Anything is Possible is a masterpiece ― Sunday Express
A quietly gripping deception of some of the ordinary, messy, interwoven lives that Lucy and her mother discussed in the earlier book ― Radio Times
Strout, always good, just keeps getting better ― Vogue US
In her latest work, Strout achieves new levels of masterful storytelling. ― Publisher's Weekly
[F]ull of searing insight into the darkest corners of the human spirit... 'Anything Is Possible' is both sweeping in scope and incredibly introspective. That delicate balance is what makes its content so sharp and compulsively readable... With assuredness, compassion and utmost grace, her words and characters remind us that in life anything is actually possible ― San Francisco Chronicle
The epic scope within seemingly modest confines recalls Strout's Pulitzer Prize winner, Olive Kitteridge, and her ability to discern vulnerabilities buried beneath bad behavior is as acute as ever. Another powerful examination of painfully human ambiguities and ambivalences-this gifted writer just keeps getting better. ― Kirkus Reviews
If you miss the charmingly eccentric and completely relatable characters from Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout's best-selling My Name is Lucy Barton, you'll be happily reunited with them in Strout's smart and soulful Anything is Possible ― Elle US
Strout once again shows her talent for adroitly uncovering what makes ordinary people tick ― Booklist
Strout pierces the inner worlds of these characters' most private behaviors, illuminating the emotional conflicts and pure joy of being human, of finding oneself in the search for the American dream ― Nylon
Amgash, Illinois, will be familiar to Elizabeth Strout fans as the hometown of the protagonist of her 2016 novel, My Name is Lucy Barton. In Anything is Possible... Lucy's legend looms large... but no prior reading is required to enjoy Strout's powerful writing and empathy ― Real Simple
We devoured Strout's last novel, My Name Is Lucy Barton, and her latest-which is loosely linked to Lucy Barton-is no different. Told from multiple points of view, it's about residents of a small town in Illinois struggling with the most relatable and quotidian problems... you'll swear you know these characters. (In fact, it reminds us a bit of another of Strout's masterpieces, the excellent Olive Kitteridge.) ― PureWow
Elizabeth Strout's prose is like words doing jazz -- Rachel Joyce
I am deeply impressed. Writing of this quality comes from a commitment to listening, from a perfect attunement to the human condition, from an attention to reality so exact that it goes beyond a skill and becomes a virtue. -- Hilary Mantel on 'My Name is Lucy Barton'
A powerful storyteller immersed in the nuances of human relationships -- Observer on 'My Name is Lucy Barton'
Tender, elegiac, this is the story of a single life that also manages to tell the story of many -- Independent on 'My Name is Lucy Barton'
The writing is wrenchingly lovely. It almost always is with Strout, whether she's knitting metaphors or summarizing, with agonizing economy, whole episodes. ― New York Times
There are not many novelists out there producing writing as good as this ― Daily Mail
Down to every sentence, it's wise, touching and quietly powerful ― Grazia
As always, Strout treats even the most difficult characters with rare understanding. "It made me feel much less alone," says on reader of Lucy's memoir. The same will surely be said of Anything Is Possible ― People (Book of the Week)
Gorgeous... Strout is in that special company of writers like Richard Ford, Stewart O'Nan and Richard Russo, who write simply about ordinary lives and, in so doing, make us readers see the beauty of both their worn and rough surfaces and what lies beneath -- Maureen Corrigan, NPR / Fresh Air
Highly enjoyable ― Sunday Times
A subtle, disturbing and touching book that is a miracle of wisdom and perception ― Mail on Sunday
A beautifully told story of small-town Americans dealing with big life issues ― Good Housekeeping
Utterly beautiful in the way that these characters were flawed to their core yet brimful of keeping it together no matter what...I loved it, there wasn't a moment when I didn't believe it. -- Barb Jungr ― BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review
In all her novels, including this one, "the kindness of strangers is a fierce sun than can pierce the cloud" ― The Week
Every chapter has depth, nuances, restrained descriptions and luminous characterisation. A wonder of a book ― i Newspaper
Elizabeth Strout is a novelist in whose hands anything really is possible, and if you've yet to discover her, make this holiday the one you do ― Daily Mail
This glimmering, profound, beautiful novel is modern American writing at its best' -- Clare Allfree
Just as understated and as full of horrifyingly elisions and surprising epiphanies as its predecessor ― TLS Books of the Year
This audacious novel is about small-town characters struggling to make sense of past family traumas ― New York Times Books of the Year
Strout turns her clear, incisive gaze on the intricacies and betrayals of small town life -- Maggie O'Farrell
Anything is Possible is predictably great because it's written by Elizabeth Strout, and brilliantly unpredictable - because it is written by Elizabeth Strout -- Roddy Doyle
This is a shimmering masterpiece of a book...Strout is a brilliant chronicler of the ambiguity and delicacy of the human condition. Anything is Possible is a wise, stunning novel ― Observer
The words appear on the page as if breathed there ― Sunday Telegraph
Anything is Possible is wonderfully readable because Strout really can write you into a world until you feel you are there with her, in that house, that life, that little Podunk of a place ― The Times
Strout's compassion for her fellow creatures, as these anguished, lean stories prove, is as keen as a whip and all the more painful for it ― Guardian
The work of Elizabeth Strout suggests that she pays a similar quality of unseparate attention to life, which she - not passively, but actively - takes in, listening to, looking into it, reflecting up on and freeing it once more, remade, in beautifully placed words, onto the page to live again for us, her fortunate readers ― Daily Telegraph
Anything is Possible is absolutely wonderful. Here is a writer at the peak of her powers: compassionate, profoundly observant, laser-cut diamond brilliant ― Literary Review
Anything Is Possible confirms Strout as one of our most grace-filled, and graceful, writers ― Boston Globe
There is immense humanity in Strout's writing....her masterful economy of prose creates a rich tapestry infused with emotional wisdom...Anything is Possible is a masterpiece ― Sunday Express
A quietly gripping deception of some of the ordinary, messy, interwoven lives that Lucy and her mother discussed in the earlier book ― Radio Times
Strout, always good, just keeps getting better ― Vogue US
In her latest work, Strout achieves new levels of masterful storytelling. ― Publisher's Weekly
[F]ull of searing insight into the darkest corners of the human spirit... 'Anything Is Possible' is both sweeping in scope and incredibly introspective. That delicate balance is what makes its content so sharp and compulsively readable... With assuredness, compassion and utmost grace, her words and characters remind us that in life anything is actually possible ― San Francisco Chronicle
The epic scope within seemingly modest confines recalls Strout's Pulitzer Prize winner, Olive Kitteridge, and her ability to discern vulnerabilities buried beneath bad behavior is as acute as ever. Another powerful examination of painfully human ambiguities and ambivalences-this gifted writer just keeps getting better. ― Kirkus Reviews
If you miss the charmingly eccentric and completely relatable characters from Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout's best-selling My Name is Lucy Barton, you'll be happily reunited with them in Strout's smart and soulful Anything is Possible ― Elle US
Strout once again shows her talent for adroitly uncovering what makes ordinary people tick ― Booklist
Strout pierces the inner worlds of these characters' most private behaviors, illuminating the emotional conflicts and pure joy of being human, of finding oneself in the search for the American dream ― Nylon
Amgash, Illinois, will be familiar to Elizabeth Strout fans as the hometown of the protagonist of her 2016 novel, My Name is Lucy Barton. In Anything is Possible... Lucy's legend looms large... but no prior reading is required to enjoy Strout's powerful writing and empathy ― Real Simple
We devoured Strout's last novel, My Name Is Lucy Barton, and her latest-which is loosely linked to Lucy Barton-is no different. Told from multiple points of view, it's about residents of a small town in Illinois struggling with the most relatable and quotidian problems... you'll swear you know these characters. (In fact, it reminds us a bit of another of Strout's masterpieces, the excellent Olive Kitteridge.) ― PureWow
Elizabeth Strout's prose is like words doing jazz -- Rachel Joyce
I am deeply impressed. Writing of this quality comes from a commitment to listening, from a perfect attunement to the human condition, from an attention to reality so exact that it goes beyond a skill and becomes a virtue. -- Hilary Mantel on 'My Name is Lucy Barton'
A powerful storyteller immersed in the nuances of human relationships -- Observer on 'My Name is Lucy Barton'
Tender, elegiac, this is the story of a single life that also manages to tell the story of many -- Independent on 'My Name is Lucy Barton'
The writing is wrenchingly lovely. It almost always is with Strout, whether she's knitting metaphors or summarizing, with agonizing economy, whole episodes. ― New York Times
There are not many novelists out there producing writing as good as this ― Daily Mail
Down to every sentence, it's wise, touching and quietly powerful ― Grazia
As always, Strout treats even the most difficult characters with rare understanding. "It made me feel much less alone," says on reader of Lucy's memoir. The same will surely be said of Anything Is Possible ― People (Book of the Week)
Gorgeous... Strout is in that special company of writers like Richard Ford, Stewart O'Nan and Richard Russo, who write simply about ordinary lives and, in so doing, make us readers see the beauty of both their worn and rough surfaces and what lies beneath -- Maureen Corrigan, NPR / Fresh Air
Highly enjoyable ― Sunday Times
A subtle, disturbing and touching book that is a miracle of wisdom and perception ― Mail on Sunday
A beautifully told story of small-town Americans dealing with big life issues ― Good Housekeeping
Utterly beautiful in the way that these characters were flawed to their core yet brimful of keeping it together no matter what...I loved it, there wasn't a moment when I didn't believe it. -- Barb Jungr ― BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review
In all her novels, including this one, "the kindness of strangers is a fierce sun than can pierce the cloud" ― The Week
Every chapter has depth, nuances, restrained descriptions and luminous characterisation. A wonder of a book ― i Newspaper
Elizabeth Strout is a novelist in whose hands anything really is possible, and if you've yet to discover her, make this holiday the one you do ― Daily Mail
This glimmering, profound, beautiful novel is modern American writing at its best' -- Clare Allfree
Just as understated and as full of horrifyingly elisions and surprising epiphanies as its predecessor ― TLS Books of the Year
This audacious novel is about small-town characters struggling to make sense of past family traumas ― New York Times Books of the Year
Strout turns her clear, incisive gaze on the intricacies and betrayals of small town life -- Maggie O'Farrell
Anything is Possible is predictably great because it's written by Elizabeth Strout, and brilliantly unpredictable - because it is written by Elizabeth Strout -- Roddy Doyle
Book Description
A stunning novel by the No. 1 New York Times bestselling, Times Top 10 bestseller and Man Booker long-listed author of Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton.
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.
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Product details
- ASIN : 0241248795
- Publisher : Penguin (General UK); 1st edition (26 February 2018)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780241248799
- ISBN-13 : 978-0241248799
- Dimensions : 12.9 x 1.7 x 19.8 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 52,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,945 in U.S. Literature
- 2,299 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- 2,659 in Short Stories (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Elizabeth Strout is the author of the New York Times bestseller Olive Kitteridge, for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize; the national bestseller Abide with Me; and Amy and Isabelle, winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in London. She lives in Maine and New York City.
Customer reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
3,145 global ratings
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TOP 1000 REVIEWER
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Although Elizabeth Strout is an excellent writer this book of interlinked chapters which are really short stories just doesn't really go anywhere.
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Reviewed in Australia on 4 October 2018
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Wonderful. A tonic. Exquisite writing. I admire the sheer honesty and emotional precision displayed by the author. I can only describe the experience of reading this book as a moral relief. I had thought no one cared any more for the ordinary life and the exquisite nuances of the human condition.
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Reviewed in Australia on 5 August 2017
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Interesting characters. I particularly liked the ending. The variety of characters presented have a good idea of a small town .
Very well written a good command of language. thanks for an enjoyable reading experience.
Very well written a good command of language. thanks for an enjoyable reading experience.
Reviewed in Australia on 2 November 2017
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I loved Olive Kitteridge by the same author. This had interlocking stories/ characters but I was not engaged much with them
Reviewed in Australia on 12 March 2018
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Enjoyed the family dynamics. Also how characters appeared in different contexts in life’s web. Would recommend the book to friends and family.
Reviewed in Australia on 26 July 2018
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Spare. Quiet. Moving. Remarkable. Brilliantly written. Everyone should read this group of stories clearly written by one who sees the wonderful humanity in all.
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Reviewed in Australia on 1 July 2017
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Loved the juxtaposition of sweetness and sorrow in the interlinked stories from small town Illinois. For readers of American writers of place - think Anne Tyler- Elizabeth Prout will not disappoint.
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Reviewed in Australia on 29 May 2017
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I found it difficult to actually understand the story line, it was a very disconnected read that lack a story line to ground and make sense of the characters.
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Top reviews from other countries

M. Dowden
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 August 2018Verified Purchase
This is the first book I have ever read by Elizabeth Strout, but it won’t be my last, as literally apart from going to the toilet I read this straight off beginning to end. There is an active table of contents here, so you can read these tales in any order you wish, although if you read them in the order they appear here then you will notice certain progressions, and the interconnectedness between certain stories. And although you can say this is a collection of short stories, you can also say that it is a novel in the way that this is set out, which is no mean feat.
Not an actual sequel to the author’s previous novel ‘My Name is Lucy Barton’ this book does feature her and takes us to her home town of Amgash and the surrounding area (such as Carlisle) Illinois. Here we read of other members of the Barton family, including cousins, as well as other people from the area.
Filled with various themes so we can see depression, desire and loneliness, along with desperation and gossip, and so on. As incidents occur and we find out things that are going on in the present as well as in the past, so we find characters that are skilfully drawn with scenarios that we either have experience of or can empathise with. This is beautifully written, and the people really come to life, with their warts and all, giving us a deeper insight into life and what it means to be human. None of us are perfect, and this is shown here, with flaws appearing in characters, that adds to that human touch.
You do not have to have read the Lucy Barton novel to appreciate this, and due to the structure, even if you do not normally read short story books you may soon find yourself enjoying this, as the tales interconnect, and as I have already mentioned this does have a feel of a novel about it. Giving us a greater depth than the page count may indicate this really is a pure pleasure to read.
Not an actual sequel to the author’s previous novel ‘My Name is Lucy Barton’ this book does feature her and takes us to her home town of Amgash and the surrounding area (such as Carlisle) Illinois. Here we read of other members of the Barton family, including cousins, as well as other people from the area.
Filled with various themes so we can see depression, desire and loneliness, along with desperation and gossip, and so on. As incidents occur and we find out things that are going on in the present as well as in the past, so we find characters that are skilfully drawn with scenarios that we either have experience of or can empathise with. This is beautifully written, and the people really come to life, with their warts and all, giving us a deeper insight into life and what it means to be human. None of us are perfect, and this is shown here, with flaws appearing in characters, that adds to that human touch.
You do not have to have read the Lucy Barton novel to appreciate this, and due to the structure, even if you do not normally read short story books you may soon find yourself enjoying this, as the tales interconnect, and as I have already mentioned this does have a feel of a novel about it. Giving us a greater depth than the page count may indicate this really is a pure pleasure to read.
27 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer gillyflower
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not my sort of book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2018Verified Purchase
I do think quite highly of this author and have read and thoroughly enjoyed three of her novels. This one 'Anything is Possible' was not to my taste. I don't go for short stories and made a mistake by not reading the blurb properly, which would have told me that this is what the book comprised of. Having said that, I didn't find the individual stores particularly interesting. One can't deny the skill of Elizabeth Strout however in portraying her characters. There is a link throughout, tenuous though it might me, ie Lucy Barton. I couldn't really recommend this, but if you like short storiess and also like Elizabeth Strout, and maybe if you have read 'My Name is Lucy Barton' this would be worth a read.
12 people found this helpful
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J. Ang
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love - Warts and All
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 July 2019Verified Purchase
Another gem from the inimitable Elizabeth Strout in the vein of her Pulitzer winner, “Olive Kitteridge”. This novel is collection of stories about a pastiche of characters from a fictional town of Amgash, Illinois. We get among these stories a view of Lucy Barton from Strout’s previous novel “I am Lucy Barton”, at first in passing from other characters’ mention of her and her childhood, and then in a chapter where she appears with her siblings. There is however, no one central focaliser, and each of this ensemble cast has chapters centred on their ordinary yet tumultuous inner lives.
Seemingly innocuous scenes unfold with a gradual shift in tone and mood, that are sometimes alarming and violent, sometimes touching and sad, but always moving, as a character learns something about himself or herself, or revisits a distant memory and wonders at how it has been distorted just so. Strout’s impeccable skill at fully investing in the moment such that the immediate surroundings acquire significance and become part of the character’s frame of reference for a feeling or some hard truth that he or she has to suddenly grapple with is in full force in these interconnected narratives. For instance, when a pliant wife confronts the awful crimes her husband commits and worse, that she has been complicit with, “the Hopper painting hung on the wall with an indifference so vast it began to feel personal, as though it had been painted for this moment.”
Oftentimes a simple truth uttered in the midst of tremendous hurt and pain, at the right place and time, offers a glimmer of hope and acceptance, such as this one: “And remorse, well, to be able to show remorse - to be able to be sorry about what we’ve done that’s hurt other people - that keeps us human.” And as much as we battle ourselves and the world at large each day on our own, and realise that “everyone... was mainly and mostly interested in themselves”, as a woman Patty listened to her friend turning a conversation back to her own to her own troubles, she reflected on the devotion of her late husband: “This was the skin that protected you from the world - this loving of another person you shared your life with.” The sadness and longing of that sentence was palpable in the context of all that Patty had loved and lost.
Strout may not offer any pithy answers but she expertly dissects the contradictions of this thing we call the human condition, exposing its bare bones for our reflection and examination, and it’s difficult to step out from this novel without a certain reverence for one’s life and its complicated relationships.
Seemingly innocuous scenes unfold with a gradual shift in tone and mood, that are sometimes alarming and violent, sometimes touching and sad, but always moving, as a character learns something about himself or herself, or revisits a distant memory and wonders at how it has been distorted just so. Strout’s impeccable skill at fully investing in the moment such that the immediate surroundings acquire significance and become part of the character’s frame of reference for a feeling or some hard truth that he or she has to suddenly grapple with is in full force in these interconnected narratives. For instance, when a pliant wife confronts the awful crimes her husband commits and worse, that she has been complicit with, “the Hopper painting hung on the wall with an indifference so vast it began to feel personal, as though it had been painted for this moment.”
Oftentimes a simple truth uttered in the midst of tremendous hurt and pain, at the right place and time, offers a glimmer of hope and acceptance, such as this one: “And remorse, well, to be able to show remorse - to be able to be sorry about what we’ve done that’s hurt other people - that keeps us human.” And as much as we battle ourselves and the world at large each day on our own, and realise that “everyone... was mainly and mostly interested in themselves”, as a woman Patty listened to her friend turning a conversation back to her own to her own troubles, she reflected on the devotion of her late husband: “This was the skin that protected you from the world - this loving of another person you shared your life with.” The sadness and longing of that sentence was palpable in the context of all that Patty had loved and lost.
Strout may not offer any pithy answers but she expertly dissects the contradictions of this thing we call the human condition, exposing its bare bones for our reflection and examination, and it’s difficult to step out from this novel without a certain reverence for one’s life and its complicated relationships.
8 people found this helpful
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meeski
5.0 out of 5 stars
I have read all the author's books. What an ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2017Verified Purchase
I have read all the author's books. What an exceptional author. She writes of ordinary things and ordinary people in the most extraordinary way. Every sentence she writes takes me right there and I can see exactly what she is describing and feel every emotion
17 people found this helpful
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Kaffmatt
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well Written Short Story Collection- Recommended
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 August 2018Verified Purchase
This is a collection of short stories about the townsfolk of a small community in Illinois. Each story is interesting and captivating. The stories could easily, each one, be a novel on their own. There are obvious connections with the folk living in close proximity to one another and some of the stories overlap. The main connecting thread throughout is Lucy Barton (I’ve not read that stand alone book- yet). She’s mentioned in most.
It’s ludicrous to go into a review or short account of each story, suffice to say that this book is good, very well written, providing an insight into the lifestyle and people of the times.
Personally, I prefer ‘full’ novels but on this occasion, I deferred and fully enjoyed the book.
It’s ludicrous to go into a review or short account of each story, suffice to say that this book is good, very well written, providing an insight into the lifestyle and people of the times.
Personally, I prefer ‘full’ novels but on this occasion, I deferred and fully enjoyed the book.
6 people found this helpful
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