REVIEWS

Mike Nixon

Not an author that I have ever heard of and now very unlikely to read more of her novels. This is the fourth book in a series involving Lucy Barton, this makes the history of some of the characters harder to understand. The story is set in New York and a fictional town of Crosby in Maine, USA, providing for me an immediate dislike as you cannot check the places out on Google maps or Wikipedia. Set in the first 18 months of the Covid pandemic the storyline involves a complex mix of family relationships with an ex-husband, brothers, sisters, in-laws and deceased parents and husband as well as friends past and present. The format with spaced out paragraphs, single sentences and chapters is abnormal and probably means the book is much shorter than the 288 pages.

Marilyn Smith

I found this book strange/odd to get into… why was she going off with her ex husband to a different state not knowing why? I liked the way it was written with the often double spacing so you would know where you’d left off from the previous read. I resonated completely with the residents of the new state saying why don’t these people stay in their own state. As she wrote, there was so much going on in people’s lives when the covid hit. It was strange reading a bang up to date story.

Ruth Musson

I didn’t particularly find this book to my taste. If I had read the previous books maybe I would have enjoyed it more but as it was I found it hard to connect with or care about the characters. I felt that it was written in a very simplistic almost childlike way with little depth. It was about a time when nothing much happened hence nothing much happened in the book. It is not set long enough ago to instil any feelings of nostalgia. I liked the very last conversation that she had with one of her daughters and was thinking this is more like it when I turned the page and it ended quite unsatisfactorily.

Marjorie Lewis

I really enjoyed reading Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout. It is set in USA and covers the time when the Covid pandemic first hit the world. It seems a very personal story, partly written in the form of a diary of Lucy. It certainly gives a different view point and it is as though you are sharing in her story. It is both atmospheric and descriptive with excellent use of language to both set the scene and place you in the action. It is the kind of book which you cannot wait to read to discover what happens to the characters in the next section. The author is able to draw you in as though you are sharing the time. As well as being beautifully descriptive and painting an excellent picture of where the action takes place, it draws the reader into the emotions of the characters involved, and brings both tears of joy and sorrow. A definite page turner. You never know what the next twist and turn will be. I couldn’t recommend this book more. I will certainly be looking for more of Elizabeth Strout’s books.

Barry Turvey

I am sorry to say that I was very disappointed with this book. I found it very difficult to 'get into' the story. The style of her writing was not as I'm used to. The story was very 'light' with not enough detail to the characters as well as the surrounding. I also found it irritating with 'Lucy' saying numerous negative comments. Okay, it's based around the start of the Coronavirus outbreak in the US which is the first novel I've read that includes that period, but that basically was it! That is apart from her family, present and past, but that also wasn't that interesting. However, with a more positive comment, the last dozen or so pages were a great deal easier to read and enjoy, which sadly I can't say about the rest of the novel.

Barbara Greig

I had not read anything by Elizabeth Strout, mainly because I tend to avoid modern American novels as I find the differences between our common language too irritating. However, although this is true of the first thirty or so pages, I persevered and after re-reading chapter one I was hooked. Elizabeth Strout is a master story-teller and the presentation of the text seemed to enhance the emotional stress and anxieties of the main character, Lucy. The author’s observational skills of our human reactions, both individually and collectively, to the current Covid Virus disaster, were amazing and totally believable. Very well researched and relevant to us all. But it was her presentation of human emotions and individual inter-reaction that grabbed me most and had me reminiscing along with the characters in Lucy’s life; it must be my age, which is similar to theirs I believe! I shall no longer avoid modern American authors and will most certainly seek out more books by Elizabeth Strout. I recommend this book as a good holiday read, if only to remind us all of how lucky we westerners are in the face of this disastrous pandemic.