The Burgess Boys

 

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout

Fiction

2013

Finished on May 4, 2025

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,” wrote The New Yorker on the publication of her Pulitzer Prize–winning Olive Kitteridge. The San Francisco Chronicle praised Strout’s “magnificent gift for humanizing characters.” Now the acclaimed author returns with a stunning novel as powerful and moving as any work in contemporary literature.

Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a sleek, successful corporate lawyer, has belittled his bighearted brother their whole lives, and Bob, a Legal Aid attorney who idolizes Jim, has always taken it in stride. But their long-standing dynamic is upended when their sister, Susan—the Burgess sibling who stayed behind—urgently calls them home. Her lonely teenage son, Zach, has gotten himself into a world of trouble, and Susan desperately needs their help. And so the Burgess brothers return to the landscape of their childhood, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed their relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever.

With a rare combination of brilliant storytelling, exquisite prose, and remarkable insight into character, Elizabeth Strout has brought to life two deeply human protagonists whose struggles and triumphs will resonate with readers long after they turn the final page. Tender, tough-minded, loving, and deeply illuminating about the ties that bind us to family and home, The Burgess Boys is Elizabeth Strout's newest and perhaps most astonishing work of literary art.

I tried to listen to the audio edition of The Burgess Boys when it was released in 2013. I might have been distracted at the time, but the opening chapters failed to grab my attention. I remember that I simply didn't care about Jim or Bob Burgess. So, when I recently borrowed a copy of the book in my endeavor to read all of Strout's novels, I did so with hesitation. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the book as well as I did! Strout creates such quirky characters, many of whom either lack a social filter or are simply socially awkward. The relationship between the three Burgess siblings is complicated. Jim is unkind to his younger brother. Susan is unkind to her twin. Bob is a good person and just wants to get along. I loved this character-driven story, and I'm so glad I gave it a second chance! Elizabeth Strout is quite a storyteller, and I'm looking forward to re-reading My Name Is Lucy Barton, which is next on my list.

Highly recommend.