The Things We Never Say

 

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Fiction

2026

Finished on August 14, 2026

Rating: 4/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Artie Dam is living a double life. He spends his days teaching history to eleventh graders, expanding their young minds, correcting their casual cruelties, and lending a kind word to those who need it most. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbors, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. He is, by all appearances, present and alive. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation. He looks out at a world gone mad—at himself and the people around him—and turns a question over and over in his mind: How is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us?

And then, one day, Artie learns that life has been keeping a secret from him, one that threatens to upend his entire world. Once he learns it, he is forced to chart a new course, to reconsider the relationships he holds most dear—and to make peace with the mysteries at the heart of our existence.

Elizabeth Strout, as we have come to expect, delivers a moving exploration of the human condition—one that brims with compassion for each and every one of her indelible characters. With exquisite prose and profound insight, The Things We Never Say takes one man’s fears and loneliness and makes them universal. And in the same breath, captures the abiding love that sustains and holds us all.

I remember the first time I read Elizabeth Strout's novel, Olive Kitteridge. I tried to listen to the audiobook, but didn't care for it at all. Olive was so unlikeable, and the story was quite sad and depressing. I went back later and read the print edition and really enjoyed it. I've gone on to read the book a second time, and I read all Strout's books in 2025. Needless to say, I was very excited to read her latest novel, The Things We Never Say, which moves away from Maine and the familiar faces from her previous works, and takes her readers to Massachusetts with a new set of characters.

One thing is certain--Elizabeth Strout's novels lean toward the bleak and melancholic themes of the human condition. In The Things We Never Say, Artie may be less unfiltered and caustic than Olive, but his temperament felt familiar to many of the characters from Strout's earlier works. He loves his wife and son, and is a wonderful teacher, but there's an underlying discontent in his life. Secrets are revealed, which up-end his steady world, while the upcoming and ensuing results of the 2024 presidential election add anxiety and fear to Artie and those he loves.

I can't say that I loved this book, but I have a feeling that it's one that I'll read again. I do wish there weren't quite so many parenthetical asides, as they interrupt the flow of the story. A few of these include revelations to key events several years before they take place. These glimpses into the future bothered me for some reason.

This passage, however, made me smile, not because of the subject, but because of the nod to one of Strout's books:

He remembered that his wife had loved some book--oh, years ago now--about a crotchety old woman from Maine, and he had read the book reluctantly only because his wife had liked it. He'd forgotten about it until now. In the book the awful woman's father had killed himself when the woman was younger, and now that she was older, the woman thought: People die of loneliness. It happens all the time.

The characters in Elizabeth Strout's novels are often reflective and prone to loneliness or isolation. The Things We Never Say touches on this, as well as politics, suicide, bullying, and infidelity. The author examines the quiet, private lives (often those of introverts or sensitive individuals) found in small towns. I cared about her characters, and I think it would be interesting to read the same story but told from Artie's wife's point of view. Or perhaps their son's. I have a feeling this isn't the last we'll hear from this coastal community.