Anything Is Possible

 

Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

Amgash #2

Fiction

2017

Finished on June 22, 2025

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Recalling Olive Kitteridge in its richness, structure, and complexity, Anything Is Possible explores the whole range of human emotion through the intimate dramas of people struggling to understand themselves and others.

Here are two sisters: One trades self-respect for a wealthy husband while the other finds in the pages of a book a kindred spirit who changes her life. The janitor at the local school has his faith tested in an encounter with an isolated man he has come to help; a grown daughter longs for mother love even as she comes to accept her mother's happiness in a foreign country; and the adult Lucy Barton (the heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton, the author's celebrated New York Times bestseller) returns to visit her siblings after seventeen years of absence.

This is the second collection of short stories I've read this month, and I'm not a big fan of the genre, so I'm not surprised that I didn't love Anything Is Possible. The stories are more interconnected than those of Table for Two (Amor Towles), and some of the characters are familiar from my reading of My Name Is Lucy Barton, but the book is not one of my favorites by Elizabeth Strout. I struggled to keep track of the characters' relationships with one another as they overlap from chapter to chapter. Plus, the central theme to Strout's stories is shame and regret, and many involve mothers who leave their families. Thus, the overall tone is bleak and gloomy. The writing, however, is marvelous, so I was never tempted to stop reading. Anything Is Possible is best read right after My Name Is Lucy Barton, perhaps with a pen & pad in hand.

My Name Is Lucy Barton

 

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Amgash, #1

Fiction

2016

Finished on May 26, 2025

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout is cause for celebration. Her bestselling novels, including Olive Kitteridge and The Burgess Boys, have illuminated our most tender relationships. Now, in My Name Is Lucy Barton, this extraordinary writer shows how a simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of all — the one between mother and daughter.

 

Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable.

It's been a little less than a decade since I first read My Name Is Lucy Barton. I wrote the following in 2016:

After reading Bellezza's glowing review for My Name Is Lucy Barton, I knew I had to give it a chance, in spite of my disappointment in The Burgess Boys (which I did not finish). I read Amy and Isabelle many years ago, and more recently Olive Kitteridge, both of which I enjoyed quite a bit. I wish I could echo Meredith's praise for this particular book, but it failed to move me, even after listening to the audio, which I started as soon as I finished the print edition. I can't remember the last time I did that, but I really wanted to give it another chance since Meredith loved it so much. My Name Is Lucy Barton was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, BookPage, and LibraryReads. I am obviously in the minority, as I barely gave it an average rating.

I find it so interesting to see how my reaction to a book can differ so significantly from the first time I read it. Not only did I enjoy My Name Is Lucy Barton so well that I read it in two days, but I also enjoyed The Burgess Boys, which I couldn't even finish the first time I tried. I wonder if my deep dive into Elizabeth Strout's works has allowed me to feel more sympathetic toward her characters, many of whom are troubled or come from dysfunctional families. We don't learn specific details about Lucy's father, but her mother is really a piece of work. The vignettes toward the end of the book read like stream-of-consciousness, which required me to stay focused and pay attention. I think when I listened to the audio, my attention drifted more readily. I understand Lucy appears in two more books by Strout, and I'm eager to read those later this year.

Much of the joy of reading Lucy Barton comes from piecing together the hints and half-revelations in Strout’s unsentimental but compelling prose. . . . She reminds us of the power of our stories—and our ability to transcend our troubled narratives. — Connie Ogle, Miami Herald

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.

Olive Kitteridge - Reread

 

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Fiction

2008

Finished on March 22, 2025

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.

As the townspeople grapple with their own problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life—sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition—its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.

It's been a little over a decade since I read Olive Kitteridge, so my second time felt almost like reading a new book. Over the years, I had forgotten a lot of the details of the stories in which Olive is not the main focus, but the overall premise of the book was etched in my mind after watching the miniseries (starring Frances McDormand). The bleak vignettes, and Olive's unlikeable character, make for a melancholic read, but I grew to like Olive and was left with a sense of hope as I read the final pages.

My earlier review of Olive Kitteridge can be found here. I gave the book a slightly higher rating in 2014, but not by much.

Abide with Me

 

Abide with Me by Elizabeth Strout

Fiction

2006

Finished on February 21, 2025

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

In her luminous and long-awaited new novel, bestselling author Elizabeth Strout welcomes readers back to the archetypal, lovely landscape of northern New England, where the events of her first novel, Amy and Isabelle, unfolded. In the late 1950s, in the small town of West Annett, Maine, a minister struggles to regain his calling, his family, and his happiness in the wake of profound loss. At the same time, the community he has served so charismatically must come to terms with its own strengths and failings–faith and hypocrisy, loyalty and abandonment–when a dark secret is revealed.

Tyler Caskey has come to love West Annett, “just up the road” from where he was born. The short, brilliant summers and the sharp, piercing winters fill him with awe–as does his congregation, full of good people who seek his guidance and listen earnestly as he preaches. But after suffering a terrible loss, Tyler finds it hard to return to himself as he once was. He hasn’t had The Feeling–that God is all around him, in the beauty of the world–for quite some time. He struggles to find the right words in his sermons and in his conversations with those facing crises of their own, and to bring his five-year-old daughter, Katherine, out of the silence she has observed in the wake of the family’s tragedy.

A congregation that had once been patient and kind during Tyler’s grief now questions his leadership and propriety. In the kitchens, classrooms, offices, and stores of the village, anger and gossip have started to swirl. And in Tyler’s darkest hour, a startling discovery will test his congregation’s humanity–and his own will to endure the kinds of trials that sooner or later test us all.

In prose incandescent and artful, Elizabeth Strout draws readers into the details of ordinary life in a way that makes it extraordinary. All is considered–life, love, God, and community–within these pages, and all is made new by this writer’s boundless compassion and graceful prose.

Over the years, I've read several of Elizabeth Strout's novels, but somehow missed this one when it came out nearly two decades ago. In an effort to read through Strout's books in order of publication, I was eager to get this one at the library, going in cold, ignoring the publisher's blurb, as is my habit. As I've learned from reading more recent works by Strout, her characters lean toward the eccentric and outspoken, and Abide with Me is no different, full of colorful (and not always likeable) characters. This quiet story is beautifully rendered, but it's as bleak as its winter setting. I was tempted to stop halfway through as I read more and more about the unkind, gossipy community, but continued, anxious for little Katherine, as well as her father. The ending was satisfactory, but getting there was rough going. Unless you share my determination to read all Strout's works, I would say this is one to skip. Having said that, Abide with Me would make for a good book group selection as there is plenty to discuss.

Amy and Isabelle

 

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout

Fiction

1998

Finished on January 27, 2025

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

In her stunning first novel, Amy and Isabelle, Elizabeth Strout evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant mother—and a parent's rage at the discovery of her daughter's sexual secrets. In most ways, Isabelle and Amy are like any mother and her 16-year-old daughter, a fierce mix of love and loathing exchanged in their every glance. And eating, sleeping, and working side by side in the gossip-ridden mill town of Shirley Falls doesn't help matters. But when Amy is discovered behind the steamed-up windows of a car with her math teacher, the vast and icy distance between mother and daughter becomes unbridgeable.

As news of the scandal reaches every ear, it is Isabelle who suffers from the harsh judgment of Shirley Falls, intensifying her shame about her own secret past. And as Amy seeks comfort elsewhere, she discovers the fragility of human happiness through other dramas, from the horror of a missing child to the trials of Fat Bev, the community peacemaker. Witty and often profound, Amy and Isabelle confirmed Elizabeth Strout as a powerful new talent.

It's been 25 years since I read Amy and Isabelle, and according to my reading journal notes, I didn't care for it as much as I did this second time around. My plan for 2025 is to reread all of Strout's books (in order of publication), as well as those that I missed or are recently published. 

I marveled at Strout's storytelling, in awe that such a beautifully constructed work was a debut novel. The characters are fully realized, and the dialogue rings true. My heart ached for both mother and daughter in this story, not simply for the ebb and flow of the tension in their relationship, but for their insecurities and loneliness within their community. I was filled with anger towards Amy's math teacher, and wish more had come of the discovery of his predatory actions toward such a vulnerable young girl.

Below are my earlier thoughts about the novel. I'm glad I reread this book and that I enjoyed it more than I imagined I would.

My Original Thoughts (2000):

Not bad, but not great. Mother-daughter story. Daughter gets involved with one of her teachers and her mother finds out. Somewhat depressing. Fairly predictable, too, yet it held my attention.

My Current Thoughts (2021):

I remember a little bit about this novel, but no longer own a copy and probably wouldn't read it a second time, based on my average rating. I've read two other books by Strout (Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton) and tried to read The Burgess Boys, but couldn't get interested. Strout has quite a following, but other than Olive Kitteridge (which I loved), I haven't been too impressed. With that said, I am looking forward to reading Olive, Again and I'll give Oh William! a try.

Olive, Again

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

Fiction

2019 Random House

Finished on August 30, 2022

Rating: 5/5 (Excellent)

Publisher's Blurb:

Elizabeth Strout brilliantly lays bare the inner lives of ordinary people, none more eloquently than the protagonist of her universally acclaimed Olive Kitteridge. "Gunny, wicked and remorseful, Mrs. Kitteridge is a compelling life force, a red-blooded original," declared the San Francisco Chronicle. "When she's not onstage, we look forward to her return."

And now Olive has indeed returned, as indomitable as ever, navigating her next decade and the changes--sometimes welcome, sometimes not--in her own life. Her is Olive, strangely confident in her second marriage, in an evolving relationship with her son and his family, and crossing paths with a cast of memorable characters in the seaside town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth at a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the irascible Olive improbably touches the lives of everyone around her. 

Marvelous! Was it insomnia that led me to finish this book at 1:30 in the morning or the mere fact that I couldn't put it down? After reading the final page, I kept thinking about Olive and the motley cast of characters in this follow-up to Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize winner, Olive Kitteridge. Truthfully, I had to force myself to turn off the light and not start rereading from the beginning of the book.

In 2014 I read Olive Kitteridge (giving it a second chance after previously quitting on the audiobook) in preparation to watching the four-part HBO mini-series of the same name. I not only fell in love with Strout's writing, but came to care about Olive, warts and all. 

Olive, Again is an outstanding follow-up and does not disappoint. In similar fashion to the original novel, this book is comprised of thirteen vignettes. Olive takes center stage in most chapters, but is only a passing figure in others. I especially enjoyed the presence of characters from other novels by Strout (Isabelle from Amy & Isabelle was an unexpected treat!) and I'm now inspired to go back and reread each of her books. 

Having watched Frances McDormand in the lead role of the mini-series, I had a vivid picture of Olive, laughing out loud at her caustic remarks while feeling a tug of sadness and empathy as her life grew emptier and lonelier. I felt an ache of melancholy as I turned the last page, not ready to leave Olive, with whom I felt a strong connection as she reflected upon her life as a wife and mother in her final years. Thankfully, I have copies of both books for future reading and plan to rewatch the TV drama. 

Olive, Again is a poignant glimpse into aging, while providing levity with hilarious one-liners by the irascible and blunt heroine of Olive Kitteridge. Highly recommend! 

Olive is a brilliant creation not only because of her eternal cantankerousness but because she’s as brutally candid with herself about her shortcomings as she is with others. Her honesty makes people strangely willing to confide in her, and the raw power of Ms. Strout’s writing comes from these unvarnished exchanges, in which characters reveal themselves in all of their sadness and badness and confusion. . . . The great, terrible mess of living is spilled out across the pages of this moving book. Ms. Strout may not have any answers for it, but she isn’t afraid of it either. —The Wall Street Journal

Looking Back - Amy & Isabelle

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Amy & Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout

Fiction

1998 Random House

Read in October 2000

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth Strout’s bestselling and award winning debut, Amy and Isabelle—adapted for television by Oprah Winfrey— evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant mother—and a parent's rage at the discovery of her daughter's sexual secrets.

In most ways, Isabelle and Amy are like any mother and her 16-year-old daughter, a fierce mix of love and loathing exchanged in their every glance. That they eat, sleep, and work side by side in the gossip-ridden mill town of Shirley Falls—a location fans of Strout will recognize from her critically acclaimed novel, The Burgess Boys—only increases the tension. And just when it appears things can't get any worse, Amy's sexuality begins to unfold, causing a vast and icy rift between mother and daughter that will remain unbridgeable unless Isabelle examines her own secretive and shameful past.

My Original Thoughts (2000):

Not bad, but not great. Mother-daughter story. Daughter gets involved with one of her teachers and her mother finds out. Somewhat depressing. Fairly predictable, too, yet it held my attention.

My Current Thoughts:

I remember a little bit about this novel, but no longer own a copy and probably wouldn't read it a second time, based on my average rating. I've read two other books by Strout (Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton ) and tried to read The Burgess Boys, but couldn't get interested. Strout has quite a following, but other than Olive Kitteridge (which I loved), I haven't been too impressed. With that said, I am looking forward to reading Olive, Again and I'll give Oh William! a try.

My Name Is Lucy Barton

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Fiction
2016 Random House Audio
Read by Kimberly Farr
Finished on October 21, 2016
Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn't spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy's childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lies the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy's life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters.

After reading Bellezza's glowing review for My Name Is Lucy Barton, I knew I had to give it a chance, in spite of my disappointment in The Burgess Boys (which I did not finish). I read Amy and Isabelle many years ago, and more recently Olive Kitteridge, both of which I enjoyed quite a bit. I wish I could echo Meredith's praise for this particular book, but it failed to move me, even after listening to the audio, which I started as soon as I finished the print edition. I can't remember the last time I did that, but I really wanted to give it another chance since Meredith loved it so much. My Name Is Lucy Barton was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, BookPage, and LibraryReads. I am obviously in the minority, as I barely gave it an average rating. 

Olive Kitteridge

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Fiction
2008 Random House
Finished on November 26, 2014
Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize




Publisher’s Blurb:

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.

As the townspeople grapple with their own problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life—sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition—its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.

A few years ago, I tried to listen the audio version of Olive Kitteridge, but I was so bored, I quickly gave it up. I was disappointed that such a popular book had left me cold and disinterested, but I had a print edition on my shelf that I just wasn’t ready to get rid of. I really did want to give it another chance after hearing so many of my trusted friends rave about it. When I saw the preview for the HBO mini-series, starring Frances McDormand, I knew it was time to give it another try.

Elizabeth Strout’s collection of 13 stories is set in Maine, centered loosely around Olive Kitteridge. Each vignette is filled with an overwhelming sense of melancholy, as the individual characters struggle with their own challenges in life, and by the end of the fourth chapter, I was beginning to wonder if I wanted to continue reading. I’m so glad I did, as this book turned out to be one of my favorite reads of 2014!

I fell in love with Strout’s writing, re-reading passages two or three times in one sitting, the characters and setting coming alive on the page, so vivid in my mind's eye that I hope the movie lives up to my expectations.

On Morning Drives:

For many years Henry Kitteridge was a pharmacist in the next town over, driving every morning on snowy roads, or rainy roads, or summertime roads, when the wild raspberries shot their new growth in brambles along the last section of town before he turned off to where the wider road led to the pharmacy. Retired now, he still wakes early and remembers how mornings used to be his favorite, as though the world were his secret, tires rumbling softly beneath him and the light emerging through the early fog, the brief sight of the bay off to his right, then the pines, tall and slender, and almost always he rode with the window partly open because he loved the smell of the pines and the heavy salt air, and in the winter he loved the smell of the cold.

I didn’t care for Olive when she was first introduced in the stories, but she began to grow on me and I found myself feeling sympathetic toward her and her disappointments in life, in spite of her brash, outspoken personality. This woman has no filter!

On Hope:

And then as the little plane climbed higher and Olive saw spread out below them fields of bright and tender green in this morning sun, farther out the coastline, the ocean shiny and almost flat, tiny white wakes behind a few lobster boats—then Olive felt something she had not expected to feel again: a sudden surging of greediness for life. She leaned forward, peering out the window: sweet pale clouds, the sky as blue as your hat, the new green of the fields, the broad expanse of water—seen from up here it all appeared wondrous, amazing. She remembered what hope was, and this was it. That inner churning that moves you forward, plows you through life the way the boats below plowed the shiny water, the way the plane was plowing forward to a place new, and where she was needed. She had been asked to be part of her son’s life.

Final Thoughts:

This is one of those books that makes me wish I were in a book club! Olive Kitteridge is a complex and unforgettable (and, at times, highly unlikeable) character, and yet I fell in love with her and this lovely book. As soon as I can watch the mini-series, I plan to re-read the book.