This is a magnificent book, one that explores much hurt and darkness without ever relinquishing its compassion or. Oh, and theres gossip about people from lucy s childhood in amgash, illinois. Her bestselling novels, including olive kitteridge and the burgess boys, have. Gentle gossip about people from lucys childhood in amgash. The book does feel a bit abbreviated, but thats only because the characters and ideas are so compelling we want to hear more from the author who has limned them so sensitively.
My name is lucy barton dramatic production audiobook. Gentle gossip about people from lucys childhood in amgash, illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect. Elizabeth strout has been doing just that in one elegant, penetrating. My name is lucy barton was a different kind of book for me, and writing it surprised me. My name is lucy barton is a title that announces itself with call me ishmael forthrightness. My name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout, paperback. It is both a book of withholdings and a book of great openness and wisdom. San francisco chronicle a short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but also simpler, more sudden bonds.
She won a pulitzer prize for her third novel olive kitteridge which was subsequently made into an awardwinning drama by hbo. 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. In fact, it bears much resemblance to that novel and to strouts debut amy. And elizabeth strouts haunting new novel is, in fact, a kind of book withina book, framed as a memoir or possibly an autobiographical novel. My name is lucy barton book columbus metropolitan library. Elizabeth strouts my name is lucy barton is as powerful and disturbing as the best of strouts work, including the pulitzer prizewinning olive kitteridge. My name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout alibris. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading my name is lucy barton.
Although the tone reflected the fractured way we feel and think about our past not like a logical story so in that way it was unique and emotional. It was first published in the united states on january 12, 2016 through random house. Jan 12, 2016 my name is lucy bartonlike all of strouts fictionis more complex than it first appears, and all the more emotionally persuasive for it. My name is lucy barton, by elizabeth strout sfgate. My name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout book club. My name is lucy barton audiobook by elizabeth strout. A site dedicated to book lovers providing a forum to discover and share commentary about the books and authors they enjoy. Lucy barton is recovering slowly from what should have b.
A simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of all the one between mother and daughter. Gentle gossip about people from lucys childhood in. In my name is lucy barton, there are no plot twists to distract or verbal acrobatics to charm. Do not be misled by the slimness of this volume, the quietness of its prose, the seeming simplicity of its story line. Jan 04, 2016 but my name is lucy barton is the story of a daughter who loved her mother, and that is a very different story.
Presenting an original audiobook performance of the stage production of my name is lucy barton, starring academy award and tony nominee laura linney. Through lucy barton, strout has made a remarkable virtue of the novelists trick often missed of telling enough but not too much. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Jan 07, 2016 i like writers who try to tell you something truthful, comments the eponymous narrator of my name is lucy barton. My name is lucy barton, by elizabeth strout, is written as a fictional memoir of a famous author. My name is lucy barton book king county library system. Jan, 2016 in my name is lucy barton, there are no plot twists to distract or verbal acrobatics to charm.
Buy my name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout online at alibris. Lucy barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. It evokes these connections in a style so spare, so pure and so profound the book almost seems to be a kind of scripture or sutra, if a very downtoearth and unpretentious one. The book does feel a bit abbreviated, but thats only because the characters and ideas are so compelling we want to hear more from the. It is also the work of a more mature writer, scaling new heights. Shows how a simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of allthe one between mother and daughter. Jan 10, 2016 the narrator of strouts powerful and melancholy new novel, my name is lucy barton, might be a distant relation of olives, though she is raised in poverty outside the small town of. My name is lucy barton was published in 2016 and quickly landed at the top of the times bestseller list, bumping down the girl on the train, a thriller about a scorned, alcoholic. Discussion questions book club recommendationsdiscussion. Content includes books from bestselling, midlist and debut authors. Its quite emotionally exhausting for such a short book but perhaps because i had so few prior expectations i found myself. My name is lucy barton confirms strout as a powerful storyteller immersed in the nuances of human relationships, weaving family tapestries with compassion, wisdom and insight. What role does the gossip lucy and her mother share play in the book.
Exploring family trauma in my name is lucy barton the new. A new book by pulitzer prize winner elizabeth strout is cause for celebration. Oct 11, 2016 praise for my name is lucy barton a quiet, sublimely merciful contemporary novel about love, yearning, and resilience in a family damaged beyond words. The story is told in a series of flashbacks, beginning with lucy s time in the hospital when she was younger. I like writers who try to tell you something truthful, comments the eponymous narrator of my name is lucy barton. My name is lucy barton book hennepin county library. A writer reeling from a traumatic childhood, she emerged in elizabeth strouts booker prizenominated 2016 novel my name is. My name is lucy barton is presented episodically, as a series of events and memories from lucys past. My name is lucy barton covers a life story, poverty, abuse, art, marriage, the aids epidemic and subsequent fear, and a difficult relationship between a mother and daughter, all in less than two hundred pages. My name is lucy barton by pulitzer prize winner elizabeth strout is a novel to be read slowly and savored for its richness of story. The boston globe it is lucys gentle honesty, complex relationship with her husband, and nuanced response to her mothers shortcomings that make this novel so subtly powerful. My name is lucy bartonlike all of strouts fictionis more complex than it first appears, and all the more emotionally persuasive for it. My name is lucy barton is smart and cagey in every way. Her mother, to whom she hasnt spoken for many years, comes to see her.
How to discuss a book helpful discussion tips generic discussion questionsfiction and nonfiction readthinktalk a guided reading chart also, consider these litlovers talking points to help start a discussion for my name is lucy barton. The burgess boys, named one of the best books of the year by the washington post and npr. Lucy recalls that her earliest memories of her parents are accompanied by a feeling of loneliness. The story begins with lucy, now a published fiction writer, remembering a time, 20 or more years ago, when she was felled by an undiagnosable disease, a sort of visitation of sickness, and ended up in a new york city hospital for a prolonged stay. Lucys husband asked her mother to visit her in the hospital, and paid for her trip. My name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout goodreads. My name is lucy barton, longlisted for the man booker prize. Still, my name is lucy barton is much larger and far more resonant than the sum of these parts.
Lonely was the first flavor i had tasted in my life, and it was always there, hidden inside the crevices of my mouth, reminding this book. Lucy barton has spent her life running away from her past. Her family is impoverished and lives in an isolated area, making it almost impossible for lucy and her older siblings to make friends. Praise for my name is lucy barton a quiet, sublimely merciful contemporary novel about love, yearning, and resilience in a family damaged beyond words. The book details the complicated relationship between the titular lucy barton. My name is lucy barton a rags to riches story of sorts, beginning with childhood psychological abuse, physical abuse, parental abandonment, being shamed and bullied to two marriages, two daughters and a divorce. San francisco chronicle a short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but. My name is lucy barton is a perfect crystallisation of quiet, subtly brilliant talent from one of americas finest contemporary writers. My name is lucy barton elizabeth strout, 2016 random house 208 pp. My name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout, 9780241248782, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Lucy s husband asked her mother to visit her in the hospital, and paid for her trip. Gentle gossip about people from lucys childhood in amgash, illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of. The book details the complicated relationship between the titular lucy barton and her mother. Jan 15, 2020 the title character of my name is lucy barton, rona munros crystalline stage adaptation of elizabeth strouts 2016 novel, is hardly a woman of mystery.
Lucy lies in a new york city hospital suffering from an undiagnosed illness when her mother unexpectedly arrives from rural illinois, where lucy grew up. In her spare and mesmerizing novel my name is lucy barton, elizabeth strout elegantly probes the chasm between what is said and what is felt as a daughter and her undemonstrative mother shyly reconnect. Praised as deeply affecting and heartbreaking by the guardian uk, this is a faithful adaptation of the pulitzer prizewinning author elizabeth strouts bestselling novel of the same name. Jul 27, 2016 through lucy barton, strout has made a remarkable virtue of the novelists trick often missed of telling enough but not too much. Feb 02, 2016 my name is lucy barton confirms strout as a powerful storyteller immersed in the nuances of human relationships, weaving family tapestries with compassion, wisdom and insight. My name is lucy barton book the seattle public library. The title character of my name is lucy barton, rona munros crystalline stage adaptation of elizabeth strouts 2016 novel, is hardly a woman of mystery. There was a distance from the events that was unsettling. Questions and topics for discussion my name is lucy barton. The narrator of strouts powerful and melancholy new novel, my name is lucy barton, might be a distant relation of olives, though she is raised in poverty outside the small town of.
My name is lucy barton book johnson county library. My name is lucy barton was exactly what i was in the mood for. Do you think lucy blames her mother for the more painful parts of her childhood. While i hope for all my books to provide the reader with a kind of intimate experience this one seems particularly available for that, i think. Beautifully expressed with sparse prose, my name is lucy barton left me breathless and, i have to admit, a bit teary by books end. My name is lucy barton is a short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but also simpler, more sudden bonds.
The narrator of strouts powerful and melancholy new novel, my name is lucy barton, might be a distant relation of olive s, though she is raised in poverty outside the small town of amgash, ill. My name is lucy barton is a 2016 new york times bestselling novel and the fifth novel by the american writer elizabeth strout. Exploring family trauma in my name is lucy barton the. Elizabeth strouts my name is lucy barton the new york times. An exquisite story of mothers and daughters from the pulitzer prizewinning author of olive kitteridge lucy is recovering from an operation in a new york hospital when she wakes to find her estranged mother sitting by her. Discussion questions use our litlovers book club resources.
But my name is lucy barton is the story of a daughter who loved her mother, and that is a very different story. My name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout waterstones. Elizabeth strouts novel my name is lucy barton is the story of a writer. This book feels almost like the reader is being told a onceuponatime recounting of lucys life and relationships, in a personal, intimate conversation with her. A character in my name is lucy barton says i like writers who try to tell you something truthful, and elizabeth strout has done just that. Elizabeth strouts my name is lucy barton the new york. Do you think that was a gesture of love on his part. My name is lucy barton book princeton public library. Her bestselling novels, including olive kitteridge and the burgess boys, have illuminated our most tender relationships.