What did you think about Lucy's friendship with Charlene Bibber, a fellow volunteer from the food pantry? Did it provide any lessons for Lucy?

What did you think about Lucy's friendship with Charlene Bibber, a fellow volunteer from the food pantry? Did it provide any lessons for Lucy? What do you make of Charlene's story about stealing a nursing home resident's shoe?

Lucy was lonely and she liked talking with Charlene. Normally this would not be a friend that she would choose. Being friends with her did provide a lesson for Lucy. When she realized that Charlene supported a president that Lucy did not, she decided that maybe it is ok to have differences. I thought it was strange that Charlene took one shoe from Ethel in the retirement home, and that later she lied about it, and then felt bad when Ethel died. She had an affair with Ethel’s husband before he died. Was she saying hey I had your husband and now I have your shoe? I do not know!

The friendship with Charlene seemed sort of extraneous to me in terms of advancing the novel or even enlightening us more about Lucy. What Charlene did provide is a connection to Olive Kitteridge who makes cameo appearances in some of Strout's stories/novels. Olive has a friend at the Maple Tree Home named Isabelle. I wondered if this would be the Isabelle from Strout's novel Amy and Isabelle? Characters from one book or story often appear in other stories. For example, Katherine Caskey appears in "Lucy by the Sea" as a friend of Margaret and Bob Burgess. Katherine was the troubled mute child of the minister Tyler Caskey in Strout's novel "Abide with Me". I enjoy making the connections of these characters in Strout's various stories. I also have enjoyed observing how Strout's writing style evolves over time.

I am not sure this could be called a friendship, but it is an acquaintance. Interestingly, Lucy must not have had any Republican friends. Is all of NYC Democratic? I think she admired Charlene's nerve in taking the shoe. I think Charlene was jealous of Ethel and wanted to act out to deal with her jealousy.

Lucy’s friendship with Charlene did provide lessons for her. She realized that people who voted for Trump did volunteer in food pantries and cared about others. Her friendship also helped her understand her sister, Vicky, better and how Vicky's rural, lower socioeconomic life affected her sister’s world views.

This question makes me think of a woman I know. One afternoon, I introduced her to a friend of mine. The woman's first comment to this new person was "Oh I know you are from Texas. Your governor is a real piece of work." or something to that effect. In that one moment, she missed out on any possible friendship or connection with my friend. It is beside the point that my friend no longer lives in Texas, or that she didn't vote for Greg Abbott. By focusing on differences and making it the most important part of the introduction, the woman made a negative impression and her attitude was a turn off. She also made assumptions about a person based on where she grew up (voted for, went to church, fill in the blank). I think Lucy meeting Charlene showed her that anti-makers/Trump supporters/whatever aren't all hateful, uncaring, selfish, evil people. They volunteer, they experience the same feelings of anger, jealously, confusion, panic, and happiness that vaxers do. We may not always or ever understand people who believe differently than we do, but we can be kind.

Lucy’s friendship with Charlene was another opportunity for the author to show class divisions. Lucy was surprised that Charlene would volunteer at a food pantry and have a Trump sticker on her car. I’m not sure I would say it was definitely a friendship but Lucy did like Charlene. Another don’t judge a book by its cover instance.

I thought that Lucy's friendship with Charlene illustrated one of the main themes of the book, as I see it, that of Lucy's empathy with others. She frequently said things to the effect that she could understand, even if not agree with someone. Her ability to get into the skin of someone different and find their value is what makes her an interesting character, and fittingly, an author. I think our society could be healed with more people taking the time to listen and try to understand those with whom we may not necessarily agree. William was so worried about the problems with society, and he recognized that Lucy was someone special.

I wonder if I would have more insight if this wasn't my first book about Lucy. I feel like her friendship with Charlene was very kind and giving. She clearly disagreed with Charlene politically, and there was the short discussion about the vaccine, but she was kind to her and listened to her and they found their common ground to sit in. Rather than reacting to what Charlene said in the moment, Lucy was able to think around it and zoom all the way out to why and then respond in a kind way.