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The BookBrowse Review
The BookBrowse Review
Published December 4, 2024
ISSN: 1930-0018
The BookBrowse Review
Published December 4, 2024
ISSN: 1930-0018
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From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout comes a hopeful, healing novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world.
With her "extraordinary capacity for radical empathy" (The Boston Globe), remarkable insight into the human condition, and silences that contain multitudes, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, "What does anyone's life mean?"
It's autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive's apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known—"unrecorded lives," Olive calls them—reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.
Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everything is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which we our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, "Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love."
1
This is the story of Bob Burgess, a tall, heavyset man who lives in the town of Crosby, Maine, and he is sixty-five years old at the time that we are speaking of him. Bob has a big heart, but he does not know that about himself; like many of us, he does not know himself as well as he assumes to, and he would never believe he had anything worthy in his life to document. But he does; we all do.
* * *
Autumn comes early to Maine.
By the second or third week in August a person driving in a car might glance up and see in the distance the top of a tree that has become red. In Crosby, Maine, this year it happened first with the large maple tree by the church, and yet it was not even midway through the month of August. But the tree began to change color on its side facing east. This was curious to those who had lived there for years, they could not remember that being the first tree to change color. By the end of August, the entire tree was not red but a slightly orange yellowy thing, to be seen as you turned the corner onto Main Street. And then September followed, the summer people went back to where they had come from, and the streets of Crosby often had only a few people walking down them. The leaves did not seem vibrant, overall, and people speculated that this was because of the lack of rainfall that August—and September—had endured.
A few years earlier, people entering the town of Crosby from the turnpike's exit would drive past a car dealership and a donut shop and a diner, and also by large run-down wooden houses whose porches held things like bicycle tires and plastic toys and coat hangers and air conditioning units that had not been used in years, and in one of these houses a middle-aged man named Ricky Davis lived. He was a large man and frequently drunk and could often be seen leaning over the rail of his side porch with his pants halfway down showing his huge bottom, crack and all, to the folks driving by, and those who had not seen this before would turn their heads to watch with a sense of wonderment. But then the town council had voted to put in the new police station at that spot, and so Ricky Davis and the house he had lived in were now gone; it was rumored that he was living out near the old fairgrounds in a Hatfield Housing unit.
When you got into the middle of the town you could see a large brick house that stood a little off Main Street. After the clocks were set back in November, making it dark earlier, the few folks driving by, and those who might be strolling on the sidewalk across the street, could see into the windows of this house, yellow from the lamps turned on inside, and Bob Burgess and his wife, Margaret Estaver, might be observed cooking together in their kitchen until they tugged their curtains closed. People knew who they were, and in a way not fully conscious there was a sense of safety that came from this couple living right here in the middle of town: Margaret was the Unitarian minister, and she had her following. Bob had been a lawyer in New York City for many years in his younger days, but nobody held this against him, probably because he had grown up in Shirley Falls, forty-five minutes away; he had returned to Maine almost fifteen years ago when he married Margaret. He still took occasional criminal cases in Shirley Falls and was known to keep an office there, though he had mostly retired by now. And also—people spoke of this quietly—Bob had suffered a tragedy in childhood: He had been playing with the gearshift of the family car and it had rolled down the hill of the Burgesses' driveway; people in town understood that the car—and therefore Bob—had killed Bob's father, who was checking on their mailbox there.
Olive Kitteridge, who was ninety years old and living in the retirement community called the Maple Tree Apartments, knew this about Bob Burgess and she had always liked him, she thought he had a quiet sadness to him, most likely from this early misfortune....
Excerpted from Tell Me Everything: Oprah's Book Club by Elizabeth Strout. Copyright © 2024 by Elizabeth Strout. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Random House. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.
Elizabeth Strout's Tell Me Everything picks up where her previous book Lucy by the Sea (2022) left off. Author Lucy Barton is now living full-time with her ex-husband, William, in the small town of Crosby, Maine. The 90-year-old Olive Kitteridge lives there as well, and asks their common friend Bob Burgess to send Lucy to her; she has a story to tell that may interest a writer. As Lucy and Olive become friends, they trade tales of "unrecorded lives" — unremarkable people who nevertheless strike the pair as extraordinary.
At the same time, Bob is trying to be the calm eye of the storm as crises whirl around him. His nature is to help people (Lucy calls him a "sin-eater" — see the Beyond the Book), but he's on the verge of being overwhelmed by the problems of others. One of these others is Matt Beach, a strange, solitary man suspected of murdering his mother, who Bob, in his capacity as a lawyer, agrees to represent. Bob's only solace is his weekly walk with Lucy, but as the two become closer even this begins to add to his growing pile of stressors.
In typical Strout fashion, one can't necessarily say the novel has a firm narrative arc. While these varied plotlines sustain the forward momentum, they almost seem like an afterthought, a loose scaffolding on which to build something simultaneously simpler yet somehow grander. But that's what makes each of Strout's books something to celebrate; they draw us in and enrapture us with uncomplicated prose while capturing all the complexities of an ordinary life. For example, the book begins:
"This is the story of Bob Burgess, a tall, heavyset man who lives in the town of Crosby, Maine, and he is sixty-five years old at the time we are speaking of him. Bob has a big heart, but he does not know that about himself; like many of us, he does not know himself as well as he assumes to, and he would never believe he had anything worthy in his life to document. But he does; we all do."
The author's literary style borders on unsophisticated, yet the content is profound.
Those who've enjoyed Strout's previous work will likely be delighted to see her main protagonists finally brought together in Crosby. Each one comes with a family and friends, though, and those connections result in a huge cast. All the characters, major and minor, are exquisitely drawn, and I felt Strout clarified who was who quite effectively. The publisher has, however, helpfully provided a chart in their Book Club Kit outlining the characters' relationships.
Tell Me Everything can be read as a standalone novel; it's not necessary to have read other Strout books to fully appreciate it. Readers meet each one of these characters where they are at this specific point in time, and although it's evident that each has a past, the author carefully includes everything we need to know to appreciate them in the current moment. That said, those who haven't will almost certainly want to read the previous novels once they've encountered these marvelous characters, and it may be a richer reading experience tackling the books in order. Those who've read the earlier books will be treated to uncovering new layers of familiar characters. One of my favorite parts of the novel was finding out more about Bob's wife, Margaret, and his brother, Jim (both originally from 2013's The Burgess Boys).
Most of us live pretty unremarkable lives, but Strout is here to point out that each of us is exceptional in our own way. While Tell Me Everything contains a number of bleak circumstances (death, illness, suicide, parent-child conflict, marital infidelity, etc.), it nevertheless ends up being an uplifting novel, one that left me feeling just a little bit better about life in general. Strout's fans are sure to love this addition to her oeuvre, and it's likely to win the author many new devotees. Its wide range of themes makes it a great choice for book groups as well.
Reviewed by Kim Kovacs
Rated 5 out of 5
by Cathryn Conroy
An Extraordinary and Brilliant Book About Life, Love, and Hope
Oh, I just want to hug this book.
It is a book about nothing. And at the same time, it's a book about everything. It is a book about what people think and say and do. It is a book about how they treat one another in good times and bad. It is a deeply perceptive book about life and how we will be remembered.
It is extraordinary.
Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout, this is an imaginative culmination of almost everything she has written—the four books in the Amgash series featuring Lucy Barton, the two Olive Kitteridge books, and "The Burgess Boys"—pulling together the characters from those seven novels into one incredible story about friendship, love, healing, and hope.
Well-known novelist Lucy Barton and her ex-husband William Gerhardt are living together amicably in the small town of Crosby, Maine, along with grumpy Olive Kitteridge, who is now in a continuing care community, and Bill Burgess and his wife, the Unitarian minister, Margaret Estaver. Lucy and Bill go on long weekly walks, telling each other everything. It's a kind of emotional affair. Lucy visits Olive in the home where they exchange stories about people's lives, which they call "unrecorded lives." And Bill, who is an attorney, takes on a murder case defending a man named Matthew Beach whom prosecutors think killed his own mother by drowning her in a rented car in a nearby quarry. Matt has an odd hobby of painting nude pregnant women, which has caused some in this small town to think of him as a pervert, but the paintings are spectacular.
And that's pretty much the plot, such as it is. But that isn't the point. The point is in the characters, who are so genuine, so vivid, so vibrant you will think you know them in real life.
The brilliance of the story—the masterful ambition of it—is Strout's inimitable way of writing about life and feelings and emotions. I surmise that virtually every woman of a certain age will see herself somewhere in the story and in that moment will feel authenticated. It's that powerful!
There's just one really important catch: You must (must!) read those seven books mentioned in the beginning of this review before you read "Tell Me Everything." First, there are many references in this novel that would be spoilers from the previous books. Second, you won't understand the nuances of the characters if you don't know their full backstories. But what a treat awaits you with these eight Elizabeth Strout gems!
Rated 5 out of 5
by Bettie
Elizabeth Strout doesn't disappoint
As one might imagine from the title, this book feels like you’re having a conversation with a friend, sharing the latest stories of the “unrecorded” people in your community. Strout tells you early on that this is a book about Bob Burgess, and it is, but it is also about those other characters in the greater Crosby, Maine area that we have come to love over the years: Olive Kittredge, Lucy Barton, the Burgess family, and many of the minor characters in her books. We see them, but more interestingly, they interact with each other. (People will ask, does one need to have read all the preceding books? No, you will get properly introduced, but you get an extra level of warmth from again seeing these old friends.)
One of the things I do appreciate about this book is that there are two major story arcs as well as several other minor ones. Sometimes Strout’s story lines have been more subtle, with the effect of feeling like you’re reading inter-related short stories. This is definitely a novel, a novel with a bit of mystery (murder mystery no less), romance, commentary on our world, and her trademark strong character development. It’s probably my favorite book she has written so far.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy.
Rated 4 out of 5
by Labmom55
An acquired taste
Elizabeth Strout is an acquired taste. She’s the queen of the interconnected, character rich stories. Many of her characters have shown up in multiple books and we, her readers, have gotten to watch them grow and age. Tell Me Everything has a whole slew of characters I’ve come to know and care about. Most of the characters are now in their 60s. Olive Kitteridge is now 90.
This isn’t a book where a lot happens (none of her books are). With age have come regrets, especially about marriages. One of the more interesting concepts is that of living with a ghost in a marriage. Characters tell stories about their pasts, others they have known, connections small and large. Olive and Lucy feel compelled to tell stories from the past - to have someone document these “unrecorded lives”.
Strout’s writing is always spot on, her ability to just describe a scene with just the right turn of phrase. Not lush, just succinct. It was a book where I found myself highlighting a lot of passages because they just made me think.
At times the book felt dark, but there are these flashes of lightness and hope. And love. It’s about folks doing the right thing, especially Bob Burgess. Or owning up when they didn’t do the right thing and asking forgiveness. Oh my, there was just so much meat to this book!
This is not a book that works as a standalone.
In Elizabeth Strout's novel Tell Me Everything, the author discusses the concept of the modern-day "sin-eater." In her interpretation, the term applies to a person who helps others unburden themselves of their guilt or emotional pain, allowing them to move forward with their lives. In England, Scotland, and Wales, however, "sin-eater" was an actual profession. In the 18th and 19th centuries, impoverished people could be hired to eat the sins of the recently deceased.
There are several theories as to how the practice arose. Some point to the use of a scapegoat as outlined in the Bible (Leviticus 16:8-10), where a goat was burdened with the sins of the Jewish people and sent off into the wilderness during the Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) ritual. Others cite the medieval custom of nobles distributing food to commoners in exchange for prayers for the dead. It's also possible that in the predominantly Protestant countries sin-eating substituted for Catholic indulgences, which were bought to help release a soul from purgatory and allow them to ascend to heaven.
Regardless, sin-eating was a well-established custom by the 1680s. The hired man — it was almost always a man — would sit in front of the body as one might sit at a table. Bread, thought to be able to absorb the dead person's misdeeds, was then placed on the corpse's midsection. The sin-eater would be given a mug of ale, and as the deceased's loved ones watched, he'd consume the bread, thereby taking the dead person's sins into himself. He'd typically be paid about four pence for his service — just a few dollars in today's economy.
During the time sin-eating was common, the concepts of sin, heaven, and salvation were much more a part of daily life than they are for most today. Consequently, only the most desperate people were willing to become sin-eaters, and they were looked down upon by the general public as a result of their profession. It was felt that these individuals were throwing away their own salvation for short-term gain here on earth.
The practice died out around the end of the 19th century, in part because of strong condemnation by religious leaders. The last professional sin-eater is thought to have been Richard Munslow (1832-1906). He was the exception in that he was a well-respected farmer rather than a social pariah. It's believed that he became a sin-eater out of grief over the deaths of his four children (three in the same week).
The phrase has seen a recent resurrection, although there's no longer any actual eating involved. A modern-day sin-eater is someone who selflessly witnesses the worst society has to offer so that the rest of us don't have to. One example often cited is the people who moderate social media sites; their job is to screen flagged content that can, at times, be truly horrendous (a recent article in Psychology Today discusses how many of them deal with PTSD). First responders, too, are subjected to gruesomeness on a daily basis that most of us will never have to see. Therapists and counselors are considered sin-eaters because they help their clients heal emotionally by absorbing their burdens (the sense employed by Strout). Some also consider lawyers, who are paid to remove the "sins" of their clients, to be sin-eaters, although depending on the situation, their motives may be less altruistic than those of the others mentioned.
Illustration of a sin-eater from The Popular Antiquities of Wales, 1815, courtesy of SPL Rare Books
Filed under Cultural Curiosities
By Kim Kovacs
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