What readers think of Tell Me Everything, plus links to write your own review.

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!

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.

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.