What do readers think of Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout? Write your own review.

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.