Summary and Reviews of My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

There was a time, and it was many years ago now, when I had to stay in a hospital for almost nine weeks. This was in New York City, and at night a view of the Chrysler Building, with its geometric brilliance of lights, was directly visible from my bed. During the day, the building's beauty receded, and gradually it became simply one more large structure against a blue sky, and all the city's buildings seemed remote, silent, far away. It was May, and then June, and I remember how I would stand and look out the window at the sidewalk below and watch the young women—my age—in their spring clothes, out on their lunch breaks; I could see their heads moving in conversation, their blouses rippling in the breeze. I thought how when I got out of the hospital I would never again walk down the sidewalk without giving thanks for being one of those people, and for many years I did that—I would remember the view from the hospital window and be glad for the sidewalk I was walking on.
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Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Lucy's husband asks her mother to visit her in the hospital and pays for her trip. Do you think this is a gesture of love on his part?
2. What role does the gossip Lucy and her mother share play in the book? 
3. Do you think Lucy blames her mother for the more painful parts of her childhood? Could her mother have done better?
4. World War II and the Nazis profoundly affect Lucy's father (and hence her whole family), Lucy's marriage to her first husband, and even her dreams. Discuss.
5. Lucy expresses great love for her doctor. How would you describe that love?
6. Lucy's friend Jeremy tells her she needs to be ruthless to be a writer. Does she take his advice? How?
7. Why does Lucy keep returning again and again to see the marble ...