I did not like Olive Kitteridge. I was not a fan of The Burgess Boys (reviewed on Goodreads - that was prior to this blog!). Usually by that point I would have given up on an author. But boy am I glad I persevered here!
I have not read the other two previous Lucy books (see above), and unless y'all tell me it is an absolute must I am ok not to go back to them. But Lucy by the Sea was brilliant, in such a different way than I expected. Very stream of consciousness, very self-centered on Lucy herself, but that is the point. She is telling us what happened to her and all she was thinking about when her ex-husband convinces her to leave NYC in March of 2020 because everyone is getting sick and he is trying to save her life. So, they move temporarily to a friend's house in Maine. City mice in the country equals hilarious adventures, right? Well, they are on lockdown.
Did I mention they are divorced?
Kimberly Farr narrated the version I listened to and I loved her voice. I think this is a situation where the audio enhanced the experience. I really felt like I was just listening to Lucy over a cuppa. And I liked Lucy! Nice wink to our pal Olive in a few places too, that was fun.
Lucy is grieving a loss here, worrying about her two grown daughters and their marriages, wondering why it is so easy to live with her ex husband, and making new friends. She seems to take everything in stride, but has her breakdown moments - don't we all. There are a lot of references to cheating spouses in this story. Everybody had or was cheating, which I found a bit bothersome. But what I found mostly was that this this book was cathartic. She talks about the pandemic openly, but her life goes on. Again, I find myself having read two pandemic novels back to back this month (Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult, reviewed here: https://rawlesreads.blogspot.com/search?q=wish+you+were+here), and this one is another totally different view. We have a female narrator that is removed, physically, from the trauma and terror of living in New York City at the height of the contagion. She pivots, and begins to enjoy long walks in the woods. She learns why it is important to say hello to her elderly neighbor who is out on his porch every day to see her. She makes a friend in the man who lent them the house. She watches her ex-husband comfort one of their daughters when she gets bad news. She is separated from those daughters, and then finally, FINALLY, she is allowed to see them, but not hug them. What JOY!!! Oh, the focus on the little things!
This becomes an almost happy book about the pandemic. I did not find it traumatic, but of course there are some references to bad things. This might be a good segue into finding out if you are ready for a pandemic novel. Or, just go into not labeling it as such, especially if you are a Lucy fan. This thing happened to Lucy and she tells us about her experience.
In Strout's hands, that is a good thing.
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