{"id":1357,"date":"2016-05-26T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T03:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fableandi.com\/?p=1357"},"modified":"2020-04-04T21:33:34","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T16:03:34","slug":"unpopular-opinion-name-lucy-barton-elizabeth-strout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/unpopular-opinion-name-lucy-barton-elizabeth-strout\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpopular opinion : My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout"},"content":{"rendered":"
My Name is Lucy Barton <\/em> is a keenly observant narrative of the relationship between a mother and daughter, even after not being in touch for many years, the yearning of a woman to be a writer. Lucy Barton also explores the changes a perfect marriage undergoes with time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lucy, a writer living in New York, reflects in the later years of her life of the time she had to spend nine weeks in the hospital and her mother, with whom she had broken ties a long time ago, visited her and stayed by her side. The memories of the incident set her thinking about the years she spent growing up in Illinois; her dysfunctional family; about the loves and friendships that have crossed her life; and about the developments that seeped into her marriage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The book has been highly praised for because of its spare prose and deliberate silences. Well, it so didn\u2019t work for me. I think I was expecting a big revelation or some happening turn in the plot, which was not the case. The book did make me reflect at times about my relationships, but it did not make as deep a mark that I would want to recommend the book to another person. I felt the book was too short<\/em> to create an impact of the character in my mind and I do think I might have enjoyed it a lot more if it was longer. To me, the book read like many sentences wound together, with no surprises.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What I did enjoy is the evanescence of memories<\/strong><\/em>. The writing beautifully shows how our memories change and along with it our view points. I liked the author\u2019s characterization of her mother.<\/em><\/strong> Usually the reader would come to hate the person who doesn\u2019t agree with the heroine\/narrator while reading a book. But this was so different. The book lets you take a mature approach towards family<\/em> and relationships. I loved how the narrator and her mother could bond over gossips of the neighbourhood even when the mother was very cold to Lucy’s husband. Also, Strout has successfully reaffirmed how a person\u2019s inner feelings might be vastly different from what mask he\/she adorns on the outside.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n is a short book that you can read in one sitting. If you are looking for something slow with good writing, this might be a good choice. The book is the story of the grief of memories and our perception towards relationships studded with small moments of joy. I did not enjoy the book as much as I thought I would. However, I think I would read Elizabeth Strout\u2019s Olive Kitteridge<\/em> before forming an opinion of the author<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Title : My Name is Lucy Barton <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My Name is Lucy Barton is a keenly observant narrative of the relationship between…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6307,16],"tags":[462,6369,115],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-1357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-reviews","tag-book-review","tag-books-by-women","tag-elizabeth-strout"],"yoast_head":"\nReview<\/h3>\n
Why it didn’t work for me<\/h3>\n
What I loved<\/h3>\n
My name is Lucy Barton<\/h3>\n
\nAuthor : Elizabeth Strout
\nPublisher : Viking
\nPublished : 2016
\nLanguage : English
\nPages : 191
\nRating : 3\/5<\/p>\n