My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth StroutMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016 and bestowed with numerous critical appraisals, My Name Is Lucy Barton deserves to be read in one sitting. Owing to other commitments it has taken me four days and that has detracted from its appeal. It handles the nuances of human relationships with great skill; Lucy's relationship with her mother who visits her for the first time in six years whilst Lucy recovers from an operation in a New York hospital. The conversations between mother and daughter result inevitably in Lucy recalling a troubled rural childhood, a frail marriage, her children - a re-evaluation of times lost. The memories reveal a longing for better things to come, a forensic examination of her family relationships.
It is a tender story told with Strout's sympathetic approach to life. It is worthy, as I have said, to be read in one sitting.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment