In past years, if I sat down to write novels about people connected to one another in various ways; if I focussed on their peccadilloes, proclivities, while presenting the sorrows and joys of the narrator and all the other characters; and if I allowed each book to go deeper, providing more details and truths about these people’s lives…I might be approaching what Elizabeth Strout has artistically achieved in her expansive work, especially in this latest novel: TELL ME EVERYTHING.
The title is apt, Strout focusing on the walks Lucy Barton (LUCY BARTON, LUCY BY THE SEA) and Bob Burgess (THE BURGESS BOYS) have been taking in these most recent novels, starting in the Covid years when Lucy and husband William moved from New York City back to Crosby Maine. Their purpose, to be more isolated, avoid getting the virus… but even better for the creative mind of Elizabeth Strout, her Maine characters once again appearing. OLIVE KITTERIDGE, Strout’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel; because thankfully, Olive is still with us, her blunt Maine view of things forever summarizing the lives of neighbors and friends, she now living in a senior center with some of Strout’s characters from her older work…this allowing Strout to continue her magic, because every one of her characters are real, relatable.
I TAKE A CLASS WITH STROUT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
When her career was just beginning, I took Strout’s weekend writing class at the University of Iowa. She focussed on her writing process, how she often spread drafts of one scene over a long table, walking back and froth, reading, editing. This gave her the ability to compare one section with another section, to see how her story, her themes were progressing. She did this consistently, until satisfied with the movement of prose from scene to scene. This intimate look at her writing process made me value her work even more. I saw her as a unique writer of our time; and then I read Strout…read everything she has published.
STROUT: A WRITER WHO NEVER DISAPPOINTS
It fascinates me that Strout proceeded to see her novels as springing from one or two characters. She must have loved Olive, and thus brought her back, a great choice. Certainly, I don’t know the details of Strout’s process. But I have read one book after another, admiring her decision to allow her characters to age, divorce, suffer, look back and mourn their mistakes…even die. Strout’s characters find solace in old friendships, reveal to eager readers what has propelled their lives, mistakes, and peccadilloes, and of course, their loves. Characters become more real to us when we become aware of their younger choices, older discoveries, these appearing on the last page, the final scene, as they live, yet understand their eternal regrets.
It’s a major task that Elizabeth Strout has created for herself. But as you read, you feel the love and care she has has for all of her characters. You admire her ability to take a story thread and allow it to grow, until she finally reveals it purpose, its ending. Her prose is often clipped, which only increases the reality of conversation…we get interrupted; we don’t complete a thought. That’s Strout, but done in a way that makes you feel you are part of the conversation, you are connected to these characters, their strengths, their weaknesses. Yes, read TELL ME EVERYTHING…it’s wonderful. But don’t stop there. GO BACK…her characters are waiting to tell you their stories.
P.S. If you haven’t read Strout, start with OLIVE KITTERIDGE or LUCY BARTON.
2 Responses
I love hearing about a writer’s process, especially one as successful as Elizabeth Strout. Before I started writing novels, I had no idea what went into them, the work and endless thinking. It amazes me when I hear people who write a novel a year. That’s so fast! I guess certain genres, like romance or mystery, lend themselves better to that.
Laurie THANK YOU. Yes, I found her inspirational, as well as WOW hard working. It took her years to discover her style and WOW, she is amazing and I love reading her. Thanks again.