Tag: Elizabeth Strout

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout-Book

From a Google Image Search – Penguin Random House

The Things We Never Say is not a big blockbuster of a novel. Elizabeth Strout writes about family dynamics, friendships, and how couples relate. Even dramatic events in this novel are discussed in retrospect, or at some emotional distance.

We meet Artie Dam and his wife Evie years after an emotional crisis has calmed, although it will never be forgotten. Their 17-year-old son, Rob, crashed his car and his girlfriend died in the crash. The Morrison’s sued and a bitter court case followed. But the Morrison’s lost and left the area. Years have softened the grief and the guilt, but Artie could see how these events had changed his son. And Artie never mentions some details that did not come up in the trial.

Rob married Francesca, a concert pianist, nine years older. We find him considering a separation, possibly in love with a woman closer to his age. Artie and Evie hold their tongues while all the parties involved work through this.

Artie teaches 11th grade history and loves being a teacher. Our current situation in America sometimes enters the narrative. But Artie is also facing a life crisis of his own. He doesn’t discuss his feelings directly with anyone. Although Artie and Evie often talk about their work, they rarely examine their relationship. The author gives us insight into their thoughts about their relationship though. 

The things we never say create an undercurrent in this novel, totally appropriate to a life lived near the coastal waters of Massachusetts. Couples seem have a harder time talking about thoughts they hoard, perhaps even existential thoughts, and they protect these internal dialogues. This makes partners question their relationship and wonder if it still works. It makes them wonder if they have grown apart.

However, perhaps some private struggles are better left unspoken. Often these struggles resolve by themselves over time. Perhaps if hauled into the daylight they would just test the relationship in unnecessary ways.

We learn who Artie is through his interactions with those around him–his family, his friends, his students. Will a revelation about his son change everything? Is it better kept private from the wife who has kept it to herself for years? Will it affect his relationship with his son, and what effects will it have? How will it affect the relationship between Artie and Evie? Perhaps some things are better left unsaid. Elizabeth Strout is a master of telling us quiet stories, but her stories have depth. This one is on the short list for a Booker Prize in 2026.

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout – Book

From a Google Image Search – Time Magazine

From time to time, I have checked in with Lucy and her now ex-husband, William. In Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout we meet these two again. Lucy is a writer; William is a scientist. They were married for twenty years and have now been divorced for 20 years. They have two daughters, Chrissy and Becka, both grown and married. It’s the time of the COVID pandemic. Lucy cancels a book tour. She is sheltering in place in her apartment in New York City. She’s getting older and is considered high risk. She can wear a mask to shop if she can find a place that’s open. 

New York seems deserted except for near the hospitals. People celebrate nurses, doctors, and hospital staff with cheers, and bang pots and pans to express gratitude. Refrigerated trucks are no longer full of frozen food. Those who died of the virus are kept there until they can be buried, without ceremony, in mass graves.

William learns of an empty house by the sea in Maine. He whisks Lucy away, as soon as she agrees, from the dark pandemic days in the city. She is somewhat reluctant to go as these two are divorced and she is grieving the recent loss of her husband, David, with whom she had a good relationship. William, whose third wife recently left him, is not convinced that monogamy comes naturally to men (or even to women).

In the last Strout book where we caught up with William and Lucy, William finds out that he has a half-sister. When he decides that he would like to meet her, she doesn’t want to meet him. Lucy meets Lois and reports back to William. Lois lives in Maine.

Lucy has found William to be a rather preoccupied partner. She thinks he is rather unengaged. She always has. He is not attentive and often seems to be elsewhere in his mind while Lucy is trying to communicate with him. Is it because he is a scientist, a jerk, or just very self-involved? As they live together once again in Maine, she still sees his limitations but is not as bothered by them. Still, being alone with him in a house in Maine is awkward at first.

Lucy worries that she no longer has a role in her daughters’ lives. For several reasons this turns out not to be the case. It’s an intimate story although it seems rather unemotional. The story line seems to go nowhere because it’s a story about family feelings, relationships, judgments made, and lessons learned. Strout’s writing has a pleasing spareness. 

It’s quite an enjoyable episode in a series of books reminiscent of the TV series that we binge watch these days. It’s similar to a memoir, but involving two people rather than one, although the story is told from Lucy’s point-of-view.