I've read the whole series of these books and I feel that this one felt like a bridge until the next one. It was good, but underwhelming.

I confess that this is merely my third Elizabeth Strout book, but I will certainly go back and read the rest of them. The lack of knowledge about Lucy Barton did not hamper me, though, since the author included all the information I needed to thoroughly enjoy this story. Stories, really.

Elizabeth Strout has a splendidly strong voice. In 𝐎𝐡, 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦!, the narrator is Lucy Barton, a writer who is telling us about her ex-husband, William Gerhardt. Of course, to tell us about William is to tell us about the people in William's life, including herself and especially his mother, Catherine Cole.

In the beginning, I did not like William at all. He seemed cold, distant, and self-absorbed. It did make me wonder, at first, why Lucy was still so friendly with him, but then, I thought, they did have two daughters together.

However, it's more than that. When a couple of startling things happen to William, and Lucy heeds his call for help, she begins to deeply ponder what it is about William that attracted her, all those years ago. Then, they take a trip to research a revelation about William's family, and it becomes clear that his mother had a past that neither of them would've imagined or believed. It turns out, the person they knew as Catherine Cole was much more complex than the woman they thought they'd known.

William is also a complex character, very flawed and damaged, but, it turns out, not unlikeable. Lucy is able to pinpoint what it was that attracted her, and concludes that she sized him up incorrectly, too.

𝑇𝒉𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒: 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑡𝒉𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒.

Lucy is aware that she does not know herself, either. For instance, all her life, Lucy felt the sensation of being both invisible and having a spotlight on her head, proclaiming that she knew nothing. Many people will identify with that! I am in awe of how profound her thoughts are, and how easily she seems to express them.

If it's impossible, or unimaginable, to proclaim what we are feeling to others, then everyone on this planet is feeling a sense of loneliness and a lack of awareness about themselves and others. That sounds like a morose theme, and yet, I found this novel to be hopeful. Perhaps that's because I sense a new beginning for Lucy Barton.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for providing me with the chance to read this lovely book!

Another wonderful novel from Elizabeth Strout. She is the queen of characterizations, all of the people in her novels seem so real! Oh William is such a unique look at a marriage, even one that ended years ago. You can’t help but love and sympathize with both Lucy and William, especially considering their backgrounds. Recommended reading for those who like character-driven rather than plot-driven novels.

Oh,William! is about Lucy Barton, a writer, ex-wife of William, who is still involved in his life. The story is easy to read although it felt like the main character was searching for validation of her life with her exhusband. I didn't feel any strong connection with the characters. I know many people rated this book highly but it was just a middle of the road read for me.
I received an advanced reader's copy from Random House through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
#Oh,William! #NetGalley

Every time I finish a book by Elizabeth Strout, I smile. She is a master of relationships which generates questions about love and life.

This is the third in a series of books with the character, Lucy Barton.. The personalities in this story seem familiar with clear images. Lucy is a writer. She calls the shots on what is said and talks in circles at times. Her first husband, William, taught microbiology for years at NY University and his lab assistant called him Einstein. He is what Lucy calls as an "authority" figure and she feels safe with him. While they both have drifted into other relationships and marriages over time, they still seem to love each other with their two daughters close by.

The reader gets a clear vision of the family members with complicated issues such as hardship effects from WWII, infertility issues and adjusting to different economical backgrounds. In the mix, there's the mother-in-law that they love and yet she comes across as a little off.

Lucy and William are in their retirement years and it makes those of us in the same age bracket relate. As they reviewed their lives, Lucy said to William, "ours is the American story" whatever that is. It's certainly a feel-good book - serious and amusing - that is easy to read and leaves one thinking about their own list of issues in life.

My thanks to Elizabeth Strout, Random House and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy to be released on October 19, 2021.

Lucy, a writer and a widow, lives in New York City, as does her former husband, William. Even though they are divorced, they share two adult daughters, and remain friendly. When William's third wife leaves him, he wants Lucy to accompany him to Maine, since he has just learned through a DNA match that he has a previously unknown half sister. We learn that his sainted mother had deserted the child, never mentioning her to William, who came along 2 years later when she remarried a former German POW who was in Maine. The book is told in the first person by Lucy with amazing insight into each multi-faceted character. She comments towards the end of the book , "This is the way of life: the meany things we do not know until it is too late." I could not put down this compelling and perceptive novel by one of my favorite authors. I'm glad the publisher and Netgalley provided me with an advance copy.

I re-read MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON before beginning OH WILLIAM!, and was glad I did so, as it refreshed my memory of the relationship between the narrator and her ex-husband, the focus of this novel. This third book by Elizabeth Strout about Lucy Barton is as compelling as its predecessors - quietly funny, intensely thoughtful and deeply moving. Like other reviewers, I found myself thinking as I read about the way relationships change - or do not - as we age, as our ability to understand others and ourselves develops over time.

Five stars from me; this is a book I look forward to reading again in the not too distant future. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this much-enjoyed, thought-provoking ARC.

Oh, William!
By Elizabeth Strout

To appreciate Elizabeth Strout's books, the reader must be willing to forego plot in favor of long ruminations about feelings and what in our pasts makes us what we are. She writes books and sequels with very little plot line that meander through the psyches of her characters, illuminating how, beginning in earliest childhood, we grow and change due to the outside influences of family, friends, and the world in general.

This book, for example, is a follow-up to "My Name is Lucy Barton". Lucy is the first person narrator here, and William (of the title) is Lucy's ex-husband. They are both beginning old age and still have much to learn about themselves and each other.

Lucy and William have remained friends throughout William's two and Lucy's one successive post-divorce marriages. As the book progresses Lucy begins to realize just how little she really knows William as family secrets are revealed.

This book requires patience to get to the final takeaway that we never really know another person; and perhaps we never really know ourselves. It is a typical Elizabeth Strout book. So if you are a fan of Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge, you will really enjoy this one.

Once again, Elizabeth Strout delivers a superb novel. If you’ve read Strout’s other books, Lucy Barton is already a familiar and much loved character. In Oh William!, Lucy is our trusted narrator. She brings us into her life and into her obsessive and empty relationship with her ex-husband William. So easy to care about both Lucy thanks to Strout’s ability to create such rich characters. And oh so beautifully written.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

I have read everything Elizabeth Strout has written, some books twice, and have loved them all. Oh, William! is no exception. The joy I felt when I realized Oh, William! is a continuation of Lucy Barton's story, I can't really express in words, except to say, Oh, Lucy! The insights into the internal world of humans that Strout is able to capture is astonishing. William and Lucy's struggles are my own, and I would argue, everyone's. What do we know of another? And what do we hold on to about another that allows us to be in relationship with them? And what do we do when that myth is shattered? This is what Strout asks and delicately explores in Oh, William! The last words will leave your heart humming in gratitude and wanting more.

Oh William! is Lucy, our narrator's view of her ex-husband, who she's still in love with, It's not a fast-paced romantic comedy, or a thriller, but a slow meander through their relationship. That's not a bad thing, it's a very pleasant read full of interesting vignettes from their life together (I particularly enjoyed the part when they visit the library in Maine to learn more about the German POW camp). I"m not sure I would read it again, but I still enjoyed the characters and their connection. Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC.

I felt like Lucy and I were having a cup of tea together and she was telling me about her life. At times I wanted to shake my head and say, “Oh Lucy!”

I’m not sure who’s the most messed up in their head in Oh William!, William or Lucy. They’ve been together for years in one manner or another and are obsessed with one another, yet neither understands the other. These are two self absorbed — and lonely — individuals. Oh William! is not a ‘happy’ book and is instead rather depressing, but I had an almost uncontrollable compulsion to keep reading. I think I was analyzing them both. The writing is excellent. It’s written from Lucy’s introspective POV and gets right into her head.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Oh, Elizabeth Strout! You do write a lovely story. In this case she pretty much winds up the Lucy Barton history leaving her characters in a warm place in the reader’s heart. I have loved her books and the people in them. Oh, William has not been an exception.

I loved this book. Elizabeth Strout is simply a master at revealing the extraordinary stories of ordinary people.

Oh William!
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Lucy Barton just lost her second husband, David. She left her first husband William, with whom she had two daughters. So, why is she obsessed with William, while mourning David?? This whole book didn’t make any sense to me, all the time she spends with William, including a trip to Maine looking for Wiliam’s half sister, whom he just recently found about. The writing style annoyed me, long, rambling run on sentences without any paragraph separation ( this might have been because this was an unedited copy). Overall, I feel generous giving this book three stars.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy.

Two words: Elizabeth Strout. I've read every book she's written.

Billed as Amgash #3, this book reunites with Lucy Barton with her first husband, William--and delves into his/their past. Of families--theirs, his, and hers, and secrets and reflections. There is much on relationships, love, loss, and poverty.

Although divorced from William, they remain connected/friends. Her second husband, David [there is some on their story too], has died and William his having problems in his second marriage [no spoilers from me]. William continues to seek Lucy out from time to time. and so the story evolves.

Lucy is judgmental and as the novel unwinds, we find more of that, and yet, also some restraint on her part. A character study of Lucy and William. that becomes more revealing as the novel progresses.

I loved all the backstories. Her road trip with William. Their family histories--especially Catherine, William's mother. And of Lucy's early life--her parents, siblings, and teacher, Miss Nash.

And, as per usual, Strout's language does not disappoint! Spare and simplistic and yet so revealing. The depth of a single sentence or phrase!

Consider:
"William's face is often closed with an unyielding pleasantness..."
"...their faces seemed shiny with a kind of happiness"
"curtain of my childhood"

I recommend this book.

This is storytelling at its finest as only Elizabeth Strout can do. It’s the story of Lucy and her ex-husband William embarking on a trip to unearth family secrets. It’s really a story of secrets, heartache, marriage and the human heart. I loved it.

I can understand the appeal of Strout's writing--it's not fancy, it's not difficult to understand in terms of its layers and meaning, it's got good pacing--but I didn't love this book, and in fact I found it a little boring. the message, if it has one, seems to be about the resilience and capabilities of women, who handle difficult situations better than the men portrayed. Women are highly competent at everything, Strout seems to proclaim, and shows us exactly how women gain that capability over the course of the novel. As commendable as this is, the novel is flat and dull, and I found myself reading with no sympathy for or interest in any of the characters or their lives.

A popular author in our library, Elizabeth Strout never fails to deliver. Another installment about Lucy Barton and the role her first husband William played in her life.

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
Author Elizabeth Strout captures us with her characters that often leave readers hanging on with questions into the next chapter and sometimes, into the next book. Just as Olive Kitteridge became the most dislikable woman in contemporary literature that you couldn’t help but love, Strout gave her readers Olive, Again and readers shout with joy. Strout first wrote about Lucy Barton whose story {My Name Is Lucy Barton, 2015) was told from her hospital bed where a kind, older doctor treated Lucy’s mysterious illness as her husband William began an affair. The reader developed a definite distaste for William, now the subject of Strout’s newest book and currently Lucy’s ex. Both Lucy and William, as characters begin to unravel from their earlier knitted selves to the weak stitches in their marriage. Greater truths in what were former memories are revealed. Do any of us know how life has twisted us up only to set us down either maimed or slightly bruised, but able to carry on. By creating such characters like Lucy and William (and even Olive or the Burgess brothers from another Strout book) the author holds our attention as she shows us how dismal parenting corrupts our chances to mature as confident, assured adults. Rather like immigrants, both Lucy and William, chart their paths through inhospitable worlds searching for comfort and security with someone, somewhere and we, the readers, find ourselves rooting them on knowing that we share many of the same journeys.