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.

I am a huge fan of this author and this book did not disappoint. The third installment in the Amgash series revisits Lucy Barton and explores just where life has taken her after the death of her second husband.

I love anything written by Elizabeth Strout, and Oh William is no exception. We are reunited with Lucy Barton, as she updates us on her life and the significant role her first husband (William) plays throughout it. I didn’t think it was possible to learn more about Lucy after Anything Is Possible (the second book narrated by her), but Oh WIlliam brings it to another level. I think it would especially appeal to baby boomers, but younger readers can also enjoy and get a lot out of this novel.

Growing up as the child of an English teacher, I was drilled in the rules of how not to write, so reading this book made me cringe almost every paragraph due to the run on sentences. I was going to write this review as one run on sentence, but couldn't face it. In one random sentence alone, I counted the use of the word "and". seven times. I may not have mastered all those rules I learned, but I try not to make the sentences so long that you get irritated like I did with this book.

Ok, pet peeve behind me now, the story dealt with a couple who had been married and divorced, yet remained friends even after they remarried other people. He was on the depressed side since he felt his research did not rise to the level of really accomplishing what he wanted to in life and she was overly invested in herself, as he pointed out to her.

I liked the daughters, didn't care for the husband, who may or may not have been on the spectrum based on his lack of empathy or even interest in what was happening to anyone but himself. The wife came from nothing, actually less than nothing when it came to love, yet rose higher than her siblings as far as having love in her life.

I have loved books by the author, but this was not one of them.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

How can you not love Lucy Barton? What a perfect peek into a life. Plenty of relatable scenes and situations and people, but so lovingly crafted that they're familiar but not boring. I will read whatever Strout produces.

This is a wonderful book! I have read several of Ms. Strout’s books and I love her writing style. Highly recommended for fans of this author, as well as those who will become new fans.

Captivating look at human relationships specifically husbands and wives, ex-wives, siblings, children. As always Elizabeth Strout brazenly but gently reveals the way people communicate or struggle to communicate. I don't know how she does it, but I always find myself immersed in her books and somehow afterwards I feel as if I have been given a knowledge I didn't have before.

Strout returns for the third time to the world of Lucy Barton. She gives enough information to remind readers of Lucy's background which was helpful for me. This book focuses on her relationship with her ex-husband William, now 70 years old. The feel of the book was a soft sadness and as with most of Strout's books there is not much of a plot but it was nice to be back in Lucy's head.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I have always enjoyed reading books by Elizabeth Strout. This book is no exception. Great character studies of both William and Lucy. I definitely felt the emotions that the author was conveying and even found myself saying “oh, William.” I think this book is suited more to a mature audience. It is not “fun” nor is it necessarily to be considered a sad story— it’s just life.

I was familiar with Elizabeth Strout’s writing from her book, Olive Kitteridge; Oh William! is the third in the Amgash fiction series. It features Lucy Barton, who is now a surprisingly famous writer. Lucy, however, imagines herself to be invisible, because she came from nothing, as her mother-in-law, Catherine, used to say. It’s true; what’s more, Lucy had very low self-esteem, even as a college student, perhaps even now, as she tells her story.

Lucy is recently widowed. Her late husband, David, was raised a Hasidic Jew and left that community when he was nineteen. Lucy, too, left her family and her way of life behind when she met her first husband William. It is Lucy’s ongoing relationship with William that is the focus of this book, which is a rambling account of their relationship and a commentary on marriage and relationships in general.

Lucy’s first person narrative feels like a heart-to-heart talk over coffee or a glass – or two or three – of white wine. She ponders and reflects about the ups and downs of her marriage and her ongoing friendship with her ex-husband. She speaks of his affairs, of their children, and of his mother, whom she liked and cared for. She describes her feelings of awkwardness and discomfort when travelling to the Caymans for the first time. Even in the present day, William invites her to travel with him. Sometimes their conversations are meaningful; sometimes they are hurtful, but they generally work things out. In the course of many of these discussions, we hear Lucy’s thoughts and picture her rolling her eyes, “Oh, William!”

When William reveals a secret about his family, and invites Lucy to accompany him to investigate his secret past, Lucy agrees. The revelations surprise both of them, and not necessarily in a positive way, at least not initially. But will it affect their relationship to one another and to their adult daughters in the end?

I found Stroud’s writing style in this novel to be very casual and comfortable; at the same time, I found it amusing in a way; the speaking mannerisms of Lucy did not strike me as someone who is a published author! But I found her to be quite endearing. She has much to teach us about relationships and about ourselves. I did not mind having missed the first two books in the series, as she gives enough background to make the reader feel acquainted with her. Overall, I was struck by Lucy’s honesty about her feelings and her life, and I was impressed by the endurance of her relationship with the twice remarried William, despite all their misunderstandings.

I wish to thank NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and the author for providing me with this ARC e-book in return for my honest review. My opinions are my own.

4 stars

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review an ARC of Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout.
“But who ever really knows the experience of another?”
Lucy, the narrator and first wife of William —“William is the only person I feel safe with. He is the only home I ever had.”
This novel is a psychological study of Lucy and William. It shows the effects of their sad early years on their future lives.
I found the characters dull and pathetic! William couldn’t even wear his khaki pants long enough!
I cannot recommend this book. Publication date is October 19, 2021.

I really wanted to like this book, but it boils down to the fact that I am just tired of Strout’s writing style After liking the Olive books a lot, I am not at all fond of Lucy Barton - both this one and My Name is Lucy Barton. Though the title is Oh William, it really is more about Lucy and she is not a likable character. The dialogue is very stream of consciousness where she goes on and on and on about her marriages, her daughters, her parents and more! There really is no plot except for the last quarter of the book where she travels with her ex husband, William, to Maine to explore his roots and discover if he truly has the half-sister he just learned about. This was by far the most interesting part of the book for me and I found it rather touching. Still, the book was boring and lacking in substance! Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this before publication in exchange for an honest review.

This book is definitely unique. The writing style is not something I'm used to seeing. In the book the main character would often tell a story, then follow it up with "I mean....., I guess that's what I'm trying to say" I found that a little odd, but I think it was a way to show us how unsure Lucy was in her thinking and thought processes. She never quite seemed sure of herself, except she was sure that David was the love of her life. Her relationship with her parents, with William (Oh, William), with Caroline, and her daughters were all pretty unsure. Poor Lucy second guessed everything she did and everything she thought. This is an in-depth view of her "unsureness" Very interested book.

I enjoyed this novel. I can handle a book that makes me think and feel, one that challenges the amount of empathy you are willing to give to others, to yourself. If you are craving a lot of thrills and action on your mental screen when you read . . .  this one might not be for you.

It’s been a long time since I have enjoyed a good play. I think this monologue/dialogue-driven story would make an excellent stage presentation.

I don’t know if anyone else is a fan of In Treatment on HBO, but this had that same voyeuristic vibe to it. One where you witness intimate conversations that we can have with ourselves, the thoughts, the feelings, and the phobias we might only dare to share with a therapist. Listening to the kinds of deep self explorative talk that can lead a person to stunning realizations, to epiphany after epiphany.

Its delivery is both simplistic and cerebral which can be a hard combination to pull off . . . well, a standing “Oh” to Elizabeth Strout.

Now I need to get my hands on a copy of Olive Kitteridge because I enjoyed this one so much.

I'd like to thank the author, NetGalley, and Random House for allowing me to read an advanced copy of Oh William! for an honest review.

I read this book in one day. Elizabeth Strout is a marvelous writer and I love Lucy Barton-I reread ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. Lucy is now in her 60s, her second husband has died and she has been thinking a lot about her first husband, William. They are still good friends. Estelle, his third wife, gives him Ancestry.com for his birthday and he discovers his mother had another child.
Lucy is supportive, but then so is William. I loved it. I may have to reread MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON again.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I have read each of the novels in this Amgash series, although I have only vague memories now of the first two. This was beautifully written and very hard to review somehow. It concerned Lucy's on-going friendship with her first husband William, the father of her children. It was less sad than the first two books I think, with Lucy more at peace and settled into her identity. The reminiscences about her teacher Miss Nash made me cry.

Lucy Barton's life is examined and expanded in this continuation of the story that began with the publication of My Name is Lucy Barton. Now we are immersed in Lucy's later life when she has long been divorced from William and recently widowed by David. Her complexities are revealed through her relationships with them, as well as other family members. At his request, she sets off on a road trip with William who is reluctantly delving into secrets from his past and wants her support. Lucy's first person narrative is ostensibly about William. and her conversational tone includes readers in the journey even as we recognize how much her observations reveal about herself. As a Mainer I was interested in her descriptions of "The County," which I found both accurate and amusing. This novel stands alone, but readers of Strout's earlier works will be delighted by the added richness of Oh William.

Thank you for such a insightful, thought provoking book! Lucy is back in the company of her former husband William and does not disappoint as they travel around trying to figure out the secrets of life. You will be reflecting on your own after this one! Oh, William!