Excellent and thought provoking. How we’ll do we know ourselves, or others? How much do we understand? A provocative read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this Kindle ARC. Oh, Elizabeth Strout! I absolutely LOVED this story and Ms. Strout's gentle prose. Oh, William! is a follow up to My Name is Lucy Barton and is about Lucy and her ex-husband, with whom she has two adult daughters. I've enjoyed the majority of Ms. Strout's books but this one really struck a chord with me. Lucy's beloved second husband, David, has died and she is still struggling with the grief of that loss. William, who is remarried to Estelle, is still "William" - seeing other women, and making Lucy shake her head and say "Oh, William" in her head every time William does something that Lucy dislikes. When William's wife leaves him, he and Lucy travel to Maine to uncover some of William's family secrets. Interwoven interactions with their daughters, a trip together and discovering why or why not they should be together, Lucy and William's story is one of Ms. Strout's best stories.

Elizabeth Strout creates characters like no one else. They are real and flawed and relatable and I was so happy to read another book with Lucy Barton as the first person narrator. There isn't anything about this book that I didn't love, from the voice of Lucy to her relationship with her ex-husband William to their visit to the small towns of Maine. Highly recommended for Elizabeth Strout fans, which everyone should be! I was provided with a copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

I think I might be a tad biased because I love everything that Elizabeth Strout writes, but I truly loved this book. With Oh William we get a deeper look into Lucy Barton and her relationship with her first husband and their children. The relationship between family members is tense with betrayal, grief, and secrets, but what makes the story so engaging is to see how each of the characters works through their relationship to find something that works for them. I feel like Oh William showed a really different side of Lucy than the previous book. The writing is beautiful and fans of her previous writing will not be disappointed by this one.

What I mean is I loved this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

A huge thank you to Netgalley for this ARC of Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout. This the third book in the Lucy Barton series. It can definitely be read as a standalone, which is one of the beauties of Strout's novels. This book explores the relationship of Lucy and her ex-husband, William. They have maintained a good relationship over the years, however William has remained somewhat of a mystery to Lucy. William uncovers a family secret and invites Lucy to accompany him on a trip to learn more about his discovery. It's this trip where Strout's talent truly shines. She is a master at writing about relationships and people in general. She catches nuances and is able to transcribe them in to beautiful novels. I highly recommend this book and absolutely anything Elizabeth Strout writes.

I have found a new favourite author and a new favourite character.
The prose was so beautiful and yet so ordinary if that makes any sense. I felt like we could have been two women chatting over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine meeting every so often so catch up. Where oh where have I been that I have never heard of Elizabeth Strout before. I have already downloaded her previous books so I can enjoy many more hours with Lucy. When people say books are “unputdownable”, it usually refers to a psychological thriller but this was just a flow of Lucy’s thoughts and feelings and memories and I honestly couldn’t get enough of this wonderful well written marvellous book.
Many thanks to NetGalley for this ARC

Oh, William, continues the story of Lucy Barton. Lucy’s second husband has died and her first husband, William, asks for her to help him with some new developments in his upbringing that he uncovered through an online hereditary site. The story is told in Lucy’s point of view. Lucy and William have been divorced for awhile but they are friends and still have a great understanding of each other. Lucy’s perspective on her life as she looks back is very good!

A short, sweet book in the series. Lovely writing and insights, essentially just stream of consciousness bouncing back and forth on Lucy's head and what she observes in the world around her and in her own heart.

The third “ installment” in the Lucy Barton trilogy, and to my mind the best. The William in the title is a former husband, with whom she shares 2 daughters.The book is about him, but equally about her, their early lives that made them who they are,their weaknesses, their strengths, their fears, their failures.I’m certain that every reader will see some of these emotions reflected in themselves in some part of the book.It is a very “ human” story, really about insights into all of the emotions people will feel at some point in their lives.A short read but with a lot to ponder. Highly recommend it.

If you liked Olive Kitteridge or Olive Again or My Name is Lucy Barton, you'll like this continuation of Lucy's narrative with the cast back together again: Catherine, William, Chrissy, Becka. Any review of My Name is Lucy Barton can easily be applied to this book as well. That's an observation, not an insult.

I loved Elizabeth Strout’s other books especially the two focused on Olive. This one didn’t pull me in and I had a difficult time getting through it.

Do we ever really know others? Or even know ourselves? This are questions explored by Elizabeth Strout in this wonderful sequel to My Name is Lucy Barton. Her thoughts on marriage and family and memory resonated with me. I'm ready to read a sequel to the sequel. Highly recommended.

I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Strout and will read anything she writes as soon as it's published, but for whatever reason the "Lucy Barton" books weren't my favorites. Until now. I loved "Oh William!," the third book in the Lucy Barton series, in which Lucy, struggling with the recent death of her beloved second husband David, helps her ex-husband William cope with his own traumas. It turns out that William's third marriage to the much-younger Estelle isn't as solid as he imagined and, to make matters worse, William discovers that his much beloved mother Catherine had a secret past that is too difficult for him to accept. While these two storylines weave through "Oh William!" and provide it with a framework of plot, it is Lucy's ruminations on her past, her marriages, and the complexities of families that give "Oh William!" its luminous soul. Unlike Strout's cantankerous Olive Kitteridge, Lucy is timid and unsure of herself, unable to fully shake off the insecurity she feels as a result of her childhood in an impoverished and abusive family; in Strout's straightforward but beautiful writing, Lucy comes alive in "Oh William!" in a way that makes me want to go back and re-read the first two books in this series--and hope this isn't the last we've heard from her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review. Highly recommended.

Oh reader! What can I say about the exquisite voice of Elizabeth Strout? She develops narrative and character so gently and so thouroughly that I was entranced. What Lucy tells, says she won't tell, and tentatively still does tell, is a story of love, lonliness, connections, duty, and self realization. There is no one else I have read with Strout's intimate and immediate gift. Recommended for readers of fine literary fiction.

Review posted on blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

Have you ever felt deeply connected to an author, as if the two of you were simpatico?

That is how I feel about my “relationship” (lol) with Elizabeth Strout - I feel as though we are connected, and as though when reading her books, she is speaking directly to me. (As if that were even remotely possible...one can hope, however!).

When I began reading “Oh William” - I will admit to feeling as though Elizabeth Strout was just talking (to me - lol) about her life, even though I knew she had written this book in the character of “Lucy Barton” and about Lucy’s first husband William. Soon, however, I was swept away, by Lucy, her children, and of course, by William.

Lucy Barton unpacks a lot here: from her unresolved feelings for her parents and specifically her mother; to what happened in her marriage to William, and their children; and his current marriage.

Lucy Barton is a character who, through the last 3 novels, you can’t help but like, through trials and tribulations, Lucy perseveres. She is kind, hard-working, and honest. Far from perfect, Lucy does her best and that is something I think we can all strive for. To know her, frankly, is to love her.

As an aside, at the beginning of this book, Lucy Barton had an encounter with Pam Carlson, ex-wife of Bob Burgess, of “The Burgess Boys” - another novel by Ms. Strout - which just happens to be one of my favorite novels by Elizabeth Strout, after the Olive Kitteridge series. I adore Bobby Burgess, perhaps because I recognize a kindred spirit. So, Ms. Strout, if you read this and if you take requests, I would love it if you would consider writing another book about Bob Burgess, whose story broke my heart.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Elizabeth Strout for the arc.

Published on Goodreads, Instagram, and Twitter.

I was lucky to receive Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and opinions. This was the first book I've read by this author however many of my friends had suggested her to me in the past. Boy, I was missing out by not following their lead and reading her! This was a fantastic story and I really enjoyed reading it. I will for sure go back and read more by her after reading this. Do yourself a favor and listen = read it!

This was my first Elizabeth Strout novel and, for me, Oh William! was a journey without a destination. Lucy and William held my attention, and I enjoyed the musing style of writing. The ending, however, was a non-ending, and vaguely unsatisfying.

Although I've liked some of this author's books I didn't care for this one at all (and actually didn't finish it). The writing seemed choppy and didn't flow. I just never got the point of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Elizabeth Strout for providing a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Oh William follows Lucy Barton (fans of Strout will recognize her as the titular character of My Name is Lucy Barton) and her complex relationship with her ex-husband, William as he struggles with his own identity crisis. I can only say this: Strout is a genius at zeroing in on the complexity of human personality and relationship. She captures, exactly, the particular layers of fact and fiction that occur throughout the lifespan of a marriage, even (or especially!) one that ends in divorce. Strout also excels at capturing the voice of her main characters, and I've often felt, as I read her books, that I jump straight into her characters' heads, their singular voice ringing straight through in their idiosyncratic thought processes and dialects.

If you've read and loved anything else by Strout, this book stands among her other novels. If you haven't read Strout, please do. I can't recommend this book highly enough!

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of Elizabeth Strout, and was thrilled to get a sneak peak at her newest novel. It does not disappoint! This work focuses on Lucy's two very different marriages and her relationships with both men. Her second husband has passed away and she is still grieving his loss. Her first husband, and the father of her daughters, is still a friend.

She reflects on what drew her to each man, what worked (or didn't), and thinks through how her upbringing drew her to each man and impacted her relationships. In her classic style of free-flowing thoughts and memories, Ms. Strout weaves a beautiful story of the complexity of relationships. Lovely and heartwarming from start to finish!