Lucy By the Sea, which returns to Strout's familiar characters, is an excellent, human, honest book about the pandemic, and what we fear, and who we hurt, and who we connect with. I could feel Lucy's fear and anger and horror as I read, and similarly understand William, who, in the later years of his life, is able to find joy in newfound family. However, it is, yes, a book about rich white people with immense amounts of privilege and resources. Although Lucy's background is one of poverty and abuse, she's plenty comfortable now, at least based on the description of her NYC apartment. Strout does have William acknowledge his discomfort with the family fortune, and Lucy does wonder about the experiences of the people she sees on the news--the people who died at home, or with glass separating them from their families, the poor, who can't leave New York--it's more of a passing thought than anything else, and while that's a very real response, it's one that goes a little too unexamined, I think. Readers who are already fans of Strout will like the book, I'm sure, and readers new to her world and its characters will find plenty to grab onto without having to read the previous books first. It is excellent--perhaps not just because of the emotions and thoughts Strout conveys, but because it also makes me think of how much of it is packed with these rich white people.

This was a pandemic novel I didn’t know I needed! With Elizabeth Strout being one of my favorite authors, I will pretty much read anything she writes — so of course I was ecstatic to have been approved for an early copy of her latest novel, Lucy by the Sea, which brings back one of my all time favorite Strout characters, Lucy Barton. This time around, it is the very early stages of the COVID pandemic and Lucy is whisked away to Maine by her ex-husband William, who, as a scientist, knows a thing or two about the situation going on with the virus. Lucy agrees to go with him to the isolated house by the sea for what they both think will be “only a few weeks” (one of my favorite scenes was early on in the book when Lucy is in her apartment packing her things and trying to decide what to bring for what she anticipates will be a short stay in Maine — the laptop scene was classic “Lucy and William bantering over the most mundane things” and I loved the familiarity of it!). As the weeks turn into months, the situation escalates, with Lucy and William eventually going into pandemic lockdown as things around the world become more and more dire.

Just like with the previous Lucy books, we as readers essentially live inside Lucy’s head the entire story as she narrates her day-to-day experiences (whether good or bad), observations, and feelings toward everything that happens. As Strout does brilliantly with each of her novels, she provides keen insights into the human condition through her characters’ astute observations and empathetic, heartfelt emotions that reflect the realities of our everyday lives. One difference this time though, is that many of Lucy’s experiences and sentiments hit extremely close to home, given the timeframe spanning recent events such as the pandemic lockdown, the George Floyd murder and subsequent protests, the January 6th insurrection, etc. — resulting in shared feelings of anxiety, fear, unease, and a sense of feeling unmoored in a country becoming more and more divided.

I read Oh William! last year and while I did enjoy that one, I felt that focus was more on William’s story rather than Lucy herself, and in that sense, it felt a little less relatable than the first book My Name is Lucy Barton did. This new book, Lucy by the Sea, brought the focus back to Lucy, which I definitely appreciated, as it gave me the same poignant, relatable vibe that the original one did, which made me love this one just as much.

Fans of the Lucy Barton series will no doubt love this newest sequel, though it’s definitely recommended to read the previous books before this one (except Anything is Possible, which is part of the series but doesn’t focus as much on Lucy herself — I still need to read this one myself). Also, Elizabeth Strout fans who have read her other books will love the Easter eggs scattered throughout the story, especially the appearances by other characters who featured prominently in some of her other works. This added a “fun” element to the story that helped to balance out some of the “heaviness” of the subject matter for me. While I’m not sure if there will be another Lucy book after this one, I will absolutely read whatever else Strout comes out with in the future!

Received ARC from Random House via NetGalley.

Lucy by the Sea, by Elizabeth Strout is a pandemic novel.

"Lucy Barton, is convinced by her ex-husband, William, to leave New York City and flee to Maine to avoid the worst of the pandemic. So much is unknown about the virus, but William doesn't want to take chances. There Lucy watches people as the world seems to fall apart. She makes new friends and explores a new future with William and her daughters."

This book does a nice job showing the uncertainty and fear of the early days of the pandemic, especially in a large city like NYC. Strout is always looking at relationships and the interactions of people. Here, she looks at what happens when people who crave relationship no longer know how to interact face-to-face.

Depending on your experience, you may find it hard to relive the events of the pandemic. But you may be glad to see that others had some of the same thought s and anxiety you did.

Several references to Olive Ketteridge (another Strout character)

Fans of Lucy Barton will want to read this one.

Excellent story about the very beginnings of the COVID outbreak and how it changed the lives of everyone. Sparingly written, seemingly simple prose that resonates more than any flowery or dramatic words could. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read the ARC for this book. Ms. Strout remains one of my favorite authors.

As a first line responder for the patients with COVID, I think she treated the subject with dignity and solid science behind it. It was painful to relive the time, though, I will say. Could be a potential trigger for people who still suffer with Long Covid.

Recommended. 5/5 stars.

Elizabeth Strout returns with her sparse but beautiful prose in Lucy by the Sea, book four in the Amgash series.

It’s the early days of 2020 when COVID-19 was making its way around the world. Lucy watches it with feelings of detachment while her ex-husband William whisks her away from NYC to a small town in Maine. Initially, she believes it’ll only be for a few weeks but eventually realizes she will never return to her apartment.

While Lucy is in lockdown with William, she reflects on their shared history, her relationship with her grown children, her traumatic childhood, and all the turmoil and tension since 2020.

Memory, loneliness, and grief are themes touched on throughout this novel.

I think I read a review where someone likened Lucy’s story to sitting down with your grandmother and listening to her chat with you. It does have an intimate feeling.

I highly recommend this series if you haven’t started it already. Each book is on the shorter side, but all are impactful and thought-provoking.

Thank you to Random House for providing me with a widget via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am a recent convert to the Lucy Barton series, picking it up shortly before the third book was longlisted for a Booker Prize, and I'm happy to report that the books just seem to get better and better. There's something very comforting about Strout's writing, even when her characters are experiencing simply terrible things.

In Lucy by the Sea, Lucy Barton has escaped NYC with her ex-husband William, right as the COVID-19 pandemic is starting. They go to Crosby, ME (which Strout fans will recognize as the town where Olive Kitteridge is set) and hunker down. As with the other Lucy novels, our protagonist relates her everyday interactions with people, ruminates on her past, and comments on current events.

The things that Lucy notes about the pandemic in particular are somewhat minor (as minor as they can be given the circumstances); the talks about little things that changed as the pandemic progressed. Her reactions and commentary almost felt more real that way. The same goes for the way she discusses the upheaval following the death of George Floyd. She's by no means minimizing the events but the sometimes selfish way she analyzes them feels accurate for a lot of the population (and for Lucy's character).

For a novel about a pandemic that caused us to isolate from one another, so much of this book is about interpersonal relationships. I loved Lucy's dynamic with William and the friendships she forms with the locals in Crosby. These relationships become so important to her, and help to expose her to different views.

It's hard to pick a favorite Lucy book so far but this one is definitely high on my list. I'm grateful for the chance to read it early!

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout is a so-so pandemic novel. Basically, William whisks Lucy out of NYC to live out the pandemic lockdown in a remote home located in a coastal community in Maine.

I've been a huge fan of Lucy Barton and have enjoyed Strout's novels for years. I was looking forward to reading Lucy by the Sea, but once I started it, the novel fell so flat I also most didn't finish it. Strout gets points for her ability to write and that's it. It's a pandemic lock down novel and a lazy, scattered story lacking a keen focus. I didn't care about this fictional story which felt perfunctory and whiny. There was no great story here.

All of us experienced the lockdown (or not) in different ways and all of us have our own stories. Setting aside this novel and allowing time to temper the facts and events would have been wiser than publishing this. My fluid rule that authors need to keep their personal editorializing on social/political views on contemporary topics to themselves and out of new books as it diminishes and dates the novel, yet again, applies. This is a disappointment. I'm apparently a complete outlier among reviewers, but I can't believe all the people writing glowing reviews read the same novel I did.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House via NetGalley
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and Amazon.

Oh Lucy I have missed you so much. I’m glad we had this time together again. And that’s exactly how it feels to me with Elizabeth Strout’s beautiful, gentle, real and compassionate writing style.
William has whisked Lucy away from New York City to Maine at the beginning of the pandemic before anybody was really taking the virus very seriously.
Their daughters are staying at a different safe house.
It’s from this house in Maine that we hear Lucy describe things that happen to her in Maine - or she reflects on events that have happened in the past - heartbreaking at times. But she’s a courageous woman my Lucy, although she would deny it.
I loved this book so much. Lucy is such a beloved character, I hope Ms Strout continues to give us the gift of Lucy for a while to come.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC

Lucy Barton is back in her fourth outing. Grieving the loss of her beloved husband, Lucy is living a sorrowful life in New York until, with covid on the horizon, she is whisked away for safety to a windswept house on the coast of Maine by her first husband, William. Long divorced, though amicable (the previous Strout novel had them on a road trip to uncover William’s complicated family), the two take shelter to wait out the pandemic, while Lucy anguishes over her grown daughters’ marriage troubles and reflects, regarding the fragile nature of human relations and the difficulty of connection, that we’re all essentially in a permanent kind of lockdown.

This book is a beautiful reflection of the shared experience of the pandemic. Lucy’s ex-husband William takes her to Maine in March of 2020 just as the virus is taking over New York City. The coast of Maine is isolating and bleak in the winter and early spring, so they brave the weather and stave off isolation by taking daily walks, chat with neighbors 6 feet apart, and just take it day by day. William comforts her during this unsettling time, and together they get through all the scary and upsetting things that happen in the unfolding months. The writing is beautiful and I love revisiting these characters. Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for the advanced copy. Available September 20.

It’s amazing how much we’ve already forgotten about the beginning of Covid times…this book will you back there…

Lucy By the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

Many thanks to #RandomHouse and #NetGalley for this ARC to read another winning William story in this stream-of-consciousness novel by Elizabeth Strout.

As the COVID pandemic strikes, William’s protective instincts kick in, so he and Lucy head to Maine for self- quarantining.
Mainstays of Lucy’s streaming thoughts while there are her daughters, Chrissy and Becka, but reviewing her past and aging are foremost on her mind.

It would be impossible to read this book and not draw insight and take stock of your own life with its mistakes and successes.You will consider your friendships, and your family’s value to you. You will stop and evaluate everything past and present. Strout pulls you in.

A cameo appearance of another Strout character will make you smile, while new characters enter and surround Lucy. A must for all Elizabeth Strout fans, this five star book will appeal to any reader.

This a quiet yet powerful conclusion to the Lucy Barton trilogy! Writing is so clear while at the same time so expressive.
It traces Lucy’s physical through the early pandemic and her notional journey with William and her daughters.
It touched the perfect note with this Elizabeth Strout fan.

Caution - Unpopular opinion ahead. This was my first book by this author and I'm really at a loss for words. I'm seeing high praise and many 5-star ratings, and I'm stretching to give it a 3-star rating. I appreciate how well the author captured the myriad emotions and psychological disturbances that plagued people in the early days of the Covid pandemic. Readers can feel the fear and uncertainty in each of the character's dialogue and actions, and occasionally there was some great prose.

It was hard for me to stay interested due to the rambling and tedious nature of the writing. I confess that I had to read the book in short spurts in order to finish it. I found none of the characters likable, which also made it hard to stay involved with the story. This one fell flat for me.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and the author for the advanced reader's copy. The opinions expressed are my own.

Can a Pandemic Book be somehow soothing?

“As a panicked world goes into lockdown, Lucy Barton is uprooted from her life in Manhattan and bundled away to a small town in Maine by her ex-husband and on-again, off-again friend, William. For the next several months, it’s just Lucy, William, and their complex past together in a little house nestled against the moody, swirling sea.”

Do you love reading about car chases? Murder mysteries? Explosions?

This is not the book for you.

I don’t know that I’ve ever read a book as quiet and contemplative as this one.

I enjoyed it entirely.

Strout writes like Lucy thinks. Often interrupting her self. Not always in full sentences.

There was something utterly engaging and warm about it.

Full Disclosure: I haven’t read any of the other books in the Amgash series, so I know I’m missing a lot of the backstory. Lucy’s visions, for instance, are never really explained, and I assume they appear elsewhere in more detail.

Honestly, I liked this book enough to go back and catch up.

8/10

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this comforting ARC.

This is my first Elizabeth Strout book so I read Lucy by the Sea as a stand alone. It can be read as a standalone, but I can definitely see how the background of the other 3 books would help but the characters and their journey in perspective.. However, that being said, this book was engaging and it really brought out raw emotions and memories of pandemic life. The pandemic has affected so many families and I think Strout really leaned into those vulnerable feelings and isolation and the complexity of muddling through life through Lucy and William and their family's continuing story. Sometimes Lucy's voice was a bit chaotic, but I think that is perhaps the point and highlighted the natural progression of how the brain ages...or perhaps that is more reflective of her personality. A solid, satisfying, realistic read, but not a joyful one.

Thank you #NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

“Lucy by the Sea” is a very good literary novel that takes place in Manhattan and coastal Maine during the time of the recent pandemic.

When Covid strikes New York City, recently widowed Lucy Barton is living alone in the apartment she shared with her deceased husband. She’s an author with two grown daughters and an ex-husband, William. Their marriage failed years ago because of his and her infidelities.

As friends and neighbors sicken, William convinces Lucy to flee the city and take shelter in a house on the Maine seacoast (where pandemic-escaping New Yorkers are not very welcome). It is there that both Lucy and William begin the process of examining and re-examining their lives and the choices they’ve made and finding a way forward.

The story is told by Lucy in the first person. Author Elizabeth Strout has done a masterful job of depicting Lucy by means of her very distinctive voice and emotional restraint. Throughout the novel, there’s an understated quality to the writing, with readers often invited to draw their own conclusions about Lucy and how she and other characters must feel.

Speaking of characters, Ms. Strout has drawn all of them well. Each has substance and depth and is multi-layered. There are no heroes or villains—just humans trying to “do the best we can…just trying to get through.” And although “Lucy by the Sea” is set during a time of isolation, conflict, and waning hope, it manages to end with a cautious kind of optimism.

Having just come through the pandemic (along with everyone else), I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to read a novel about it. But I ended up liking "Lucy By The Sea" so much that I may just read it again.

Through the eyes of main character, Lucy Barton, we follow one New York family through the early days of the pandemic. A beautifully written, deep and soulful elegy to life, love and companionship. Elizabeth Strout explores family, community, white ho.do us together, loneliness, fear, and connection.

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

Oh my it hasn't been that long since we experienced the isolation, physical and emotional that came unexpectedly with COVID. This book was so emotionally rich. I surprisingly enjoyed the journey of getting thru this time with your ex husband in Maine.

One of the best books I've read all year. I didn't think I was ready for a book centered on Covid-19, so was surprised to find how much this drew me in. Will be recommending this for readers advisory.