I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

This is a compelling story about a divorced couple who must move in together due to the Covid lockdowns. Lucy moves from Manhattan to Maine with her ex-husband, William. William is intent on saving Lucy from the impending pandemic and their self-imposed lockdown goes from weeks to months to over a year. Their relationship is complicated (as are all marriages and divorces!). The isolation they face and the quiet solitude they are gifted allow them to tap into their inner feelings especially fear. Lucy worries about her two daughters, the loss of her life in New York, and politics. She reflects on her childhood and her shared history with William. The book is well-written and the characters well-developed.  
This is the fourth book in Elizabeth Strout’s Amgash series. Thank you Net Galley for the advance copy.

This is one of those authors that I will read literally anything she writes.  Even if I can't relate the characters and what they're going through, the writing is just so good.  Ever since Olive Kitteridge, I pick up her books whenever I see them.  Highly recommended.

I've loved or very much liked all the Elizabeth Strout books I've read. This one was tough-going for me until the last section. I think reliving the first several Covid years can be quite difficult, especially this soon. It was, for me. I adored everything "Maine" about the book and could see places in my favorite state in my mind's eye as Strout described them. Only difference, Lucy is often critical of the same things I love about Maine. I think Strout excels at getting into people's minds and when Lucy gives advice or contemplates things you can sense a kind of understated genius that belongs to both the character and her author. Though I will never fully trust or entirely like William, I found the book a satisfying read.

Elizabeth Strout revisits a familiar character by the name of Lucy Barton.
The story begins as the pandemic takes hold of the world. William, Lucy’s ex-husband insist she leave New York City with him. William has rented a house out of state. Having developed a friendship over the years, Lucy agrees. 
I loved LUCY BY THE SEA. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Lucy’s life and how she. they coped with the isolation and all the unknowns that the pandemic presented. Without a doubt Elizabeth Strout is one of my favourite authors.
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced digital edition of this book.

I did not care for this book.  I may have gone into it thinking it was a different kind of story, but I still really did not like it, although I finished it.  I found the main character to be whiney and ungrateful.  Her ex tried to save her life by moving her out of NY and into ME during the start of the Covid (although it is only referred to as the virus) and all she could do was complain about how cold she was, she didn't like snow, etc.  I also did not care for her always using the phrase "What I mean/meant is/was).  After a while it was very annoying.

This was a beautiful meditation on the nature of our connections told through the lens of the early pandemic.  I was riveted and couldn't put it down.

I think this is her best Lucy book, and although I'm tired of pandemic books, I related to this one more than others and will recommend and reread. Sweet and satisfying.

Lucy Barton flees a pandemic-stricken New York City for Maine with ex-husband William after he tells her to lockdown with him. It is a chronicle of a plague year — the first year of this ongoing pandemic. It captures its disruptions, uncertainties, and anxieties better than any novel I've read to date on the subject. I Haven’t read any of the former Lucy centered novels so I had no backstory of her marriage falling apart or much about her character but I quickly learned Lucy was a novelist, had lost her second husband recently and had a very hard upbringing in Ohio. 
Locked down in a house on a cliff with a view of the waves, Lucy and her ex husband William attempt to fill their days. Lucy struggles to read, and as for writing, she believes she will never write another word. This sense of being frozen and unable to concentrate was all too common at that uncertain time. 
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the book, considering the subject matter.  The pandemic is a world event that affected all of us very much, and I will never forget the way the things changed.  Although it’s not something I want to re-live, I did like the way this book explored the way the virus affected these characters. Very strong story telling, character dynamic and flow of Lucy by the Sea. 
Thank you Netgalley and Random House publishing for this advanced copy

In Lucy by the Sea we again meet up with Lucy Barton.  The story opens as the pandemic begins in March 2020.  One day her ex-husband, William, tells Lucy to pack a bag and they are going to Maine.  Lucy goes with William but is worried about spending time with William who is now divorced from his most recent wife.  As the pandemic unfolds, Lucy tries to deal with living with William and not being able to see their daughters, as their daughters have their own struggles.  WIth Lucy's typical pluck, she takes her life in Maine astride as Lucy and William navigate living together again, but with some knowledge of the other person.  She meets some locals which she socializes responsibly due to the pandemic restrictions.  I very much enjoyed this latest book about Lucy Barton's life.  Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC of Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout.

I tried multiple times to read this book but I couldn't get into it. I was so excited because everyone is talking about it but it just wasn't for me.

Not a subject matter I want to revisit. I honestly didn’t finish this. I do not support BLM or anything they stand for. That is not what I want to spend my time reading. BLM encouraged people to harm first responders & as a first responders wife, I Cannot support a book that celebrates them.

There is no mistaking Elizabeth Strout's distinct storytelling, especially when it comes to heroine Lucy Barton. While "Lucy by the Sea" is the author's third Lucy novel, it's an stand-alone. However, be prepared to read the first two after finishing this one. 

This chapter in Lucy's life finds her sharing a rented Maine home by the sea with her ex-husband William. They are hoping to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic free from the devastation in New York. At first, Lucy thinks all the safety measures are unnecessary, but she follows William's lead, never imagining what lies ahead. 

As Lucy sees the benefits of her quarantining situation, she wonders why some are lucky in life and others aren't. Strout allows her heroine to describe experiences that most can relate to but may never have been able to put into words. That includes a closer look at the meaning of love, where it starts and how it ends. What draws two people together -- and keeps them together? As Lucy helps William face his past and future, she acknowledges that grief can be shared, but ultimately it's a private journey. 

Let's hope that Strout has more in store for Lucy that she'll share with her fans.

A pandemic novel about an older divorced couple who moves to Maine during lockdown and weathers several storms together (figuratively). I’m new to Strout’s writing and somehow ended up starting at the end of her Amgash series, but my plan is to read through the first three next. I really enjoyed seeing the world through Lucy’s lens - how the past informs the present and seems to bubble up for her no matter what is happening. It’s a very human experience. I also appreciated her relationship with William and how their imperfect history binds them together regardless of their individual flaws and failings.

A quiet, thoughtful observation about that relatively innocent time at the beginning of the pandemic when we didn't know what was about to hit us as Lucy and her ex-husband William quarantine together.

thoroughly  enjoyed this book. loved to continue following these interesting characters. loved the setting . was able to feel like i was right there with the characters in the book.. i hope there is still a continuation for more to come.  great discussion book for any book club.  i recommend this to anyone. enjoy

Oh, how I adore the writing of Elizabeth Strout. Her ability to write so beautifully of the ordinary is wonderful. 

In this case, she wrote of things that I experienced during the Covid era, and it was so thoughtful. The bad and frightening things were relatable. I too have been frightened of Covid and people’s unwillingness to follow science. I am horrified by what people I love think they know. Even when we’ve all known people who died, some refuse to believe. It’s mind-boggling. Brainwashing is real. 

When people don’t believe what they see with their own eyes ….. when they refuse to hear discrepancies between statements of public figures and determine that when one says something one day, something else the next, then back to the first thing, then onto a third ….. that’s lying. I cannot comprehend how that’s not obvious.  Lucy handled that much better than I do. 

I highly recommend this book, as well as all the others I’ve read by this author. I hope to finish the rest of her works next year.

I was hesitant to read a book set during the pandemic, but as I should have expected, Strout handles the subject with care, as she does so many difficult topics. Lucy by the Sea might even be my favorite in the series, because it felt so real (at times unsettlingly so) and the characters developed in ways they had not before. The plot moved slowly, and yet it held my attention from start to finish. It also made me remember, for better or worse, what it was like at the start of the pandemic, in particular before the vaccine was made available. It's strange to realize that I had repressed, how anxious and stressful a time it was, and how much uncertainty we were all coping with and, to some extent, still are. It isn't the easiest read, much perhaps still too raw for many, but it is worthwhile. I do hope the author continues this series, as I've grown attached to Lucy and William and the others and want to know what comes next for them!

This is another stellar addition to the Lucy Barton series by Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth Strout.  Although I wasn’t sure I was ready to read a Covid pandemic book yet, I could not resist the pull of this series.  Internally focused,  Lucy is able to explore the emotions that make us all human.  Perpetually surprised by her own awareness we are given a glimpse into the emotions that drive this story.  Another wonderful installment that is not to be missed!

This is a beautiful novel about the hardest of times. Readers follow Lucy as she slowly comes to understand the magnitude and tragedy of the Covid epidemic.

This quote brings things into focus and puts the reader firmly in Lucy’s world:

Here is what I did not know that morning in March. I did not know that I would never see my apartment again. I did not know that one of my friends and a family member would die of this virus. I did not know that my relationship with my daughters would change in way I could never had anticipated. I did not know that my entire life would become something new.

Strout’s writing is so effective. Like Hemingway, she knows the value of some unembellished prose. This matter of fact style makes the awfulness of Covid even more acute.

Strout has written many novels. I have not read them all. However, I did recognize characters in this story from those that I had read. This, to me, adds to the sense of a universe populated by folks that I feel I know.

I recommend this book about Lucy, William and those around her as they spend time in Maine. It is impactful with tragedy, relationships and the need for resilience.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.