4.5 stars. Ahh Strout. Her books to me are a balm for the soul and a comforting respite from a busy world. You can keep your Sally Rooneys with their navel-gazing millennial angst and your high octane twisty thrillers. Here, Strout’s characters tell the stories of their lives to one another and seek comfort in listening to a friend.

In this the fifth book in the Amgash series, Strout returns to small town Crosby, Maine where Lucy Barton finally meets my favourite straight-talking character, Olive Kitteridge. Lucy starts to visit Olive in her retirement home and the two exchange extraordinary stories of ordinary folks they have encountered in their lives.

Meanwhile, Bob Burgess (married to Margaret) the semi-retired lawyer, takes regular walks with Lucy by the river and the two chat about their lives and day to day encounters they have had with others.

In the course of this book, Bob won my heart. Heck, he might even be my new favourite Strout character. Bob is asked to take on the defence case of a local man, Matthew Beach, who is accused of disappearing his mother. And so there unfolds a murder investigation and a detective strand to this tale.

Some heavyweight themes are covered: grief, death, sexual abuse, alcoholism, extra-marital affairs. Yet because most of the trauma is recounted rather than told through a first-person narrative, I felt more able to to cope with the content without it ever becoming too unbearable and visceral to read.

This is a book about love and friendship in all its guises. As Lucy says, ‘Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love’. For me this is Strout’s finest work to date and she has cemented her place as a treasured storyteller in my heart.

With thanks to NetGalley, Penguin General UK and Viking Books UK for granting me the digital ARC for this review.

If you've already been introduced to Olive Kitteridge, Lucy and William Barton, and Bob Burgess, you'll be pleased to meet them again here. If you haven't met them yet, don't worry, just dive in!

All Elizabeth Strout's novels are so gentle and quiet and wry, with her astute observations of people of a certain age living in a small town in Maine, America.

This time Bob Burgess has been asked to defend a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother.

And Lucy has befriended Olive Kitteridge in her retirement home and visits her regularly to talk together about the people they have known.

Bob and Lucy have built a strong platonic relationship and enjoy meeting to talk about their lives, their hopes and regrets, and what might have been.

The novel moves at an easy pace. Nothing much happens and yet so much happens. It's poignant and amusing, sad yet full of hope. I loved it. I couldn't put it down and was sorry when I came to the end. Looking forward to the next one!

Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton are two of the most fascinating and enigmatic characters ever imagined by any author. Their lives, while ordinary and typically undramatic, are marked by keen observation and thoughtfulness that are just outstanding. Elizabeth Strout's relaxed narrative style is closely tied to Olive and Lucy's reflective behaviour.

Thinking back to the captivating Pulitzer prize-winning book Olive Kitteridge, whose multiple stories encircled Olive. Or the reflective weight of Lucy’s childhood in My Name is Lucy Barton. Strout is a master at the subtlety she builds around consequential stories delicately related to her main characters. I have followed their lives through multiple books. In Tell Me Everything, Lucy and Olive spend time together in Crosby, Maine, sharing almost philosophical stories as they interpret meaning and significance in events and people they encounter.

“I don’t know what the point is to this story!” “People,” Lucy said quietly, leaning back. “People and the lives they lead. That’s the point.”
“Exactly,” Olive nodded.

While we adore Olive and Lucy sharing their discussions and views, the main character focus in the book is Bob Burgess. Bob is another personality in the Olive and Lucy universe that heightens our feelings of connection to others, concerns, love, vulnerabilities, desires and private moments in our imagination. Bob’s relationship with Lucy is exquisitely depicted, and the issues they deal with during the novel range from family relationships to murder and a profound revelation of emotional sentiments.

I would highly recommend Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout, and perhaps one quote from the book that sums it up so beautifully and gives us our thought for the day.

“People always tell you who they are if you just listen—they will always eventually tell you who they are.”

I want to thank Penguin General UK and NetGalley for providing a free ARC in return for an honest review.

Elizabeth Strout has done it again, and I mean that as both compliment and 'criticism'. The undeniable magic is wearing a little thin for me, although objectively I can see that this is just as good as the other works in the series. I told myself after the previous instalment that I'd take a break, but when it came to it I couldn't resist, and now I feel a little regretful, like I've eaten one too many chocolates. Not a thing I ever thought I'd say about good books, let alone chocolate.

Anyway, it was still wonderful, and it still made me cry a few times times - Strout has a talent for putting heartbreaking tenderness about human experience onto the page with disarming directness.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I first encountered Elizabeth Strout via her novels Olive Kitteridge and Olive Again, and have since read the Lucy Barton books too, but as a character, Lucy Barton has never resonated with me in the way Olive did.

This is the fourth novel featuring Lucy, although Olive is here too. Lucy has come to live in Crosby, Maine, with her ex husband William and close to her old friend Bob Burgess. At the start of the book we are told that this is Bob's story and I suppose it is in the sense that it is a snapshot of a year or so in his life that is quite difficult and sees a couple of quiet crisis points. Bob is a good man, a lawyer with a sense of justice who is not getting any younger. He takes on the defence of a man accused of murdering his brother, at the same time as Bob's own brother loses his wife to cancer, and as his regular walks with Lucy Barton threaten to disrupt his stable but slightly unsatisfactory marriage. The way the stress of all these events builds and is dealt with by Bob is done very well, and I thought very realistically in a non-sensational, this-is-what-sensible-people-do kind of way.

Unfortunately there is something about the writing style of all the Lucy books that actively irritates me. In this one there is an authorial omniscience in the third-person narration that feels very old-fashioned and heavy-handed, and an authorial philosophising commentary of sorts in the exclamation marks and little asides that distanced me a great deal as a reader. The writing is quite disjointed, with almost random jump cuts that feel odd and wrong somehow. A bit like a person with mild dementia, except there isn't a narrator to pin that on. The phrase "as we mentioned earlier" is repeated multiple times, clumsily highlighting links in the story, as if we as readers aren't clever enough to join the dots or pay attention to detail.

I might have been less harsh about this novel if I hadn't been so bowled over by the Olive Kitteridge books; but having read those I know what Elizabeth Strout is capable of as a writer, and for my money she doesn't come close to achieving her potential here.

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout is an introspective novel that brings together characters from her previous works, including Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge. Set in small-town Maine, the story focuses on human connections and the struggles of ordinary lives. While the book's episodic structure and leisurely pacing may not appeal to everyone, particularly those who prefer plot-driven stories, I'm sure that Strout's fans will appreciate her continued exploration of familiar themes.

As someone who reads everything Elizabeth Strout writes, I loved this novel and it feels like a gift whenever there is a new opportunity to revisit these characters. She captures loneliness and emotion in a way that feels intimate and real, a stunning mirror for our own lives.

Tell me everything

As a woman in her sixties, it’s rare that I feel seen in real life let alone in literature. Typically, older characters are stereotyped as doddery, forgetful technophobes who’ve outlived their usefulness, when in truth we have a rich vein of life experience to share.
 
Elizabeth Strout gets this. Probably because she’s one of us. As a result, Tell Me Everything is populated almost exclusively by women and men in the autumn of their lives. And while there is a certain melancholy running through the narrative, it is ultimately a story that gladdens your heart.
 
This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024, promising to bring together two of Strout’s iconic female characters, Olive Kitteridge, now aged 90, and Lucy Barton, now 66, along with Bill Burgess from her 2013 novel The Burgess Boys.
 
To my surprise, it is semi-retired lawyer Bill who turns out to be the beating heart of this novel, revealing an extraordinary capacity for compassion as he takes on the defence of a local man accused of murdering his elderly mother.
 
Strout has a singular talent for fashioning something extraordinary from the quotidian. Like all of her writing, Tell Me Everything is a quiet, gentle novel; but one nevertheless of astonishing profundity, exploring humankind in all its many facets, from love, loss and loneliness, to kindness, empathy and the connections we make with each other.
 
I loved the friendship that grew between Lucy and curmudgeonly Olive, through the sharing of confidences and stories; but even more so, the tender but uncomfortable fondness which blossomed between Lucy and Bill on their weekly walks.
 
There is always much to admire in Strout’s writing, but for me it is her keen observational eye that never fails to impress. And here it is scimitar sharp, stirring in me a spontaneous empathy for all of her characters, but perhaps most resonantly with Lucy, whose ponderings on the purpose of life felt like echoes in my own head.

I adore Elizabeth Strout's way of depicting small-town lives. The connections between her characters and the emotional depth she brings to each story make her books a true pleasure to read.

“ If you don’t think everyone is broken in some way, you’re wrong”

There is hope and love and loss and trauma, tales of unrecorded lives and stories of old favourites. I’d have liked more Bob.

Catching up it’s old friends whilst at the same time getting to know acquaintances a little better is always a good thing and that’s exactly what this book did for me. The style of Elizabeth Strout’s writing is so comfortable her books are always a delight.
The only words of advice though are if you haven’t read any of the author’s previous work don’t start with this one.

It’s a bit of a cliche, but Olive Kitteridge, Lucy Barton and Bob Burgess really do feel like old friends. But the kind you might catch up really infrequently via Facebook Messenger, and afterwards feel like “that was great to hear from them, we really should speak more often”.

This book is a real capturing of the post-pandemic/Trump/Cost of Living Zeitgeist. That constant feeling of financial worry, the little stabs of formless anxiety - all the way up to the all-consuming huge worries about climate change and the state of the world.
In the seemingly inconsequential chats between these characters, something much bigger is realised. And this both cheered me and depressed me!
The characters are getting older, but I really hope that this isn’t the last we’ll be hearing from Maine.
Oh, and it only just clicked for me that Isabelle Woodrow, Olive’s best friend in the retirement home, is the Isabelle from the book ‘Amy and Isabelle’. I love how all the characters from all the books pop into each other’s lives. Like a long-running, but less dramatic soap opera.

If you are not already familiar with Elizabeth Strout’s work, then this probably isn’t a good place to start, but if, like me, you have loved every one of her books, then this one will bring you much joy. In it we revisit Olive and the community she lives amongst, and watch with pleasure the friendship she makes with Lucy Barton. We catch up with old friends, follow the changes in their lives, feel their sorrows and sympathise with their troubles. Olive herself is now very old, so not surprisingly the novel is about ageing, loss, mortality and loneliness. As usual, Elizabeth Stout is perceptive and insightful about all these things, and her genius in narrating untold and unrecorded lives, giving them the dignity they deserve, is fully in evidence; I loved this latest collection of vignettes and stories, and so much enjoyed being with Olive again.

Elizabeth Strout is one of my favourite authors and she has yet again knocked it out the park by telling the small intricate tales of ordinary lives in an extraordinary way. We finally get to see Lucy Barton and Olive kitteridge together thanks to Bob Burgess and we learn through the shared tales of every day small lives and ex punters along with bigger tales of generational trauma that love is love in all its myriad of ways.

Tell Me Everything

I love Elizabeth Strout's novels, and I really feel like her latest novel, Tell me Everything, is a novel for readers who have either read all of her novels or the majority of her backlist (like me) as this novel combines many characters and places which have been explored in separate novels but are now coming together, two of which are her biggest characters - Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton.

Olive and Lucy spend afternoons together in Olive's apartment, telling each other stories about people from their lives, and delving into the meaning of these stories. These stories are ordinary people from their past and their present, and as Olive calls them people with 'unrecorded lives' with lives that draw no attention but are happening just out of sight. Lucy recalls these stories to Bob Burgess, as they go on their walks while he talks about a legal defence case he is involved with. It could almost feel like a book about gossip but it is more than that, it is about the tradition of storytelling, and telling stories that are undetected.

Elizabeth Strout's beautiful writing is packed full of human life, founded families, connections with the people and nature around us, and the way that the past can come back to haunt us. Her writing is an excellent example of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, drawing the reader into the lives of characters that stretch across novels. The comfortable writing style pulls you into a world that is complex, full of complex family history, unspoken emotions, and the dread of death.

Not only does this explore people's inner lives, and their external behaviours but Elizabeth Stourt explores the complexity of everyday life, and the art of storytelling. Her writing and her novels are a joy to read, and I really am looking forward to her next novel.

Thank you @netgalley for the ebook version of this book!

In this new Strout novel, we meet up with several familiar characters from Strout's previous books.

There's the long-awaited meeting between the acerbic Olive Kitteridge and another main character, Lucy Barton. They swap stories during long sessions, with Olive making impatient and vinegary comments.
Lucy herself meanwhile is settling into the area with former husband William and has less contact with her daughters. She reflects on this and life in general on walks with retired lawyer Bob Burgess.

Bob is unable to share professional information about a man he is defending- up against a charge of murder. However he shares deep intimate conversations with Lucy, who is able to listen much better than Olive!
Bob's going through a transition in his marriage and life and is navigating new waters.

The style is deliberately chatty and is just like the narrator is telling us a story, just like Lucy or Olive. However at some points I did find this slightly jarring as it felt "twee" in some way.

The same Strout themes of connection, loss, alienation and love are there, but maybe Strout is doing more "tell" rather than "show" in this book.
Love comes in many forms in this book between "chosen" family for example Olive's love for her friend Isabelle, "paternal" love- Bob for his client (but also a subplot with his brother and his family) , for former wives/husbands , for a community etc. It's also central to Lucy and Bob.

Strout is always a five star writer, but for the reasons outlined above, it's not my favourite of her novels.

Couldn’t wait to read this, and it did not disappoint! Once again, Elizabeth Strout enchants the reader with a finely observed novel that explores the said and unsaid, the quiet stories of people that give life its meaning. It was great to be reunited with familiar characters that have made their appearances in her previous books! Definitely planning on re-visiting this again, perhaps following a re-read of all the previous books. I know I’ll be in good hands! Highly recommend, especially for those seeking insightful, affecting works to do with the human condition - you can’t go past this wonderful writer! Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for this complimentary copy!

While this book will not be to everyone's taste, these characters have all grown on me. In this book Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge meet through a mutual friend Bob Burgess.
The book pretty much centres on Bob Burgess and the drama unfolding in his life. On the periphery are Lucy and more so Olive. The three of them share stories with each other and then try to find meaning. Some of the stories are heart breaking and most are about our own fears and anxieties.
It would be beneficial to readers to read the prior books to this one.
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin General UK for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

Tell Me Everything by Lucy Strout is yet another enchanting episode in the world of Lucy Barton and her interesting friends. This one is just as entertaining as prior episodes with additional characters and more happenings than I was expecting.

Lucy who is living with her divorced husband William again visits Olive Kitteridge when she hears that Olive has a story to tell her; she meets Olive regularly in this period to exchange stories and try to make sense of them. Lucy has regular walks with Bob Burgess during which they discuss all manner of things including his brother, Jim and their deep relationship. Bob also takes on a legal defence case which occupies him for a period of time.

Strout is a very clever author who effortlessly draws the reader into her web of stories, characters and relationships. Tell Me Everything is hugely entertaining and enjoyable.

I loved the latest by Elizabeth Strout "Tell me everything" which I cannot say for all of her books that I have read, her best book in my opinion. 

It left me upbeat,  made me curious what was the next stories that Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge tell each other, about seemingly ordinary things but revealing so much about the inner lives of people they know. 

And then there are the walks between Lucy Barton and Bob Burgess which are more intimate in conversation then their relationships with their current partners, potential trouble looming ... Bob Burgess is by far my favorite character.. a book about friendship, old and new loves, trust, the complexity of relationships  and my favourite quote in the book: Love comes in so many different forms but it is