Bailey's/Orange Women's Fiction Group discussion

Happy New Year everyone (when your time zone gets to 2017).

Our first book of the year in My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout.
It was on the long list for both the Baileys and Man Booker Prizes.

Reviews:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/boo...?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what...
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...

Author website:
http://www.elizabethstrout.com/

including some discussion questions:
http://www.elizabethstrout.com/books/...

i hope this book will be enjoyed by those coming to it now. i can't wait to read people's thoughts.

i read it this one back in early april, 2016, and loved it. it was one of only three 5-star reads for me last year. not to oversell it to you. :) i connected very personally with this one, so i do realize not everyone will experience it the same way.

Jennifer wrote: "i hope this book will be enjoyed by those coming to it now. i can't wait to read people's thoughts.

i read it this one back in early april, 2016, and loved it. it was one of only three 5-star rea..."

ooh that sounds good. I never found my copy of The Innocents (although I know I should have one - never move house its fatal!!) but this one is ordered at the library. I hope it comes soon!

I am almost done with Lucy Barton and will be sad to see it finish. There's a spareness to it that I love and a pointing to things without totally revealing the full story.

The part about "only one story" made me cry, I think because it is likely true, that for each of us, there is only one story, although we may tell it different ways or tell different parts of it.

I haven't got to that part yet but its an interesting idea. sounds like you found it a good read Patti - this author does seem consistent.
I'll need to crack on and get it done.

Hello everyone. I'm thrilled to be participating for the first time in quite a while. I absolutely LOVED this book. I'm a huge Strout fan overall, but this one really sang to my soul. My full review from January 2016 is here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
But my overwhelming memory is how incredibly she made a full-bodied novel out of a small, lonely story, which is a consistent thread in all of her writing.
One of my favorite quotes came very early in the novel, "Lonely was the first flavor I had tasted in my life, and it was always there, hidden inside the crevices of my mouth, reminding me."

Several of you are really enjoying this one, which is good to see.

I also read it in April 2016. Elizabeth Strout writes very well, but unlike most of you, I found it difficult to form an emotional connection with Lucy. I was intending to read it again, but have not so far.

I have started reading February's book for the second time, as the first read was longer ago.

Val wrote: "Several of you are really enjoying this one, which is good to see.

I also read it in April 2016. Elizabeth Strout writes very well, but unlike most of you, I found it difficult to ..."

I had the same experience, Val. I read this a number of months ago and remember almost nothing about the story. While reading, I remember thinking she is a very fine writer - but that I had no real connection to the character or to the story. I thought it was good, but the high praise that surrounds it escaped me somewhat.

I'm still playing catch up (finishing The Innocents) but I am intrigued by Alena's comments and endorsement so will get back to this soon.

OK so a month behind but I am now racing through this - my first thoughts are about the mother and the things she values. In her stories there is so much 'chatter' but she gives little depth to her relating of these tales - I wonder if she is a slowly opening character? Alena's quote is the stand-out feeling of the childhood of Lucy and her siblings - am hoping the story expands as we go.

Penny wrote: "OK so a month behind but I am now racing through this - my first thoughts are about the mother and the things she values. In her stories there is so much 'chatter' but she gives little depth to her..."

I'm glad you're getting into it Penny. I'm not sure if the story will "expand" enough for you. I think one of the things I most appreciated was the smallness of the story...how Strout was able to get at universal truths and feelings without ever leaving the room. Enjoy the rest Penny. I look forward to hearing what you ultimately think.

so I finished this a few days back - and now I' m conflicted as to what my over-riding feeling is. This is a story that focuses on a week while Lucy is in hospital for a long term condition - her mother she hasn't seen for years comes to stay. They spend these days together and the mother leaves. As the reader we are aware that Lucy is looking back at this time.
Start with the good - the narrowness of the setting allowed for an intimacy and immediacy with the characters. There is a depth to the writing that in places is almost luminous in the way Lucy in particular describes her point of view ie. her lack of belonging, her lack of mothering, her sense of always being wrong. I found these were painstakingly described - who hasn't felt like Lucy as some stage. Her social awkwardness and the way that carries on into her adult life and relationships is very gently illustrated. In fact nothing in this story is shoved forcefully at you. The reader has to work somewhat to get at the layers underneath.
The problems - because this is subtle sometimes I felt like Lucy and became 'outside the loop' so to speak. There were 3 or 4 times when some references were made and I had no idea what they were on about - maybe it didn't translate over the Atlantic. But usually I understand US nuances with this I didn't.
My major problem with it is -why? Clearly I have missed the point as I still don't see what the significance of this visit is to Lucy or her mother. Yes after many years apart, they spend a week together, but nothing that needs to be said is, nothing from their past is resolved and Lucy receives no explanation for being brought up in a garage. Lucy is reprimanded for referring to their family as 'trash' but she felt she was raised that way and wanted her mother to respond - she doesn't. Again so many issues are raised with the father - who is barely mentioned himself - about why he is who he is. There are so many unanswered questions from this snapshot of Lucy's life. We are dropped into the middle of a crisis in her health not knowing the past the present and then when we reach the 'future' so to speak we don't know how she got to that point either. Frustrating.
So how to rate such a book???? Flashes of genius, streams of consciousness almost Woolf-like in places but does it work as a piece of writing? I say yes but with reservations.
so for the sheer intensity and layered prose a 4 star - but with a lot of questions still hanging.

any thoughts ?

It is a difficult book to rate. I think I would say that as a piece of writing it works, but as a story it doesn't, mainly because so much is just left hanging. It reads more like an excerpt from a longer book than a complete novel.
Lucy has moved on from her upbringing and built a very different life for herself than the one her mother lived or her childhood. Her mother's visit means she revisits that childhood, but nothing is resolved and it does all seem a bit pointless.
I can see the similarity to Woolf, but somehow Woolf's time capsules are more self-contained.

yes - I agree about the portions - this could be part 1 - then revert back in time part 2 and then 'present day' part 3 - there was so much left unexplored it did feel unfinished.