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Tell Me Everything
By Elizabeth Strout
Random House, 9780593446096, September 10, 2024, 352 pp.

The Short of It:

This story is like coming home.

The Rest of It:

It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William.

I never read the Olive Kitteridge books, but I did read and review My Name Is Lucy Barton. Tell Me Everything revisits all of those characters and I loved it. The added bonus of a murder investigation made it a little different and added a bit of depth to this pleasant story.

Lucy and Bob continue to explore their friendship. They are very close, and often read each other’s minds with just a look or sigh. Their walks gain importance and meaning and much is said and not said each time they meet. It’s a time for them to honestly share their feelings and regrets but to Bob, it’s almost an impossible friendship. Can it be more? Should it be more? Lucy is with William and he is with his wife. They begin to walk a very thin line.

Lucy, an accomplished writer finally meets Olive, who is residing in a retirement home and lives for the stories she tells, stories of her life, the interactions she’s had with people, and what she observes on a daily basis. At first, Olive isn’t all that impressed with Lucy but as their visits increase, Lucy and Olive look forward to their time together. Story telling is such a cozy way to get to know a person and both Lucy and Olive can tell a story. Olive can be a little grouchy and her internal thoughts, shared with us, can be a little snide or even cruel at times but mildly so. She is a character!

Then comes the murder investigation. A woman has died and her adult son is the main suspect. He’s pretty much lived in isolation his entire life. Caring for his mother and not much else. His sister asked for Bob’s help because it’s not looking good for him and she has nowhere else to turn. Bob takes the case and spends much of his days pondering this man’s life. How he’s suffered, quietly, staying to himself. No friends really. No social life at all. It gives Bob food for thought. How should a man live?

Tell Me Everything explores many things, but mostly what it means to be a true friend, even if it means possibly letting that person go. These are all good people, doing the best they can, exploring love and loyalty and how it impacts their future.

Highly recommend. Now that I’ve met Olive myself I need to read those other books.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Of Human Bondage Read Along

It’s Friday and the end of Week 1! So far, I am really loving Of Human Bondage. I thought it would be very heavy, but that is not the case at all. It’s giving me Holden Caulfield vibes but not as bratty. That’s a reference to Catcher in the Rye if you haven’t read it.

By now, you should have read the following but of course you can read it at your own pace. For my own good, I set a schedule.

Chapters I-IV / 1-4 (18 pp.)
Chapters V-IX / 5-9 (21 pp.)
Chapters X-XIV /10-14 (20 pp.)
Discuss the above by 10/4 here on the blog. (59 pages total)

Click here for the full schedule.

Week 1 – What’s Happened?

Poor Philip. Only 9 years old and already an orphan. I don’t know what I expected when I picked this book up but I didn’t expect to so easily fall into the story.

Philip is young and forced to live with an Uncle and Aunt he hardly knows. And he must do this without his childhood nurse. Seems extraordinarily cruel. So much change for a young boy.

But Blackstable is pleasant even if his Aunt seems quite unsure of how to care for the boy. There is the issue of money. Not much was left for the care of the boy so careful consideration of what’s necessary becomes a concern.

We learn that Philip’s mother knew of her poor health, enough so to have portraits taken so the boy could remember her. Touching.

Philip’s Uncle is the town’s Vicar so the business of church, Sunday and the like is fairly new to Philip. His rebellious nature gets him into trouble and leads to him saying a very hateful thing to his Aunt, who is really only trying to do right by the boy.

This lands him in prep school where he meets a horrible bully named Singer. Philip prays for change and is disappointed with the outcome.

As you can see, so much has happened. This first chunk was very easy to read and has definitely piqued my interest.

How do you feel about the Aunt and Uncle? Are they doing right by Philip or are they not invested in his upbringing?
Philip suffers a deformity, how does that deformity shape who he is?
The topic of Identity is strong in this chunk of reading. Who does Philip have to help shape his identity?

I have mixed feelings about Philip’s Aunt and Uncle. They seem to want to do right, but feel obligated to do so. There seems to be an attempt on his Aunt’s part to get to know the boy, but it seems a little forced.

Philip’s club foot. Poor boy. We don’t spend much time with him before he moves in with his Uncle so it’s hard to say how he felt about his deformity prior to his move but with him being thrust into school with classmates all around him, it’s definitely something he battles with.

I couldn’t help but feel for Philip. He really doesn’t have anyone to look up to. Without his childhood nurse, he finds himself fighting for his independence. The house maid, Mary Ann seems like a promising character. One who will maybe rally in his corner.

Your turn to weigh in. What do you think so far?

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