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Lucy by the Sea
By Elizabeth Strout
Random House, 9780593446089, September 2023, 304 pp.

The Short of It:

Strout’s books are like a warm, comforting hug.

The Rest of It:

The COVID pandemic is just ramping up and as the world goes into lockdown, Lucy Barton leaves her life in Manhattan for a small town in Maine. With her? Her ex-husband-friend, William. William insists that she leave town with him. NYC is too crowded, too dangerous to wait out the lockdowns. Lucy at first feels that William is overreacting but then settles into their decision to go off the grid, so to speak.

This is my third Strout book and let me tell you, I am really liking her writing. It’s quiet, and thoughtful and falls into a genre that I completely made up. I call it “episodic domesticity”. As they learn to live together once again in this tiny place, we are invited into their daily routines, their innermost thoughts about family, politics, the pandemic, the locals in town. I love the minutiae of everyday life.

As the pandemic ramps up, the tension does too. To say that Lucy is unsettled is an understatement. She worries about their adult daughters. Are they doing well? Taking care of themselves? She considers her friends and how the are doing. Loneliness sets in. Yes, she has William but William is a man of few words and yes at times, she feels quite lonely.

This story is filled with fear and isolation but also hope. In these quiet moments, Lucy comes to terms with who she is and who she wants to be. Strout is so good at setting the tone and creating likable characters. Lucy is a person I’d love to meet. She feels that real.

One note, I listened to part of this on audio and I did not feel that the reader captured Lucy well. The image that I had of her in my head did not at all match the voice that I was hearing. That said, I’d stick to print but I highly recommend Strout’s books.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Pete and Alice in Maine
By Caitlin Shetterly
Harper, 9780063242661, July 2023, 256 pp.

The Short of It:

Trouble ahead.

The Rest of It:

Pete and Alice are married with two daughters. The COVID shutdowns have just happened. To avoid the crowds and the possibility of illness, they leave NYC and head to their summer home in Maine.

What they don’t expect is to find themselves unwelcome there. The residents quickly notice their city plates, and take action against them. Action in the form of a chainsaw, as they cut down trees to keep them hostage in their own driveway.

Pete and Alice are working through some issues. The idea of being held hostage in a small house, with their two moody kids is not to either of their liking but with the virus and Pete transitioning to remote work and Alice feeling the full weight of parenting in this difficult situation, they reluctantly try to make the best of it.

I’ve recently read a few books that feature COVID as a backdrop and Shetterly does an admirable job of setting the tension. I instantly remembered all the worry in those early days of the pandemic and Pete and Alice are forced to deal with all of it, plus issues of distrust and resentment.

Their marriage is not well. As they try to navigate whether or not to continue like this, Pete gets it in his head to head back to the city. This infuriates Alice. Why doesn’t he feel the need to protect them? Not only from the virus but from their hostile neighbors!

There’s a lot of internal dialogue. We meet Pete and Alice when they first cross paths, we see them become parents, we learn about their likes and dislikes, dreams and disappointments. Marriage is accurately depicted here. Not perfect by a long shot. Hard. The family dynamic is also quite genuine. Two opinionated girls, one who can read the writing on the wall. It’s hard to live and walk upright when your kids can read between the lines.

As difficult as the relationship is, there is time on the beach, picnics, and long afternoons spent reading.

I found the writing to be quite good. I would absolutely read this author again.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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