Lucy by the Sea: From the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Booker Prize-shortlisted author (Lucy Barton, 4)

Eine wirklich fesselnde Geschichte, die man gerne liest, aber die Länge ist manchmal etwas anspruchsvoll. Die Schreibweise ist hervorragend, auch wenn es ein anspruchsvolles Werk ist.

Dieses Buch ist eine wahre Meisterleistung und eine wunderbare Lektüre, die mich tief bewegt hat. Die Geschichte ist fesselnd und die Sprache ist atemberaubend gut geschrieben.

Super!

Mir hat besonders gefallen, dass das Buch in der Originalsprache so schnell lieferbar war. Strout- Fan war ich schon vorher, und dieser neueRoman, der in den USA währed der Corona- Pandemie spielt, hat mir gut gefallen!

The author seduces you into her book with such an ease, honesty, humbleness and melancholy. Her words echoing in your head and you start to nod, wonder, question, think about the characters and comparing it to your life values, happenings….So sweet to read and finally, reading slower and slower towards the end, just not to let the book go….

With this fourth part closes the story about Lucy Barton. It’s not only a farewell for the reader, but also for Lucy – to her beloved New York, to her apartment and her old life there. Together with her ex-husband William she goes into lockdown to live in a remote house by the sea. This is a story about Lucy and William. A rather rational love story about two elderly persons in uncertain times that don’t want to grow old alone: “And I stood there holding on to this man as though he were the very last person left on this sweet sad place that we call Earth.” (p 288)During their quiet days there, they review their lives and share their thoughts on what’s going wrong in the world: the pandemic, US presidents, racism, climate change. “Like many others, I did not see it coming.” (p 3). And like many others, they feel powerless and helpless. “As though, in a way, I was not capable of taking in everything that was happening in this world.” (p 114) Although being in this together, often they feel alone with their sadness, their fear, their sorrow and their pain. “We are alone in these things that we suffer.” (195) The tide becomes a metaphor for Lucy’s feelings and moods that change all the time: “I got to know the tides. […] The sadness that rose and fell in me was like the tides.” (p 79f)And still, this is no negative book. Again and again, Lucy manages to point out the beauty in between: a walk by the sea, an afternoon with her daughters, good talks with her new neighbor. “[…] we do the best we can. Most of us are just trying to get through.” (p 287)Lucy Barton/Elizabeth Strout, again, is looking closely at the world around her: “I watched him carefully. So carefully I watched him. […] What is it like to be you? […] This is the question that has made me a writer; always that deep desire to know what it fells like to be a different person.” (p 203) As her reader I think this is her greatest strength and therefore the reason I won’t hesitate to read Strout’s others books as well.