Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
A Fiction Review by Anne Smith-Nochasek
Tell Me Everything is a subtle work, a narrative woven around the events of a year in the small town of Crosby, Maine. I will not attempt a summary, for every word, every moment, every nuance of phrasing, gesture, and expression has a purpose in this novel; each line is to be savoured and held in memory.
Throughout the novel, stories are shared and pondered, stories are lived and observed, stories are received, and ultimately, stories are given. The conviction grows that each life has a purpose and a truth to share, that every life and every story has a value. Some stories unfold in real time; some enter the world simply by being told and shared.
The mysterious disappearance and death of one community member is perhaps the catalyst that links many of the characters and events, but this death is not quite central in the traditional plot sense. The sense in which it impacts each of the characters is explored, perhaps through an immediate connection, as when the son is investigated as a murder suspect, but also through the dialogues of those on the periphery, through their musings, through the stories behind the stories.
“Throughout, the author moulds the language, sculpting words and details to create images and moments that are alive.”
The use of compound sentences in the delivery is effective. “This is the story of Bob Burgess, a tall, heavyset man who lives in the town of Crosby, Maine, and he is sixty-five years old at the time we are speaking of him.” The simplicity of the writing draws us to the characters; we recognize their stories, for they are little stories—stories like ours.
Throughout, the author moulds the language, sculpting words and details to create images and moments that are alive. One especially moving scene is the wedding, a re-marriage with a huge bouquet from the daughters who did not attend, a wedding cake with white frosting perched on the kitchen counter, a birthday card with the word “birthday” crossed out and replaced by “wedding”, and that red tie on a white shirt, somehow indicative of the groom’s innocence and eagerness, a touching and beautiful moment.
It was a pleasure to return to Elizabeth Strout’s characters; there is a sense that they do not simply exist within the novels but have been living and breathing between writings, that as we join them in this latest work, we are reuniting with friends and acquaintances. At the same time, we are seeing them with new clarity. Lucy, an author, is adept at telling stories but especially at receiving stories—at perceiving the little details and moments of value in the stories told to her. In the end, she gives a story; no longer simply sharing it, but presenting it as a special gift to the elderly Olive, for her to hold.
The central character, Bob “has a big heart, but he does not know that about himself; like many of us, he does not know himself as well as he assumes to, and he would never believe he had anything worthy in his life to document. But he does; we all do.” This is the key to the novel: Each life has something worthy to document; each “unrecorded life” (as Lucy calls them) has meaning. Ms. Strout has a rare capacity to embrace the human condition, to reveal the story carried by each character. “‘People,’ Lucy said quietly, leaning back. ‘People and the lives they lead. That’s the point.’” And so it is. The stories touch and entwine, forming an intricate tapestry of the human condition. And ultimately, within this tapestry, we discover: “Love comes in so many forms, but it is always love. If it is love, then it is love.”
Thank you, Ms. Strout, for this work of compassion, truth, and love, and for a story that lives on in the mind long after the book returns to the shelf.
About the Author
Elizabeth Strout is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lucy by the Sea; Oh William!; Olive, Again; Anything Is Possible, winner of the Story Prize; My Name Is Lucy Barton; The Burgess Boys; Olive Kitteridge, winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Abide with Me; and Amy and Isabelle, winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in London. She lives in Maine.
About the Reviewer
Anne M. Smith-Nochasak grew up in rural western Nova Scotia, where she currently resides and teaches part-time after many years working in northern communities. She has self-published three novels using the services of FriesenPress: A Canoer of Shorelines (2021), The Ice Widow (2022), and River Faces North (Taggak Journey, Book 1, being released in early September 2024). She is currently a member of the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia. When she isn’t writing or teaching, Anne can be found reading, kayaking, gardening, renovating, or exploring the woods with her golden dog Shay, while her cat Kit Marlowe supervises the house. Anne can be reached through her website https://www.acanoerofshorelines.com/ or on X, IG, and FB (@smithnochasak).
Book Details
Publisher : Random House (Sept. 10 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 352 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593977467
ISBN-13 : 978-0593977460
 | A guest post by
|