Tell Me Everything

Real Rating: 3.75* of five

The Publisher Says: From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout comes a hopeful, healing novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world.

With her “extraordinary capacity for radical empathy” (The Boston Globe), remarkable insight into the human condition, and silences that contain multitudes, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?”

It’s autumn in Maine, and the show more 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. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known—“unrecorded lives,” Olive calls them—reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.

Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everythingis Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, “Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love.”

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Well, here we are...next in a series of books about people I care less about than I probably am safe admitting to publicly. Lucy Barton's fans are legion, and they looove her for being her mildly chaotic self. I mean, they've stuck by her despite her ongoing friendship with her truly toxic, lightly pathetic first husband! That would get a flesh-and-blood woman canceled fast.

I myownself admire her for it. Own your mistakes, forgive your abusers, move forward standing on the past and pushing into the future on those rocks.

This outing has Author Strout doing something bold: Lucy meets her *other* famous older-woman character, Olive Kitteridge! The glue is a story about a murder...you can read the synopsis above, I feel no need to yak on about it...and, surprisingly, sparks do not fly. They clash, of course, Olive is after all a nasty bully who I myownself disliked the second I met her, but no snarktastic duels of wits ensue. Pity, that, but in keeping with the world Author Strout's created.

Amgash/Crosby is another fictional universe where characters have multiple chances to shine. This time it's mostly about Lucy's platonic bestie, Bob Burgess. They are each other's confidante, talking over things they don't have anyone else to confide in. His troubles, his life's burdens, are the topic he least discusses as he busily solves others' problems, much like Lucy herself.

I am generally very receptive to this sort of intertwined storytelling technique. I've read, and love, EF Benson's Mapp and Lucia books, the massive Barsetshire series shared by Trollope and Thirkell, and some of Miss Read's Fairacre series. These all have the virtue of following a group of characters more or less closely, with individual books having one or another focused on, albeit not usually exclusively. So that's how I keep coming back to this wellhead. I'm ready to involve myself in the lives of strangers when they all know each other, more or less well.

I don't think the Amgash series makes the grade as a successor to those series, at least in my own affections, because I myownself find the dithering that Lucy does, and the bullying that Olive does, incompatible with a lovely immersive read. Entirely a personal assessment, and not in the least meant to discourage anyone from pursuing these reads; just, well, be aware that Lucy's insightful comments and Olive's shrewd observations come wrapped in definite personalities. Since they're not really the ones I find most congenial, I'm not going to warble my fool lungs out singing their praises.

I will say that, in this book's case, I think you're best off reading it after having read Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton first. They're not strictly speaking necessary to have done so but, well, the way this storyverse goes, it helps to know the ladies you're relying on for context before going in.

If those are under your belt, dive in. I'm such an outlier when it comes to these characters. They irk and annoy me. They also come with such a well-conceived storyverse, one that soothes the need to make fictional friends, one that is part of a web of interrelated characters you don't know yet...much like life is. That more than any other quality is why I read the books. It feels prosocial.

Enjoy! I did. show less

In her latest novel, Elizabeth Strout brings together two long-running characters: the 90-year-old, somewhat curmudgeonly Olive Kitteridge, and the 60-something writer Lucy Barton. Olive has spent her life in Crosby, Maine; Lucy and William moved from New York to Crosby during the pandemic. Although Lucy mostly keeps to herself, locals are proud to have a successful author in their midst. Olive invites Lucy to a visit at her retirement home, which begins a regular exchange of what Lucy calls “unrecorded lives”: stories about people they have known.

Lucy has also forged a strong friendship with Bob Burgess, a town lawyer married to Margaret, a minister. They began taking regular walks during the pandemic, and the routine and show more conversation became an important part of their lives. Lucy is concerned about relationships with her adult daughters. Bob is dealing with his own issues, from a brother going through a very difficult period in his life, to his wife’s career crisis, to defending a man accused of murder. Both Lucy and Bob believe their relationship is strictly platonic, but their deepening affection is not lost on readers.

Elizabeth Strout shifts seamlessly between Olive, Lucy, and Bob, advancing each part of the storyline and bringing increased depth to each character. The people and situations felt very real, and I found myself smiling, nodding along, and wiping away tears again and again. This novel had a deep emotional impact from beginning to end – a very rare experience for me. I loved this book. show less

I love an Elizabeth Strout novel. I know I am not alone; that out there in the world there are many others like me who immediately feel a deep satisfaction with the particular cadence and rhythm of an Elizabeth Strout sentence, and who enjoy her interlocking but entirely separately readable, lovingly humanistic stories in which people you might recognize from her other books are always popping in for a chat or briefly seen from the corner of the eye. If you are, or feel you could become one of these people, I have great news! This is an Elizabeth Strout book! Possibly the Elizabeth Stroutest book of them all—I think everybody is in this one, doing that thing where they exist separately but within a community and through empathy come show more to clearly see and love each other. show less

I think my favourite of the three Strout books I've read. It put me in mind of classic novels where the characters are always relaying stories to each other, and how on one level some of these stories feel inconsequential, but you find that deep thoughts percolate through as you turn them over in your mind. In others, the damage that many of the characters have suffered is impactful.

Loved this book. Absolutely loved it.

I love Elizabeth Strout. Or maybe it's just a crush, like Bob Burgess had on Lucy Barton. But "Love is love," as Olive Kitteridge mused on the final page of Strout's latest novel, TELL ME EVERYTHING (2024), which is all about the folks from Crosby and Shirley Falls, Maine. (I've now read all of her books except OH WILLIAM!.) The first fifty-some pages made me laugh out loud multiple times as Strout reintroduced many of the same characters who populated her other books. And they are almost all in here, only much older now. Olive, of course, along with the Burgess brothers, Lucy and William and more. But there are much darker things in here too, beginning with a murder mystery, followed by revelations show more of incest, rape, adultery, and also the isolation and loneliness experienced by so many, especially in the societal lockdown of the Covid era. And yes, this story is set in present day Maine and New York City.

TELL ME EVERYTHING was a huge bestseller, so I'm not going to try to summarize the plot, if indeed there even IS one. But Lucy, who is a writer, you'll remember, tells a lot of stories to Olive and to Bob, and vice-versa. So here are a few tidbits and observations from those stories.

From Lucy to Bob - "I mean, we don't ever really KNOW another person. And so we make them up according to when they came into our lives, and if you're young, as many people are when they marry, you have no idea who that person really is. And so you live with them for years, you have a house together, kids together ... What I'm trying to say, Bob, is that people just live their lives with no REAL knowledge of anybody ... My POINT is that every person on this earth is so complicated, Bob, we're all so complicated."

And, when Olive asks Lucy what's the point of a story Lucy just told her, Lucy replies: "People ... People and the lives they lead. That's the point."

And, after another exchange with Olive, Lucy reflects: "People are mysteries. We are all such mysteries."

I love Lucy. Just about everyone here loves Lucy. And there's the omniscient narrator here too, who talks to you much like the stage manager from OUR TOWN. I love this voice, which seems to be summing things up, bringing us up to date on what happened to all those characters from her earlier books. I love this author, and I loved this book. I hope there are more, and I hope I'm still here to read them. My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

“It’s just life.” As Bob Burgess, Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge and others encounter the many stories of what Lucy calls “unrecorded lives”, they note the many sad incidents, some of which are horrific actually, and the fewer but more precious incidents of hope or kindness or love. What does it all amount to? It’s just life. Perhaps it has no further meaning than that. And yet we find ourselves captivated, as Olive, or Lucy, or Bob are, by these stories of unrecorded lives. What do we find so fascinating about stories that are no more meaningful (or less) than the stories in our own lives?

Elizabeth Strout weaves these stories through characters we have come to know well over the years. Perhaps “know well” overstates it. show more We’ve had so much contact with them that they’ve virtually become characters in our own lives. It makes it hard to even evaluate this novel as a novel. Because it would surely mean so much less if we hadn’t read all those other novels by Elizabeth Strout. And that itself raise challenges for the author. Challenges and opportunities which perhaps aren’t available to most other writers. I’m not sure finally what it all means. Perhaps it’s just life.

Easily recommended. show less

Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout, author; Kimberly Farr, narrator.
Elizabeth Strout writes with a gentle hand, and her stories are filled with insight. Her characters always deal quietly with all of life’s very loud ups and downs. This novel is no exception. In this book, the author has brought together some of our favorite characters.
Lucy Barton has moved to Crosby, Maine, the hometown of the sometimes curmudgeonly, nonagenarian, Olive Kitteridge. During the pandemic, Lucy moved there with her ex-husband, William. Olive and Lucy develop a warm relationship sharing stories with each other that slowly reveal life in all of its glory, and sometimes its despair, as they give voice to those who are unknown. These stories compel the show more reader to think about their own lives and choices.
Bob Burgess, a lawyer, left his law practice in New York. He also now lives in Crosby, Maine, with his wife Margaret. Bob Burgess grew up believing he was responsible for his father’s death, when he was only a little child. He has carried that burden of guilt for his entire life. He is a very close friend of Lucy Barton, though sometimes their feelings run too deep.
Matthew Beach is a quiet man living in a remote area of Shirley Falls, Maine, not far from Crosby. His 86-year-old mother, Gloria Beach, had been living with him for a decade. She had been ridiculed for years, called a beach ball, and then more maliciously, a bitch ball. It shamed her. When she suddenly disappeared, and her body was found, Matthew was suspected of her murder. He reaches out to lawyer Bob Burgess for help. As the secrets are revealed, his guilt and/or innocence are drawn into question. Sometimes doubts develop! Everyone makes mistakes, but we always have the opportunity to do the right thing. Burgess discovers there is a well of kindness in himself that he hadn't known he possessed. He also develops feelings of resentment that he never had before.
Many of the characters have suffered in their past and have secrets that have shaped their lives, feelings, and choices. Many harbor grudges. Some are aware of them, and some are not. As the novel progresses, it explores life with regard to abuse, isolation, friendship, love, unrequited love, marriage, parenthood, childlessness, death, grief, loss, aging and illness, among other emotional challenges that the characters and some readers might have faced. This novel quietly investigates the effects of all of life’s ups and downs on these characters, and therefore, on the lives of the reader. When in the book, the question is asked, “What does anyone’s life mean?”, or put another way, what is the meaning of life, does the reader find an answer? Do the characters? The book explores our experiences with sadness, joy, dreams and nightmares as each of the characters is forced to live life with all of its warts and foibles.
Although it is a book described as being about the character Bob Burgess, a decent and kind man who is unaware of his own good character and sense of decency, it is really about everyman. All of us have to find our own purpose in life. At different times, we will be called upon to rise to the occasion, and sometimes, the result will not be exactly what we want, but it will be enough. Human beings are imperfect. show less