Lucy by the Sea

 

I finished reading Lucy by the Sea, the 4th in the Amgash series by Elizabeth Strout, nearly 3 weeks ago and am just now finding the time to update the blog. Of the four novels in the series, I definitely loved this one the most.

The first three are:
My Name is Lucy Barton is about Lucy's relationship with her mother and about her upbringing
Anything is Possible follows up on characters introduced in My Name is Lucy Barton and their relationships to Lucy
Oh William! delves into the continued connection between Lucy and William

Lucy by the Sea is a current novel about pandemic living. I found so much to relate to in this novel. William spirits Lucy away from New York City at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic up to rural Maine. Being so isolated up there (mostly together, just talking long walks apart from each other), Lucy is able to take the quiet time to reflect on her life. She struggles with the distance between her and the daughters she has left behind in New York City. She deals with the deaths of people she knows from Covid-19. She makes some new friends. Her relationship with William needs to be redefined.

I live in a rural area and was home and very much isolated for many months at the start of Covid. Just like Lucy.

I escaped into reading while being stuck home so much, similar to William. Lucy, who can't concentrate enough to read, finds William's ability to read confounding.

Lucy and I would contemplate the mask wearing or non-mask wearing of every person we encountered.

Lucy meets a black woman who tells Lucy "You don't want to be a Black woman alone on some desolate road down here." Yes, this story takes place in Maine. But move it to rural Florida and you can substitute "Yankee" for Black woman. Well, you get the idea.

Lucy reflects upon how your kids grow up without you really realizing. Like you can never know the last time you've picked up your child. I can totally relate to that. Isn't that a thought every parent has? And the missing of your kids so desperately just because you know you can't see them.

Hours turned into days turned into weeks turned into months without much division in the time periods. Something I thought about a lot during Covid is something that Lucy reflects upon.

When my husband would suggest we go for a ride, I was rarely game. I mean, what's the point of being a passenger in a car just driving around when there's nothing beautiful to see and no place where you're comfortable getting out of the car to walk around. William suggests a drive to L.L. Bean, even if they don't have to go in. Just the drive there and Lucy was willing. She was always willing to go anywhere because there was so little to do.

Many of my fears were similar to Lucy's fears. I could not stop feeling that life as I had known it was gone. And neither one of us had imagined a retirement like what we ended up with. I thought of how my life had become so different from what I had ever imagined for myself during these - my last - years. Wow!

I remember the relief of getting my second vaccine in 2021. Thinking that perhaps life would go back to something I'd consider a new normal. And then I had both my vaccines, three weeks apart. When the woman put the needle into my arm for the second shot, I almost wept. I thought: I am free. I thought: I will see New York again. I have yet to see New York City again. That's coming. But I did get to see my kids shortly after that second vaccine.

Lucy deals with the state of the country. How they're dealing with Covid. And the impact of January 6th on Lucy's physique. She's full of questions and thoughts as was I. Never did I expect those two events to be stories I'd follow in my lifetime. And at the same time?

The one thing that I could not relate to at all was the thought of having to spend lockdown isolated anywhere with my ex-husband. That would never ever happen. Thank goodness!

Do I recommend this novel? I realize that some people are ready to read about Covid-19, some are not yet ready to read about. And some will never care to read about it. If you recall, in the early days of Covid I wondered on here about "the novel about covid." How would it end? Who would tell the story? I never sat down and got pen to paper. But if I had written my story, it would have been very similar to Lucy by the Sea.