Anything is Possible

At the end of the e-book edition of My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout was an excerpt from her follow-up book Anything Is Possible. (In the interview with the author at the end of Anything Is Possible, I learned that she wrote most of Anything is Possible while she was writing My Name is Lucy Barton. As she was writing the first book and the conversations that Lucy and her mother have about people from Lucy's childhood, Strout realized that she wondered about the stories of the people that they talk about. She wrote those stories as she was writing the first book.

Lucy Barton is a key character in Anything is Possible, but this is not her story. She is the glue that holds these disparate stories together. Lucy is only a direct part of one of the stories. One thing that Strout says in the interview at the end of the book was about Olive Kitteridge but I think it applies to Anything Is Possible as well.

I'm interested in different points of view, and that's fun to do in a small town. I just love how, in a small town, we think we know someone, but we only know them this way, and someone else knows them that way. That was interesting to me, initially, as a way to give readers a break. But then as I made these characters I realized that they are living people who happen to know Olive in their own way.

In many ways, Anything is Possible is like a collection of short stories rather than a long narrative. There are stories about mothers leaving, about going from rags to riches, about different directions that the lives of siblings take.

Like My Name is Lucy Barton, Anything Is Possible is written in Strout's sparse, stream of consciousness style. It wasn't quite as short as Lucy Barton but it was an equally quick read. The fact that I've already downloaded Oh William! which is the next book in the Amagash "series" where we get to learn a lot more about Lucy's ex-husband, William. I've also but a hold on Lucy by the Sea (Amagash #4) which I'm expecting to be available in about 12 weeks. That should tell you all you need to know.
 

My Name is Lucy Barton

Years ago, I read Amy and Isabelle, Elizabeth Strout's debut novel. That was in the days before I kept really good records of what I'd read. (Can you imagine if I first started keeping track of what I read back when I first started reading?) That means I remember enjoying the novel, but can't remember too much about it. Now that I've read My Name is Lucy Barton, I can't believe that I don't remember her spare, kind of stream-of-consciousness writing style.

My Name is Lucy Barton is the first novel in what is now a series of 4 where Lucy Barton, a woman raised in poverty somewhere in Illinois, is featured. Lucy is hospitalized and her mother, whom she hasn't seen in a long time comes to sit with Lucy in the hospital at the request of Lucy's husband, William. Lucy and her mother share conversations about people they knew in common when Lucy was growing up. Learning about these other people, we also learn more about Lucy and her upbringing.

I can see why this novel wouldn't be for everyone but I enjoyed it a lot. And was surprised by how quickly I read it - and by how short it was. My copy of the e-book ended with an excerpt to Anything is Possible which I downloaded almost immediately after finding him Lucy Barton.