My name is lucy barton book club

This is a magnificent book, one that explores much hurt and darkness without ever relinquishing its compassion or. My name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout, paperback. For customized packages, savings, and ticket exchanges, become an mtc subscriber or patron today. Instead, in its careful words and vibrating silences, my name is lucy barton offers us a rare wealth of emotion, from darkest suffering to i was so happy. Beautifully expressed with sparse prose, my name is lucy barton left me breathless and, i have to admit, a bit teary by books end. The narrator of strouts powerful and melancholy new novel, my name is lucy barton, might be a distant relation of olives, though she is. Ultimately, lucy barton is a woman with keen insight who can, through her writing, get deep into the nature. In fact, it bears much resemblance to that novel and to. There was a distance from the events that was unsettling. Support for my name is lucy barton is provided by the harold and mimi steinberg charitable trust. A guide for book clubs study guides for book clubs kathryn cope on. Again we are talking about a new novel from the pulitzer prizewinning author of olive kitteridge and the burgess boys, the new novel is my name is lucy barton. My name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout lonesome reader.

Praise for my name is lucy barton there is not a scintilla of sentimentality in this exquisite novel. My name is lucy barton elizabeth strout, 2016 random house 208 pp. My name is lucy barton confirms strout as a powerful storyteller immersed in the nuances of human relationships, weaving family tapestries with compassion, wisdom and insight. Although the tone reflected the fractured way we feel and think about our past not like a logical story so in that way it was unique and emotional. It sounds like there is a lot of material to analyze and discuss.

A character in my name is lucy barton says i like writers who try to tell you something truthful, and elizabeth strout has done just that. My name is lucy barton audiobook by elizabeth strout. San francisco chronicle a short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but. Produced on broadway by the manhattan theater club, lynne meadow, artistic director, barry grove, executive producer and the london theater company, in association with penguin random house audio.

The story is told in a series of flashbacks, beginning with lucys time in the hospital when she was younger. It starts with the clean, solid structure and narrative distance of a fairy tale yet becomes more intimate and improvisational, coming close at times to the rawness of autofiction by writers such as. It is also the work of a more mature writer, scaling new heights. The boston globe it is lucys gentle honesty, complex relationship with her husband, and nuanced response to her mothers shortcomings that make this novel so subtly powerful. My name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout reading guide. There was a time, and it was many years ago now, when i had to stay in a hospital for almost nine weeks. Gentle gossip about people from lucys childhood in amgash, illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of lucys life. My name is lucy bartonlike all of strouts fictionis more complex than it first appears, and all the more emotionally persuasive for it. Her mother, to whom she hasnt spoken for many years. Now, in my name is lucy barton, this extraordinary writer shows how a simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of all the one between mother.

Do you think lucy blames her mother for the more painful parts of her childhood. During this somewhat arbitrary and isolated space, the narrators estranged mother appears and the two of them spend five days together, gossiping about people from their pastsmostly women whose marriages have, for. Do you think that was a gesture of love on his part. Lucy recalls that her earliest memories of her parents are accompanied by a feeling of loneliness. My name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout book club. This is a magnificent book, one that explores much hurt and darkness without ever relinquishing its compassion or its light, says danielle. My name is lucy barton, longlisted for the man booker prize. Praise for my name is lucy barton a quiet, sublimely merciful contemporary novel about love, yearning, and resilience in a family damaged beyond words. My name is lucy barton is quiet, powerful, and elusive. The title character of my name is lucy barton, rona munros crystalline stage adaptation of elizabeth strouts 2016 novel, is hardly a woman of mystery. Originally produced by the london theatre company at the bridge theatre in london. A new book by pulitzer prize winner elizabeth strout is cause for celebration.

Lucys husband asked her mother to visit her in the hospital, and paid for her trip. Elizabeth strouts my name is lucy barton is as powerful and disturbing as the best of strouts work, including the pulitzer prizewinning olive kitteridge. How to discuss a book helpful discussion tips generic discussion questionsfiction and nonfiction readthinktalk a guided reading chart also, consider these litlovers talking points to help start a discussion for my name is lucy barton. My name is lucy barton was originally produced by nicholas hytner and nick starr for the london theater company at the bridge theatre in june 2018. My name is lucy barton is a short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but also simpler, more sudden bonds it evokes these connections in a style so spare, so pure and so profound the book almost seems to be a kind of scripture or sutra, if a very downtoearth and unpretentious one. Lucy s husband asked her mother to visit her in the hospital, and paid for her trip. This detailed literature summary also contains quotes and a free quiz on my name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout. Soon to be a broadway play starring laura linney produced by manhattan theatre club and. Discussion questions use our litlovers book club resources. The story begins with lucy, now a published fiction writer, remembering a time, 20 or more years ago, when she was felled by an undiagnosable disease, a sort of visitation of sickness, and ended up in a new york city hospital for a prolonged stay. My name is lucy barton book club kit okanagan regional. Lucy lies in a new york city hospital suffering from an undiagnosed illness when her mother unexpectedly arrives from rural illinois, where lucy grew up. My name is lucy barton ticket prices on the secondary market can vary widely depending on the location, day of the week, season, and other factors.

Elizabeth strouts my name is lucy barton the new york. The burgess boys, named one of the best books of the year by the washington post and npr. Lucy barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. What role does the gossip lucy and her mother share play in the book. Her mother, to whom she hasnt spoken for many years, comes to see her. Elizabeth strout is my sarah payne, and my name is lucy barton is a gritty but elegant testament to human resilience despite the lingering pain of childhood trauma. Do you think this is a gesture of love on his part. I promise you its a book youre going to want to read.

Yet, in the end, she unabashedly admits all life amazes me. Lucys husband asks her mother to visit her in the hospital and pays for her trip. The book does feel a bit abbreviated, but thats only because the characters and ideas are so compelling we want to hear more from the author who has limned them so sensitively. Ravenna book club my name is lucy barton by elizabeth. My name is lucy barton, strouts fifth novel, is set in contemporary new york and is a portrait of a woman who has escaped a barren, povertystricken childhood to become a writer, wife, and mother, a path she stumbles down with grace. But my name is lucy barton is the story of a daughter who loved her mother, and that is a very different story. Do not be misled by the slimness of this volume, the quietness of its prose, the seeming simplicity of its story line. Questions and topics for discussion my name is lucy barton. Review of my name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout.

My name is lucy barton dramatic production audiobook. Discussion questions for reading groups and readers on my name is lucy barton by pulitzer prizewinning author elizabeth strout. Its the pain that lucy says we children clutch to our chests, how it lasts our whole lifetime. In her spare and mesmerizing novel my name is lucy barton, elizabeth strout elegantly probes the chasm between what is said and what is felt as a daughter and her undemonstrative mother shyly reconnect.

Shows how a simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of allthe one between mother and daughter. This book feels almost like the reader is being told a onceuponatime recounting of lucys life and relationships, in a. It evokes these connections in a style so spare, so pure and so profound the book almost seems to be a kind of scripture or sutra, if a very downtoearth and unpretentious one. I dont know if this is because she writes powerful prose and striking. Lonely was the first flavor i had tasted in my life, and it was always there, hidden inside the crevices of my mouth, reminding this book. Her bestselling novels, including olive kitteridge and the burgess boys, have illuminated our most tender relationships. My name is lucy barton, by elizabeth strout, is written as a fictional memoir of a famous author. My name is lucy barton is a short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but also simpler, more sudden bonds. It is both a book of withholdings and a book of great openness and wisdom. I always excitedly anticipate reading new books by elizabeth strout.