“The Burgess Boys” by Elizabeth Strout – The Blood that Binds

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout (Book cover)
The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout, for those who haven’t heard about it, is a very popular New York Times bestseller, with a story revolving around two brothers, Jim and Bob Burgess.

While Jim is a successful corporate lawyer who constantly belittles his brother, Bob, being a successful legal aid attorney himself, takes it all quite well.

The brothers have left their hometown long ago because of complex relationships, but quite soon their sister calls them back to Shirley Falls, where they grew up and left a lot of skeletons buried.

However, they have no choice but to come back seeing as how their younger brother, Zack, has gotten himself into a whole heap of trouble he can’t get out of alone. And so, the two brothers embark on a journey through the past that will leave them changed forever.

Though this novel isn’t exactly long at 320 pages, it still manages to get a whole lot across to the reader, which is basically a testament to how concisely Elizabeth Strout can write. Despite the fact that much of the book is centered around character development and interaction, it still manages to advance at a relatively fast pace, seldom making for any boring moments.

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout (Book cover)
Granted, there are some passages which are either too short or drag on for too long, but they are far and few in between making them quite negligible.

As far as the story goes, though it isn’t exactly extraordinary and action-packed, it still manages to retain the reader’s interest and rather than being the main course, the story is more like a vehicle takes the characters through their development.

In the end, this book is an exploration of family, the ties that bind us, and what we are ready to do for our own kin. All in all, it is a fantastic read that I can recommend to anyone who likes realistic stories centered on character development.


Elizabeth Strout (Author)

Elizabeth Strout


Personal site

Elizabeth Strout is an American fiction author whose acclaimed novel, Olive Kitteridge, has earned her the much-coveted Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Even her first book, Amy and Isabelle had already shown her capabilities, earning her nominations for the 2000 Orange Prize and the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction.

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