“My Name is Lucy Barton” by Elizabeth Strout – A Wounded Life
For some, however, the moment to look back on life comes somewhere in the middle, as is the case with the relatively traumatized titular protagonist in My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout.
As the novel opens up, we are presented with Lucy Barton herself, lying on a hospital bed and recovering from an operation that turned out to be more complicated than anticipated. Middle-aged, with a family and partially successful as a writer, her life seems to enjoy the kind of stability many can only dream of.
However, in through the door comes walking her mother, someone she hasn't kept in touch with for many years. As they begin to talk and gossip, Lucy begins the journey into her own past, digging deeper and deeper, remembering all the moments that defined her, that turned her into the imperfect woman she is today.
While the premise may make it sound like a lighthearted novel, much of Lucy's life has actually been marked by tragedies and uncomfortable experiences, to say the least. Many of the moments she recounts will make your blood boil, essentially pointing out just how despicable human beings can be sometimes.
To give you an idea, amongst the many remembrances are the time her father humiliated her brother in front of everyone for trying on high heels (the exact words used are rather heinous) as well as the time her parents locked her in a truck with a snake.
Of course, there are a few rays of hope shining through here and there as well as a few moments of comic relief thrown in, but on the whole the themes of this book do revolve around life in a very dysfunctional family.
As we start travelling down her rabbit hole, we get to see and understand it all through Lucy's perspective, her voice accompanying us throughout the whole journey. Bit by bit, the reader's connection with her grows increasingly intimate, especially as we gain a deeper understanding of how the many events she lived through have affected her.
She is a very likable narrator, being sweet and kind in spite of all the trauma she endured, a baggage she carries with her every day since childhood. She really gives the impression of a person who desperately wants to be heard, someone who needs to make the suffering and cruelty she went through known to the world.
All this time she has to recall her past and walk through it also give Lucy the opportunity to reflect on it, and boy does she have a lot of interesting thoughts to share. The brunt of the focus of her reflections is dedicated to her upbringing and the massive confusion she experienced when faced with the senseless violence and hatred within her own family.
Her honesty is striking, especially the segments where discusses how much she yearns to be loved, how she longs for affection that her mother seldom gave her. Though personally I went through nothing like Lucy did, I have feeling her story is one that will resonate with countless others who had to go through something similar or even worse.
Elizabeth Strout tackles some very sensitive issues in this book, offering insight and empathy for those who seek either. It certainly isn't the kind of book everyone will enjoy, but if you are looking for a deep and insightful novel that delves into a person's rather realistic childhood trauma while offering plenty of wisdom, then I can certainly recommend it to you.
 | Elizabeth StroutPersonal 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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