Elizabeth Strout. Oh William! NYC: Random House, 2021.
This acclaimed multiple award-winning author: what is she all about? Her unforgettable characters Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton became known through several books and a television series. Do I have the "right" novel to explore her charisma? Because I just happened on it by chance, and this particular one, I'm told, was shortlisted for the Booker prize. Yes, it's a step away from my regular crime fodder, which I do occasionally, but it does contain a little family history mystery.
Lucy is looking at her relationship with husband number one, William Gerhardt. They remain good friends as they enter old age, consulting each other over the years for conversation or comfort. It's as if they take turns being unable or unwilling to describe painful feelings. Lately Lucy's beloved second husband David died and William's third wife Estelle has suddenly walked out on him. Keeping track of marriages made by William's mother Catherine and themselves, and the children thereof, is a bit of an effort at first. When William discovers that he has a heretofore unknown half-sister named Lois, it's a distraction from his current woes; of course Lucy agrees to accompany him as he plans to snoop around rural Maine where Lois lives. It's where he learns more about his German POW father, but it's really his now-deceased mom Catherine who becomes the revelation.
Lucy thoroughly engages us as she reacts to whatever life presents her with. She has felt distant, an outsider, often invisible; William has frequently been judged as remote and unresponsive. Still unable to articulate their deepest concerns to each other, they seek unconditional acceptance. Yet they resonate as flesh and blood with us, from the moments of loneliness to the yearning for safety.
Bits
▪ William felt (almost) invulnerable, is what I am saying here. (7)
▪ But the feeling I have just described did not go away, and during the little reception afterward I did not feel quite like I was really there. Everything felt a little bit far away, is what I mean, like I was removed from it. (55)
▪ He had been petrified by what he saw there in Germany. He must have been deeply haunted by his father's role in it. Unspeakably frightened. It had unmoored him. (96)
▪ He sat back down across from me, and he threw his head back and laughed one of his real—genuine—laughs that I have not heard in ages. And my panic left me. (113)
▪ When I looked back, William was still gazing at the photograph; he finally turned his face to me and said, "It's him, Lucy." Then he added in a quieter tone, "It's my father." (121)
▪ He said, "I'm afraid of being alone, Lucy." I listened but I never heard him say, "Please don't leave, because you are Lucy!" (131)
▪ And then William began to close down. I watched this happen. His face—it is odd—it is almost like his face remains but everything behind it retreats. You can see him going away, is what I mean. (199)
▪ There have been a few times—and I mean recently—when I feel the curtain of my childhood descend around me once again. A terrible enclosure, a quiet horror. (221)
▪ We crave authority. We do. No matter what anyone says, we crave that sense of authority. Of believing that in the presence of this person we are safe. (132)
Korelitz. The Sequel. Large Print. USA: Thorndike Press, 2024.
This is a sequel to Korelitz's earlier The Plot (see Novels No. 70) but it appears to stand alone. Even more so than the first novel—if possible—The Sequel presents a mindbending plot. Anna Williams-Bonner is the widow of novelist Jake Bonner, who committed suicide shortly after the publication of his highly successful and popular fourth novel called Crib. Rumours were that he was being anonymously harassed for plagiarism. Anna is treated like royalty on book tours to promote Crib; months later she amazes Jake's agent Matilda and editor Wendy by producing an impressive manuscript of her own. Her Afterword becomes a bestseller and Anna a heroine to all survivors of deep personal loss, one who speaks of her dearly departed husband with nothing but love and humble admiration—except everything she says in public is bullshit.
Having read The Plot could be an advantage; I can't be sure how The Sequel will affect someone who didn't. The Plot contained parts of Jake's Crib story and its origins; similarly, The Sequel contains the gist of Anna's story in Afterward. Another similarity: someone unknown is now harassing Anna, someone with knowledge of the real story of Crib's grim subject matter, despite the fact that Anna herself had destroyed all evidence of its origins. She was certain she had effectively stopped her sly brother, Evan Parker, from publishing his manuscript for a novel that dwelt on her miserable past—she must find, and stop, whoever is threatening to destroy her newly acquired prestigious life. Perhaps someone like Martin Purcell who'd intersected with Jake and Evan at Ripley College.
Oh my, yes: it's complicated and sinister and guaranteed to keep you awake. The author doesn't miss a beat in drawing out the tension to murderous points. Be afraid of this woman.
Fragments
▪ "It felt a little bit unseemly, trying to do something my husband had done so well. I mean, who did I think I was?" (48)
▪ “This is our shared journey as survivors, and we have to do our best to offer one another comfort.” (67)
▪ She did not believe for one moment that Jake would have been proud [of her]. Besides, she did not remotely care whether he'd have been proud or not. (69-70)
▪ "You met him after he wrote that book, didn't you? You can't be sure he didn't lift it off somebody else." (99-100)
▪ Evan was gone. His "work" was gone. His all-too-consequential interference in her life: finally, blessedly, irreversibly gone. (138)
▪ "Just for the record, and just because we're here, was it all your idea? Or something the two of you cooked up together?" (177)
▪ They were out there, towns or small cities she might live in comfortably, and perhaps even — if she felt like it — continue the "work" her editor was evidently hoping for. But also: be left alone. (261)
▪ Evan, Jake, Martin, men who had harmed her, threatened her, and stolen from her. (310)