Yahoo Finance Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout review: so good you often forget it’s fiction
Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout’s writer protagonist who hits the big time after a humble start in life, has known William for most of her adult life. They were married for 20 years, had two children, he had affairs and they both remarried. But despite all of that, she does not feel she entirely knows him – and she is still sufficiently interested to want to find out. So when he chooses her to confide in about his night terrors, using his old nickname for her, Button, she is flattered. Lucy is grieving for her second husband and William provides a welcome focus. He is an ex who she very much still has feelings for, although they are not straightforward.
This is a return for Lucy, who first appeared in Strout’s 2016 Man Booker longlisted book which was adapted for the theatre with Laura Linney as Barton (Strout thanks Linney in the acknowledgements, saying she “unwittingly and miraculously gave bloom to this entire book”) . It also picks up on Barton’s 2017 book Anything is Possible, about characters from Lucy’s past, in her hometown of Amgash, Illinois. In My Name is Lucy Barton, William is a distant presence; she thought he was a hero saving her from her poverty stricken and difficult childhood, but the truth is somewhat different, although she makes excuses for his behaviour. Notably, he doesn’t visit her in hospital when she has to spend a month there.
Strout likes to revisit characters. Her 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Olive Kitteridge has an equally compelling sequel, Olive, Again. Lucy, now in her early sixties, is a more poised character than the enjoyably crotchety Kitteridge (played by Frances McDormand in an excellent HBO adaptation). She acknowledges her own feelings, often with heart-breaking descriptions (she says that grief is solitary, “like sliding down the outside of a really long glass building while nobody sees you”) but moves briskly on to speak about others.
Now it is William’s turn and he is an interesting character, a scientist who is nicknamed Einstein because of his heavy moustache, who women seem to flock to regardless of his age (71). He is plagued by thoughts of his German father, who to William’s shame belonged to the Hitler Youth, and also of a mystery he has uncovered about his dead mother Catherine. She was beautiful and well-dressed but a domineering figure – as shown by the way she bought certain clothes for Lucy and also golf clubs to encourage that hobby. Through writing about her relationship with Catherine, Lucy also writes about herself, when she was young, alienated and desperate to be part of another family through William.
Class is a theme. Lucy is from “terribly bleak poverty”, which will always stay with her, while William feels more confident because of his prosperous background.
Strout is such a brilliant writer that you don’t have to have read My Name is Lucy Barton or Anything is Possible to enjoy Oh William! and she fills in the plot so you don’t feel lost (although you may want to go back and check them out afterwards). There are shades of Anne Tyler and also John Updike in the stories woven from the impulses and lives of people in America.
But what sets Strout apart is the way she describes people’s innermost thoughts and the nuances of their feelings. She is an intimate writer with a particular skill for writing about the thoughts that people often brush away or bury, and the result is that you often forget you are reading fiction. You feel like Lucy’s confidante.
Strout recognises that feelings, particularly in relationships, are never black and white. Lucy can both hate William and care for him at the same time. Her repeated use of the word “oh” as in the title, conveys a whole range of feelings, from disappointment to confusion and love.
Lucy isn’t an entirely reliable narrator. She is a writer and this appears in part to be because she likes talking about others rather than herself. Often, things are hinted at in short, one sentence paragraphs and then she absorbs herself in something else with a stream of consciousness about William, fixating on things like how short his khaki trousers are and how that makes her sad or how he has less authority without his moustache, rather than think about their relationship or her feelings. But she knows what she is doing and although she wavers, there is an unshowy wisdom to this book. Strout wants you to think about relationships – the book is dedicated “to anyone that needs it”.
For dedicated Lucy Barton fans, it is satisfying to have another piece of the tapestry; to understand Lucy and William more deeply. Strout layers on different plots but you see the parallels between Catherine’s story and Lucy’s – both women who thought men would solve their problems and lead them to better lives and were not entirely satisfied.
William and Lucy’s relationship is touching and he shows her in a new light - annoying but also as a person who brings joy to life. At one point, he says this joy is what attracted him to her and it is this spirit that shines through in this warm and enjoyable segment of Lucy’s life, written by one of our best storytellers.
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (Hamish Hamilton, £14.99)
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