My Goodreads and Amazon review of Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout (Rated 5) – Surreal Reality. With the pandemic in the rearview mirror, my memories of lock down and social isolation have blurred. Reading Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout brought the strangeness back with clarity. In sparse prose, Strout captures the discombobulating effect of not knowing when the weirdness will end. We’re thrown together with people we may not choose to be with, and separated from those we do. We’re stuck at home and dreaming of escape, or far from home and longing for its familiar comforts. Authors, myself included (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), are typically advised to wait before writing about current events, allowing temporal distancing to give us the wisdom of hindsight. Yet, there is also something gained by writing as events are unfolding. Given that Strout’s novel was published in 2022, she wrote it “in the moment.” And, given her literary gifts, she nails it. Lucy by the Sea blends visceral immersion with detached observation, replicating the surreal qualities of the pandemic itself. Perusing it now, readers cannot only recollect those days, but also prepare for the next pandemic that will assail us in the foreseeable future. I choose to be with Strout.
What we hold onto when everyday life is swept away
Why writers read: A book can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” – Madeleine L’Engle
