03 January 2016

Ny Name Is Lucy Barton ~ Elizabeth Strout

**** RECOMMEND ****

Short, sharp and sweet like a sorbet
A mental cleanser

This was a delicious, refreshing read.  Where some narratives are dense and rich with language like a Christmas pudding, this was a sorbet - fresh, mentally invigorating, a literary palate cleanser. 

The language had a poignant simplicity, with an economy of words but a depth of insight.  In so many ways we got to know and understand Lucy Barton by what was unwritten, subtleties that resonated after the narrative had moved on.  This was a novel that provoked thought and discussion.  Even though the book lacked sentimentality, it made you feel a tender concern for Lucy, an ingenue finding her way through life and love.