Read this when
My Name Is Lucy Barton
When your mom flies all the way to New York to see you… and you both talk about everyone except yourselves. 🏥
Who it's for
The book is almost all subtext: Lucy and her mother gossip about people back home instead of talking about the poverty and harm of Lucy's childhood, and the reader feels exactly what isn't being said.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Elizabeth Strout's 2016 novel is narrated by Lucy Barton, a writer who grew up in poverty in a troubled household and found refuge in reading. While she is hospitalised in New York after surgery, her estranged mother comes to stay with her, and the two reconnect after years apart. The novel explores their complicated relationship and how Lucy's childhood shaped her path to becoming a writer.
Where to find it
In print; widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla) and as an audiobook. Still in copyright, so not on Project Gutenberg.
Before you start
Heads up: Implied child sexual abuse by a father.
Age: Ages 16+
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, “On Pain”
