Tell Me Everything: Oprah's Book Club
A Novel
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4.2 • 774 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • From Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout comes a “stunner” (People) of a novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world.
“Tell Me Everything hits like a bucolic fable. . . . A novel of moods, how they govern our personal lives and public spaces, reflected in Strout’s shimmering technique.”—The Washington Post
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, NPR, Vogue, Parade
With her remarkable insight into the human condition and silences that contain multitudes, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters—Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more—as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?”
It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William. Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known—“unrecorded lives,” Olive calls them—reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.
Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everything is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, “Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love.”
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout’s mystery-like novel, it’s silence that speaks the loudest. Strout’s fans will know most of the characters in Tell Me Everything from her other books, but this visit to their small, fictional Maine town stands on its own. Local lawyer Bob Burgess is working with Matthew Beach, who’s suspected of murdering his elderly mother, and that drives the mystery side of things. But it’s Bob’s relationship with writer Lucy Barton and Lucy’s budding friendship with 90-year-old Olive Kitteridge that give the book its quiet depth. Lucy and Olive share stories of sadness, fear, anger, and strength about all kinds of characters, including the extended family of their little community. Each is a worthy tale even without the murder that drives the narrative. Strout’s all about small moments instead of dramatic plot twists. Her subtlety and compassion will keep you warm even when the book dips into some truly dark, desperate moments. You’ll end up caring about all her complex characters and learning a lot about the ways people live with each other.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The latest from Pulitzer winner Strout (Olive Kitteridge) brings together characters from her previous novels for a masterly meditation on storytelling. After 86-year-old Mainer Gloria Beach is found dead in a quarry, semi-retired lawyer Bob Burgess agrees to represent Gloria's son, Matthew, who is the prime suspect in her possible murder. Bob has grown close to author Lucy Barton, who moved to the area from New York City during the pandemic, and the duo spend hours walking together and chatting. After Bob takes Matthew's case, Lucy calls him a "sin eater," a term that came to her mind during a recent chat with Olive Kitteridge, who's been inviting Lucy over to her retirement community to gossip about their neighbors. As Bob works with Matthew on preparing his defense in the event of a murder charge, he begins to wonder if he's falling in love with Lucy. Though Olive doesn't say anything, she's been convinced all along that Lucy and Bob are developing feelings for each other. The narrative threads make for dishy small-town drama, but even more satisfying are the insights Strout weaves into the dialogue. Late in the novel, after Olive asks Lucy the point of writing stories, she responds, "People and the lives they lead. That's the point." Longtime fans and newcomers alike will relish this.
Customer Reviews
Slow but has depth
Always love her books, this one is more meditative
Not a fast read but wonderful
Be patient and read all the wonderful stories of love. Fascinating but I struggled to stay with it. Be steadfast persevere and there is hope in love
Aggravating
I’ve enjoyed Ms Strout’s conversational style and gentle but straightforward depictions of Maine and it’s unique characters in previous works. But this was an aggravating disappointment. I was exasperated with the characters’ adolescent self absorption and infatuations. If they’d focused a modicum of their energy and thought on their spouses instead of themselves and their seemingly vital relationships their marriages would have been much richer. And their neighborly efforts to appear to themselves and others to “do good” did not alleviate their angst or my irritation.