Tell me Everything

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Strout, Elizabeth, Adult Book / Fiction / General / Strout, Elizabeth
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

"With her "extraordinary capacity for radical empathy" (The Boston Globe), 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 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 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. Together, they spend afternoons 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"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Real people submitted by booksandhibernation on July 8, 2025, 12:22pm I wish some of Strout's people were funnier and lighter, but they are all, nevertheless, real and full of emotions that leap off the page.

Masterful Story-teller submitted by serenakessler on July 16, 2025, 11:28am The magic of Elizabeth Strout's writing is that as you read along, you very well may find yourself nodding along thinking that you know these people and you could write about them just at she does. The reality of course is that you can't, after all this is Elizabeth Strout, but the brilliance is that she lets us think that we can. Her writing strips away all the nonsense, removes all the judgement, and lays bare the essence of our complex human relationships and the stories that surround them.

Another wonderful read submitted by jkelleher on July 20, 2025, 9:26am I have greatly enjoyed the world contrived by Elizabeth Strout. I enjoy seeing old characters from past books and, in a sense, catching up with them. My two favorites have been Lucy Barton and Bob Burgess and in this book they cement their friendship. They are both lovely people but once again Strout shows us her characters' flaws and foibles. Her stories are always deeply personal and meaningful. I loved seeing how Olive Kittetedge has aged as well, growing and learning to be softer and kinder and yet...still very much who she has always been.