Morgan's March Pick

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout

The Burgess Boys is Strout's first novel since winning the Pulitzer for Olive Kitteridge. While I find Strout to be a talented writer I found Olive Kitteridge to be boring and overly esoteric. I was skeptical of reading another one of her books but I received The Burgess Boys as an advance reader's copy so I decided to give her a second chance. I am glad that I did because I was quite impressed with this book.

The book centers around a dysfunctional and somewhat tragic family made up of three siblings who have shared a troubled childhood in a small town in Maine. The sister has remained in Maine while the two brothers move to New York City. The three are reunited as the sister's son requires legal help from his two uncles (who are both lawyers). The story progresses as the legal action pending becomes the backdrop for family instability, internal individual conflict and discontent.

What I found most poignant about this book is that at first the character type of each sibling seems clear but as the book progressed I really began to question the assumptions I had made about each of the characters, especially regarding who I thought to be successful and who I considered a failure.

Beyond the three main characters the book is also marked by a series of secondary characters who all seem lost, who lack of sense of place or a sense of home. Each character was very human and I was surprised at how strongly I could relate to their individual stories, brief as they were. I also liked how Strout worked in some commentary on difficult social issues like intolerance, race and crime.  I was impressed at every turn of the page with the graceful way the story unfolded and while it is a difficult and sad portrait of a lonely family I would definitely recommend it.