I think I might just prefer Strout’s Olive Kitteridge series to the Lucy Barton series - if not just for the incredibly stubborn but loveable ways and witticisms of Olive Kitteridge, who is a rather different woman to the more pensive and slightly troubled character of Lucy Barton.

Strout has a real flair for capturing the daily reality and emotions of the many characters in her short story collections. While the content is quite often dark or distressing to read, as the characters reflect on childhood trauma (cw: sexual harassment) and strained relationships, Strout’s writing is engaging and very much brings the reader into the heart of life in small-town America. The ways the characters are linked together, and connected to Lucy Barton, are often unassuming and unexpected, reflecting life’s often coincidental and bizarre turns of fate which determine each of our own social connections.

I don't normally leave reviews, but I almost feel obligated to here. Going into this book I had no idea it would be filled with a really bleak outlook on people, every character having a messed up relationship with sex (which could have been explored in an interesting, nuanced way, but it did not land that way for me) and with completely unnecessary fatphobia littered throughout (it didn't seem to be that its use was to say anything about the character doing it, rather that it was just presented as the right view to have). I considered dnfing when I got to the short story detailing the serial raping/drugging/assaulting character and really wished I had. I don't think I would have had such a strong negative reaction if I felt that there was one short that explored people, connection and community in a an enriching way. If you want to read a character driven novel that actually feels like it dives into the complexity of people and interpersonal relationships and enjoys them rather than reading like it holds a complete apathy towards them then I think a 44th Scotland Street novel would hit the mark better.