Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

Lucy and Bob have developed a lovely friendship over the years. While they are both either living with or married to other people, they take frequent walks with each other, confiding in each other about their lives, their relationships, even random thoughts in a way that they do with few others. Even when Bob becomes involved in defending someone accused of murder, they continue to bond and share their stories. But will they be able to stay just friends? Will the secrets they harbor bring them closer or keep them apart?

I am still deciding how I feel about this book… While reading it, I felt very indifferent about it, almost deciding to give up on it at some points, but not doing so. I am not entirely sure why this was so, but I believe it was because it felt as though the author herself was indifferent toward the characters, that they were just sort of there, living their lives. And even when the characters were interesting or had something impactful to say, it was all presented in such an off-hand manner that it was hard to get excited about any of it. Even the most endearing character, Bob, who was truly kind to everyone around him, was hard to really grow attached to. Perhaps because the author felt this way too?

I also found the author to make use of the colon (the punctuation mark, not the anatomical part) more than any other than I’ve ever seen and in such bizarre ways. It often felt as though Tell Me Everything was more of an expository essay than a novel, that ideas were presented as lists or facts rather than a telling of a story. This did not appeal to me at all.

On the other hand, as I sit here and contemplate the narrative as a whole, with its stories within the story, I feel that one might find it a meaningful read in that it is a commentary about relationships and people’s stories and, ironically, how they get told. While some are more willing to share their secrets with others, some are reluctant to share what they know, and others have kept secrets to the detriment of those closest to them. This comes out gradually as the plot unfolds, in layers, as if peeling away at an onion. And we often judge others without knowing the secrets they harbor, without knowing what they are carrying around with them.

So this may be one of those novels that has to sit with you awhile, that grows on you after you have completed the task of reading it. Maybe too much work? Maybe worth the effort? I’m curious to hear your thoughts…