Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

We are all in lockdown, all the time. We just don’t know it.

This profound realization comes to Lucy Barton as she sits on a stoop in New York City near the end of Elizabeth Strout’s poignant new novel, “Lucy by the Sea.” It’s a fitting epiphany for a story that explores the ways we isolate ourselves even in the best of times, and how crisis can sometimes bring unexpected connection.

In this fourth installment featuring the beloved character Lucy Barton, Strout delivers a quietly devastating meditation on marriage, family, and the search for meaning in a world turned upside down. With her trademark empathy and insight, she crafts a deeply moving portrait of human resilience in the face of uncertainty and loss.

Summary

As the COVID-19 pandemic descends in March 2020, Lucy finds herself whisked away from her Manhattan apartment by her ex-husband William. They retreat to a rustic house on the coast of Maine, where they hunker down to wait out the lockdown.

Over the next several months, Lucy and William navigate their complex shared history, worry about their adult daughters, and grapple with profound changes to the world as they knew it. Isolated together in close quarters, they forge a tentative new intimacy even as the outside world grows increasingly chaotic and frightening.

A Relationship Rekindled

At the heart of the novel is Lucy and William’s evolving relationship. Though long divorced, they still share a deep bond forged through decades of marriage and parenthood. As they adjust to their new circumstances, old wounds resurface alongside moments of unexpected tenderness.

Strout deftly explores the mingled comfort and claustrophobia of reconnecting with an ex-spouse. Lucy and William’s fumbling attempts to understand each other anew are by turns touching, frustrating, and darkly comic. There’s a profound bittersweetness to their rediscovered intimacy, shadowed always by past hurts and future uncertainty.

Family Ties Tested

Even as Lucy and William grow closer, they struggle to connect with their adult daughters Chrissy and Becka from afar. The pandemic forces painful separations while also exposing fault lines in relationships.

In one heartbreaking thread, Chrissy suffers multiple miscarriages and contemplates an affair, spiraling into depression and anger that Lucy feels powerless to soothe from a distance. Meanwhile, Becka ends her marriage and embarks on an uncertain new chapter.

Through it all, Strout captures the aching worry of parents separated from struggling children, and the ways family bonds bend but don’t break under the strain of crisis.

A World in Flux

Beyond the intimate family drama, Strout paints a vivid picture of a society in upheaval. From panicked grocery store runs to Zoom calls with doctors, she captures the surreal details of pandemic life with unflinching realism.

The novel also touches on the racial justice protests of 2020, adding another layer of tumult and self-examination to Lucy’s world. And woven throughout are poignant vignettes of other lives upended—healthcare workers, small business owners, lonely elders.

The result is a rich tapestry that will resonate deeply with readers who lived through those unsettling early months of lockdown. Strout brilliantly evokes that sense of the world tilting on its axis, when old certainties crumbled and the future seemed terrifyingly unknowable.

Themes and Analysis

Isolation and Connection

At its core, “Lucy by the Sea” is about the human need for connection, and how easily that connection can fray. Lucy’s physical isolation in Maine becomes a metaphor for the emotional isolation she’s experienced throughout her life.

Yet paradoxically, it’s in this forced retreat that Lucy forges deeper bonds—with William, with new friends in town, and even with herself. Strout suggests that sometimes we need to step back from the noise of everyday life to hear the quiet truths of our hearts.

The Nature of Love

Lucy and William’s rekindled relationship offers a nuanced exploration of long-term love. Neither idealized romance nor bitter disillusionment, their bond is something more complex – a deep knowing tempered by past hurts, yet still alive with possibility.

Strout asks us to consider: What does it mean to truly know another person? How do we love imperfect beings (including ourselves) over a lifetime of change? There are no easy answers, but the questions themselves are profoundly moving.

Grief and Resilience

Loss permeates the novel—from the mounting death toll of COVID-19 to more personal griefs like miscarriage and divorce. Lucy herself is still processing the death of her second husband David.

Yet alongside sorrow, Strout shows flashes of resilience and renewal. New friendships blossom, family ties strengthen, and characters find reserves of inner strength they didn’t know they possessed. It’s a testament to the human spirit’s capacity to endure and even grow through hardship.

Class and Privilege

Though not a central focus, issues of class and privilege add depth to the narrative. Lucy’s journey from rural poverty to comfortable New York writer gives her a unique perspective on the pandemic’s uneven impact.

She grapples with guilt over her relative safety even as she worries about more vulnerable loved ones. These threads add nuance to the story, highlighting how personal crisis always exists within larger social contexts.

Writing Style and Technique

Strout’s prose is characteristically spare yet deeply evocative. Short, declarative sentences build to moments of startling emotional clarity. The effect is almost hypnotic, pulling the reader into Lucy’s internal world.

The narrative structure is loose and associative, mimicking the way memory and thought actually flow. Past and present interweave as Lucy’s mind wanders through pivotal moments in her life. It’s a technique that feels particularly apt for capturing the strange timelessness of lockdown life.

Strout also employs a kind of collective voice at times, zooming out to capture the shared experience of the pandemic. These moments of universality are deeply affecting, reminding us of our common humanity in the face of crisis.

Comparison to Other Works

“Lucy by the Sea” stands as a worthy addition to Strout’s acclaimed body of work. Fans of the previous Lucy Barton novels (“My Name is Lucy Barton,” “Anything is Possible,” and “Oh William!“) will find satisfying continuity alongside fresh insights into beloved characters.

The pandemic setting invites comparison to other COVID-era fiction like “Wish You Were Here” by Jodi Picoult or “The Fell” by Sarah Moss. But Strout’s intimate, character-driven approach feels distinct, using the crisis as a lens to examine timeless human struggles rather than focusing on the pandemic itself.

In its exploration of long-term relationships, the novel also calls to mind works like Anne Tyler’s “The Beginner’s Goodbye” or Jane Smiley’s “The Last Hundred Years” trilogy. Strout shares these authors’ gift for illuminating the profound in the everyday.

Critical Reception

“Lucy by the Sea” has garnered widespread critical acclaim since its release in September 2022. Many reviewers praise Strout’s empathetic portrayal of characters grappling with unprecedented circumstances.

The New York Times called it “a triumph of tone and delivery,” while The Washington Post deemed it “a masterpiece of pandemic fiction.” Some critics have noted that the novel’s loose structure may not appeal to all readers, but most agree that the emotional resonance more than compensates.

Conclusion

In “Lucy by the Sea,” Elizabeth Strout has crafted a quietly devastating portrait of love, loss, and resilience in a world turned upside down. Through Lucy’s eyes, we experience the disorientation and unexpected grace of life in lockdown.

But more than just a pandemic novel, this is a story about the universal human struggle to connect – with others, with ourselves, with the world around us. It reminds us that even in our most isolated moments, we are bound together by the threads of our shared humanity.

Lyrical, insightful, and deeply moving, “Lucy by the Sea” cements Strout’s place as one of our most empathetic chroniclers of the human heart. It’s a novel that will linger in readers’ minds long after the last page, inviting us to look at our own lives with newfound compassion and wonder. I’m looking forward to the next book in the Amgash Series, Tell Me Everything.