Oh William!

A Novel

By: Elizabeth Strout

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

Length: 7 hrs

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout explores the mysteries of marriage and the secrets we keep, as a former couple reckons with where they’ve come from—and what they’ve left behind.

BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

“Elizabeth Strout is one of my very favorite writers, so the fact that Oh William! may well be my favorite of her books is a mathematical equation for joy. The depth, complexity, and love contained in these pages is a miraculous achievement.”—Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House

I would like to say a few things about my first husband, William.

Lucy Barton is a writer, but her ex-husband, William, remains a hard man to read. William, she confesses, has always been a mystery to me. Another mystery is why the two have remained connected after all these years. They just are.

So Lucy is both surprised and not surprised when William asks her to join him on a trip to investigate a recently uncovered family secret—one of those secrets that rearrange everything we think we know about the people closest to us. What happens next is nothing less than another example of what Hilary Mantel has called Elizabeth Strout’s “perfect attunement to the human condition.” There are fears and insecurities, simple joys and acts of tenderness, and revelations about affairs and other spouses, parents and their children. On every page of this exquisite novel we learn more about the quiet forces that hold us together—even after we’ve grown apart.

At the heart of this story is the indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who offers a profound, lasting reflection on the very nature of existence. “This is the way of life,” Lucy says: “the many things we do not know until it is too late.”

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Time, Vulture, She Reads

©2021 Elizabeth Strout (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“One proof of Strout’s greatness is the sleight of hand with which she injects sneaky subterranean power into seemingly transparent prose. Strout works in the realm of everyday speech, conjuring repetitions, gaps and awkwardness with plain language and forthright diction, yet at the same time unleashing a tidal urgency that seems to come out of nowhere even as it operates in plain sight.”—The New York Times Book Review

“So much intimate, fragile, desperate humanness infuses these pages, it’s breathtaking. Almost every declaration carries the force of revelation.”—The Washington Post

“For all the depths of anger and despair they uncover, and the bitterness they attest to, Strout’s works insist on the superabundance of life, the unrealized bliss always immanent in it.”—The New York Review of Books

Meh. Not for me

I recognize it’s well written. It just isn’t my kind of book. Probably for lots of others it is

Beautiful

This was such a wonderful piece of poetry. What a chance the author took in writing a book that speaks to the heart

sequel succeeds

Listening to Oh, William, was like revisiting an old friend. easy, gentle and revealing. Brava!

Compassionate and wise!

The storie describes Life and relationships from diferent perspectives; we're all intertwined and desperate to love and connect... So intimate and touching. Enlightning!!!

Wonderful Listening

A really enjoyable book that makes you feel like you want to go to lunch with the author and as if you will be best friends forever.

Kimberly Farr

I adore her voice. So perfect for this story. Loved every minute of it! Thank you

It was a well-written soliloquy

My first read by this author. I am troubled by one character’s “take” on all the other characters. Or perhaps that’s the meaning of the whole book; we are all mythology. At times it was amusing, at times it dragged, and at times it seemed preposterous. All in all, I was entertained, I became introspective, and I liked the listen. I just think, however, the main character over emphasized how life played her wrongly. But who are these other people? Honestly, it was like she, the main character, was somewhat hole, and the supporting cast were cardboard, but life-sized people who gave the main character license to interpret what may or may not have been so this would be one book that I would not read again; however, I am curious to read another book by this author, to see if the potential for introspection and universality exists.

The story is so honestly and purely written.

This is one of my favorite authors. This story follows her book “I am Lucy Benton” and it is flawlessly written (along with Lucy Benton).

The narrator was so perfect.

Great performance

Wonderfully written and equally well narrated. I relate the author’s characters who are mostly older people who look back at their life rather than forward and I wonder what young readers think of them

Simple, plain writing reveals raw truths.

How can she make such simple statements that go straight to the heart? I don’t know, but Strout writes poignant and profound truths that pierce the heart.