Elizabeth Strout - The Things We Never Say
Content warning: Brief discussion of suicidal ideation.
I recently finished Elizabeth Strout's Booker-longlisted The Things We Never Say, a book I have been looking forward to since it was announced. As I read it (or listened — I tend to find that Strout's books function better as audiobooks) I found myself thinking that I'm not sure how to explain why I enjoy her work so much.
I have loved every Elizabeth Strout novel I have read, and The Things We Never Say is no exception. And yet! It was kind of miserable. Main character Artie Dam learns secrets that unsettle his personal life, learns about the struggles of the people around him, finds himself to be so, so, so unhappy at times that he contemplates suicide. Artie feels and encounters pain in the same way that so many Strout characters feel and encounter pain that is gone over again and again. Strout uses repetition of phrases and reiteration of events to drive home their power. This could be irritating, but in Strout's hands I find it works well. There is grace in these moments, and some profundity.
And yet! Strout's characters are always miserable. They have always endured struggle. They are nearly always misunderstood by the people around them. Their struggles and the ways in which they are misunderstood result in profound loneliness that can be difficult to sit with over the course of a book.
See? It's hard to make a pitch for book after book of misery. The Things We Never Say is a little harder still to recommend because it also handles the current political moment in a blunt and uncharacteristically clunky way. But it's great. Like so many of Strout's novels, The Things We Never Say is well worth your time.