Oh William!
by Elizabeth Strout
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- Signed
- Condition
- Very Good
- Seller
-
Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Viking, 2021. Hardcover. Very Good. 2021. Exclusive signed edition. 237 pages. No dust jacket. Signed by the author. Pictorial cloth covered boards. Flat signed by author at front. Pages remain bright and clean. Binding remains firm. Boards have light shelf wear with minor corner bumping and crushing to spine ends. Some slight marks and staining to rear.
Reviews
On Oct 21 2021, CloggieDownunder said:
Oh William! is the third novel in the Amgash series by best-selling, Pulitzer Prize winning American author, Elizabeth Strout. Not long widowed and still very much grieving her second husband, David Abramson, Lucy Barton relates recent events in the life of her first husband, William Gerhardt.
Two life-changing things that occur in fairly short succession see her travelling with William to Maine to perhaps connect with a relative of whom William was, until recently, unaware. It's a journey of many revelations, both about newly-discovered family, those already departed, each other and themselves.
Lucy's narrative comes across as a little rambling, at first, but it soon becomes clear that all those casual asides, those frequently inserted anecdotes from earlier, are given to illustrate a certain point, a feeling, an opinion.
Musing on what she had with each husband, she tells the reader that even though "At times in our marriage I loathed him. I saw, with a kind of dull disc of dread in my chest, that with his pleasant distance, his mild expressions, he was unavailable", William was her home, that she felt safe in his presence.
She does not talk much about David, noting what they had in common "It is hard to describe what it is like when one is raised in such isolation from the outside world. So we became each other's home. But we— both of us felt this way—we felt that we were perched like birds on a telephone wire in New York City" and concluding that "David was a tremendous comfort to me."
Strout gives her characters palpable emotions, wise words and insightful observations. When Lucy is unable to understand why William married her, a nothing, he tells her: "Lucy, I married you because you were filled with joy. You were just filled with joy. And when I finally realized what you came from—when we went to your house that day to meet your family and tell them we were getting married, Lucy, I almost died at what you came from. I had no idea that was what you came from. And I kept thinking, But how is she what she is? How could she come from this and have so much exuberance? …. There has never been anyone in the world like you. You steal people's hearts, Lucy."
Strout's writing, both in style and subject matter, is reminiscent of Sebastian Barry with shades of Anne Tyler. Strout writes about ordinary people leading what they believe are ordinary lives (although there are definitely some quirky ones doing strange things amongst them) and does it with exquisite yet succinct prose. Another powerful read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Penguin UK Viking.
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Details
- Bookseller
- World of Rare Books (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1700052228MHP
- Title
- Oh William!
- Author
- Elizabeth Strout
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Viking
- Date Published
- 2021
Terms of Sale
World of Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
World of Rare Books
Biblio member since 2009
Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex
About World of Rare Books
Wob sells rare and collectable books on behalf of charities. Our team of booksellers are happy to deal with any enquiries and aim to provide same-day dispatch for all orders.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....