When I began Elizabeth Strout's "The Burgess Boys," my anticipation was high. I had just finished reading her previous work, "Olive Kitteridge," which was stunning, despite it being a downer, (though that may have come more from where I was, emotionally, at the time) and I just loved her earlier "Amy And Isabelle." The premise--two boys growing up in a Podunk town in Maine, escape to New York for career success, but come back home to defend their nephew of a hate crime--seemed to press a lot of my buttons.
However, I was ultimately disappointed with the way Strout handled it all. "The Burgess Boys" is all over the place, trying to be too many things at once--a social novel, a soap opera, an exploration of family dysfunction. And the hate crime angle, when revealed, early on, is ridiculous!!!!. But Strout strays from paths in her writing constantly, so the reader is never sure just where the novel is eventually going. And when we get to the BIG revelation--darlings, I am telling you, it is like "Ho hum!" I waded through 300 plus pages for THIS????????????
Some of the characters in "Olive Kitteridge" were unlikable, but at least they were interesting. Here, not one single character, save for a Somalian elder, is likable, and NONE--even said elder--are all that interesting. I think this is a case of an author having a great idea, but losing her way as she developed it.
I had hopes "The Burgess Boys" would be the literary event of the Spring season! As far as I am concerned, it is a major disappointment!!!!!!!!!!!! If, like me, you keep up with the literary scene, you will read it, anyway. But for those who don't, I say save yourselves the trouble and the amount of time wasted in reading this book. There is better stuff out there, including Strout's earlier work. I can only hope what follows this makes up for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Send these boys to the paper shredder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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