The Burgess Boys: A Novel
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton comes “a portrait of an American community in turmoil that’s as ambitious as Philip Roth’s American Pastoral but more intimate in tone” (Time).
“What truly makes Strout exceptional . . . is the perfect balance she achieves between the tides of story and depths of feeling.”—Chicago Tribune
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, Good Housekeeping
Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a successful corporate lawyer, has belittled his bighearted brother their whole lives, and Bob, a Legal Aid attorney who idolizes Jim, has always taken it in stride.
But their long-standing dynamic is upended when their sister, Susan—the Burgess sibling who stayed behind—urgently calls them home, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed the brothers’ relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever.
This edition includes an original essay by Elizabeth Strout about the origins of The Burgess Boys.
“What truly makes Strout exceptional . . . is the perfect balance she achieves between the tides of story and depths of feeling.”—Chicago Tribune
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, Good Housekeeping
Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a successful corporate lawyer, has belittled his bighearted brother their whole lives, and Bob, a Legal Aid attorney who idolizes Jim, has always taken it in stride.
But their long-standing dynamic is upended when their sister, Susan—the Burgess sibling who stayed behind—urgently calls them home, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed the brothers’ relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever.
This edition includes an original essay by Elizabeth Strout about the origins of The Burgess Boys.
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Community Reviews
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
There are many novels whose plot revolves around the deeply troubled intimacy of an unhappy family. The Burgess Boys is one such novel. The three siblings struggle to be kind to one another after one petty dramatic event after another befalls the family. With lives shaped by pain and blame directed mostly at one another, the entire family (son, brothers, wife, extended friends) seem to find conclusion and respite by spreading out emotionally and geographically, choosing solitude over reconciliation, which is probably best, if only to end the book.
From a stylistic standpoint, I enjoyed Strout's solemn thoughtful words, how she highlights the tiniest details in common scenes, her gift for slowly revealing the soft scared animal underneath the hard human shell in her characters. That being said, I did not enjoy her characters at all: the pettiness, the seething anger, the spirit of meanness they constantly show towards one another, the self hatred imbued in deeper emotional issues, the grim implication that the inevitable outcome of trauma is isolation and self-destruction. This book bummed me out. Well written, twisted plot, depressing characters, mushy grey inconclusive ending. Wouldn't read again, wouldn't recommend to a friend.
There are many novels whose plot revolves around the deeply troubled intimacy of an unhappy family. The Burgess Boys is one such novel. The three siblings struggle to be kind to one another after one petty dramatic event after another befalls the family. With lives shaped by pain and blame directed mostly at one another, the entire family (son, brothers, wife, extended friends) seem to find conclusion and respite by spreading out emotionally and geographically, choosing solitude over reconciliation, which is probably best, if only to end the book.
From a stylistic standpoint, I enjoyed Strout's solemn thoughtful words, how she highlights the tiniest details in common scenes, her gift for slowly revealing the soft scared animal underneath the hard human shell in her characters. That being said, I did not enjoy her characters at all: the pettiness, the seething anger, the spirit of meanness they constantly show towards one another, the self hatred imbued in deeper emotional issues, the grim implication that the inevitable outcome of trauma is isolation and self-destruction. This book bummed me out. Well written, twisted plot, depressing characters, mushy grey inconclusive ending. Wouldn't read again, wouldn't recommend to a friend.
Strout has managed to make completely real the sometimes disparate human stories each person in a family carries. This story of a family in Maine, shattered years ago after an accident, but rebuilt slightly askew; who face a new problem. Each member has a very clear perspective and path. Once again, I am astonished at how well Strout writes these incredibly unsympathetic characters. This is an amazing feat.
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