50 pages • 1 hour read
Elizabeth StroutA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Lucy Barton is the protagonist of Lucy by the Sea. She was born and raised in the small town of Amgash, Illinois before leaving for New York City. Her childhood was one of impoverishment and abuse, and Lucy has become a well-known writer due to her memoir about her childhood. When the novel opens, Lucy is living alone in New York City—her husband David, a cellist, died about a year earlier, and she is still grieving.
Lucy is primarily characterized by her need to understand, or at least to attempt to. Throughout the novel, she is thoughtful and empathetic; she is always willing to reconsider what she thinks she knows. Lucy isn’t afraid to ask about things she doesn’t understand, and when she receives the answer, she consistently replies: “I get it” (32). Her willingness to absorb a new, sometimes painful understanding and change her perspective is a defining characteristic.
Lucy is also unafraid to admit when she is wrong, and strives to see things from different perspectives. She struggles to understand the monumental events that are happening around her: the Covid pandemic, George Floyd’s horrific death, and the January 6 insurrection.
By Elizabeth Strout
Amy and Isabelle
Elizabeth Strout
Anything Is Possible (Amgash, #2)
Elizabeth Strout
Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases
Michael Chabon, ed., Ayelet Waldman, ed., Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Meg Wolitzer, Louise Erdrich, Héctor Tobar, Neil Gaiman, Jacqueline Woodson, Rabih Alameddine, Ayelet Waldman, Brenda J. Child, Michael Chabon, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Salman Rushdie, Jesmyn Ward, Aleksandar Hemon, George Saunders, Scott Turow, Timothy Egan, Steven Okazaki, Sergio de la Pava, Andrew Sean Greer, Geraldine Brooks, Anthony Doerr, Brit Bennett, Yaa Gyasi, Moriel Rothman-Zecher, William Finnegan, Marlon James, Morgan Parker, Jennifer Egan, David Cole, Lauren Groff, Ann Patchett, David Handler, C.J. Anders, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Cunningham, Elizabeth Strout, Li Yiyun
My Name Is Lucy Barton (Amgash, #1)
Elizabeth Strout
Oh William!
Elizabeth Strout
Olive, Again (Olive Kitteridge, #2)
Elizabeth Strout
Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1)
Elizabeth Strout
The Burgess Boys
Elizabeth Strout