Literary fiction

Review: Tell Me Everything

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Cover image of "Tell Me Everything" by Elizabeth Strout

Tell Me Everything

Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout. Random House (ISBN: 9780593446119) 2025.

Summary: While Bob Burgess represents a murder suspect, he and those around him tell stories of their and other lives.

I understand that the working title of this work was The Book of Bob. Strout opens the book describing him, a description we see bearing out in this book:

“This is the story of Bob Burgess, a tall, heavyset man who lives in the town of Crosby, Maine, and he is sixty-five years old at the time we are speaking of him. Bob has a big heart, but he does not know that about himself; like many of us, he does not know himself as well as he assumes to, and he would never believe he had anything worthy in his life to document. But he does; we all do.”

One of the main threads of the story is the relationship Bob, a semi-retired criminal defense lawyer develops with Matt Beach. Matt was a reclusive artist who cared for his mother Gloria Beach. He came home to find her missing and called the police. But she wasn’t found until the following March in a quarry pool near a missing rental vehicle. Gloria Beach was a miserable person for most people to be around, nicknamed “Bitch Ball” when she’d work in the school cafeteria. Suspicions focused on Matt though there was no hard evidence tying him to her murder. Matt’s sister, Diana, a successful school counselor asks Bob to become his lawyer. He is perhaps the first to listen to Matt and becomes his friend, even staying with him for several nights when he is particularly troubled. He discovers Matt’s artistic gifts. That’s the murder mystery part of this novel.

The novel revolves around the telling and unfolding of life stories. The other thread running through the novel are the walks Bob and author Lucy Barton take together. “Tell me everything” is the refrain describing their conversations. Bob talks about his brother Jim and his own troubled past, having accidentally killed his father as a child playing in the family call, accidentally putting it in gear, rolling over his father. Lucy discusses her troubled relationship with her daughters. She also recounts her conversations with Olive Kitteridge. Although ninety-one, Olive’s memory is sharp, and she shares with Lucy stories of “unrecorded lives.” Soon, Lucy reciprocates, although Olive doesn’t always appreciate the stories.

Lucy is back together with her ex, William. Bob is husband to the Unitarian minister, Margaret Estaver. There are no conflicts between them but in some ways Bob and Margaret have grown apart. People, even William and Margaret, see Bob and Lucy as “just friends” but we sense the emotional intimacy grow between them through the book, a crisis Bob confesses to his brother Jim.

Bob and Jim grow closer in the book when Jim’s wife Helen dies. Jim comes to terms with what a poor husband, father, and brother had been. He claims he was the one who put the car in gear that day. Bob and his sister remember things differently. In the end, it is uncertain, but Bob bears the marks of this on his life. Lucy describes him as a “sin eater,” one who absorbs the hard stories of others while caring for them.

And the point of all the telling of stories? Lucy expresses it to Olive this way, “People and the lives they lead. That’s the point.” But we also see in the telling of stories characters growing in self-awareness and depth–Matt Beach, Margaret, Jim, and indeed, Bob and Lucy become more fully themselves. Indeed, one of the things Bob experiences is the discovery through the words of others the “worthiness” of his life.

One comes away from this Elizabeth Strout novel with the sense that there is no such thing as an insignificant life. Even Gloria Beach had lovingly cared for Matt as a child when his life was in danger. And not unlike my reaction to Theo of Golden, I found myself wanting to be more like this Bob. Both men affirmed the worth of others simply by noticing and naming that worthiness. This is not a small thing, it seems.

Review: Mule Boy

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Cover image of "Mule Boy" by Andrew Krivak

Mule Boy

Mule Boy, Andrew Krivak. Bellevue Literary Press. (ISBN: 9781954276468) 2026.

Summary: New Years Day 1929 changed Ondro Prach’s life. His first day as mule boy was also the day he alone survived a mine collapse.

His mother tried to avoid sending Ondro to the mines. But finally, when the mine foreman came by to offer him the beginning job of nipper, she relented. Ondro’s father had died in the mines. Ondro worked hard and soon became a spragger. Then, he was offered the job of mule boy, leading the mule that pulled cars in and out of the mine. He was assigned Wicked, who lived up to his name. But he fed him carrots and spoke softly to him in Slovak, and Wicked gave him no trouble.

His first day as mule boy was New Year’s Day. He worked with the miners John Chibala and Stefan Bozak, and their butties Emil and Matty. The whole team worked rapidly to clear the room of coal, to finish early. But just as they were loading the last bit, the mine collapsed, save for a space around a supporting beam. All but Ondro were badly injured, including Wicked who was killed in the collapsed entrance to the room.

Emil and Matty die first. Stefan and John live longer, sharing the light of carbide lamps to help Ondro dig a way out. On breaks, as their lives wane, they talk about their love of life and what it is to meet death. Ondro wonders if this dark place will be his tomb and how he will meet death. With John’s dying breath, after he has spoken of missing his daughter Magda, he points out the way for Ondro to escape, and Ondro does, but too late for the others he leaves behind.

Ondro and his mother move away but life is hard. Others mock him as “the mule boy” and he gets in fights, including one where he badly injured the other boy. So he vows never again to use violence. He works in a brewery, frequently drunk. But he begins a relationship with Magda Chibala, John’s daughter. They marry, but his drinking creates tension between them. Then the draft comes and when he reports, he refuses induction because of his vow. He spends most of the war in prison. Magda requests an annulment and marries another man.

But prison saves him. He stops drinking and meets Jacobson. Jacobson is a Jew and teaches him enough Hebrew to read the book of Jonah, which he will read each sabbath for the rest of his life. And he teaches him the philosophy of Parmenides. And then he is released to serve out the war at a fire lookout and forest ranger in New England, settling there alone and staying on until he retires. Then the visits begin from the families of the miners, wanting to know of their loved ones’ last moments and final words. And through these visits, the full story of the cave-in and escape emerges. Finally, Magda comes. And he shares things about her father never spoken in their brief marriage. But what of them?

Jonah seems particularly significant to understanding this story. Ondro spends days in the belly of the earth; Jonah in the belly of the fish. Both were dark places, death places. The great fish vomits up Jonah. Ondro crawls through the rotting carcass of Wicked. They both live, but never the same. And they both carry “words” for others.

The story is one continuous sentence, reflecting the unfolding memories of Ondro looking back. I have to admit finding it hard to find stopping places, but the continuous narrative makes sense of the flow of his life, interwoven with memories of the fateful events of the mine. It’s a compelling story of meeting death and making meaning of life, often with much faltering along the way and with the help of others. I found it an exquisite story, one in which every word does its work, with nothing extraneous.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Whistler

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Cover image of "Whistler" by Ann Patchett

Whistler

Whistler, Ann Patchett. HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780063511637) 2026.

Summary: When Daphne Fuller runs into the stepfather she hadn’t seen for forty years, they reconnect, understanding the bond between them.

It was supposed to be a day for Daphne and Jonathan Fuller to enjoy being together at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Then Jonathan notices that an older man is following them. And they are unable to elude him. Finally, they talk to him to discover that the man is Eddie Triplett, Daphne’s stepfather. It has been over 40 years since she last saw him. She’d more or less put the brief time her stepfather was in her life away in a box. He’s now in his seventies but still working as an editor at a major publishing house.

And yet we discover that there is a deep bond, forged in a traumatic accident. Between meetings in the present, the story flashes back to the accident and the events that unfolded that winter night. While Daphne’s sister Leda was in the hospital for appendicitis, Eddie picked up Daphne after school on a cold wintry evening. Before taking her home in their big Chevy station wagon, he wanted to take her to out to a raspberry farm at the top of a hill. However, he missed a turn and they slid off the road into the woods. Eddie injured his left ankle, trapped under the emergency brake, as well as his left shoulder. Daphne, in her seat belt, only had a bad facial cut.

During their time in the car, we learn the story of Whistler, a horse in a story Eddie never published. The author never submitted it for publication. The horse rescues its owner and the story was so powerful that Eddie had a rendering of Whistler in his office. We come to see there is more than one Whistler in the story.

Jonathan, a hospital administrator Daphne met while caring for her dying father, Buddy Zabriskie, is away in Wisconsin, cleaning out his parents home. He’s also reconnecting with the past. In fact, reconnecting and understanding is an important part of this book. When she and Eddie go to meet Skip and Polly Hotalling, she learns the real reason her mother divorced Eddie. It wasn’t because of the accident. She comes to a reckoning with all three men who had been “fathers.” And she comes to understand more of her mother, with whom she hadn’t been close.

Most of all, as Daphne revisits the events of forty years ago, she recognizes qualities that have been part of who she is–with Eddie, with Jonathan, with the girls she teaches. She also learns lessons about life’s impermanence from Eddie and how accepting that can yield happiness.

Acceptance of life’s givenness seems to be a quality of Patchett’s most recent books. There is a maturity here that I can’t help but thinks reflects a maturity in Patchett. As always, Patchett writes with exquisite beauty. Added to this are the deepened insights of coming to terms with one’s past, one’s people, and one’s self.

Review: Persuasion

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Cover image of "Persuasion" by Jane Austen

Persuasion

Persuasion, Jane Austen. Penguin Classics (ISBN: 9780141439686) 2003, first published 1817.

Summary: Will Anne Elliot retrieve the missed opportunity of a broken engagement with Captain Wentworth eight years later?

The plotline of this story was set up in its first pages. Anne Elliot, youngest daughter of Baronet Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall becomes engaged to an ambitious young naval officer, Captain Frederick Wentworth. But those around her do not consider him worthy of a Baronet’s daughter by either measures of class or wealth, of which he has little. Although her father and oldest sister Elizabeth disapprove, Lady Russell is most persuasive. She is a distant relative who has become Anne’s closest confidant since the death of her mother. Because of her disapproval, Anne breaks off the engagement, against the inclinations of her heart.

Eight years pass. In the intervening period, Sir Walter, with no Lady Elliot to check him overspends his means. To pay off debts and reduce expenses, the family decides to rent Kellynch Hall and move to Bath. Bath offers a social circle enticing to both Lord Elliot and Elizabeth. Anne prefers her old neighborhood but has no choice. Then she learns that the new tenants are Admiral Croft and his wife Sophia. Sophia is Captain Wentworth’s sister!

Anne is able to stay nearby with her sister Mary’s family which include her husband Charles and sisters Henrietta and Louisa. Then Captain Wentworth returns for a visit with her sister. In the intervening years, he has made a fortune and is ready to marry and settle down. He’s formally courteous, and in some instances seems attentive. But Anne, the girl in her full bloom of beauty at nineteen is somewhat faded and worn at twenty-seven. And Wentworth seems attracted to Louisa, who returns his interest.

During a visit to the seaside resort of Lyme Regis, Louisa suffers severe injuries while “daring” the Captain to catch her. Anne offers to stay but both Mary and the Captain stay instead, although Anne would have been the better nurse. Anne rejoins her family in Bath, and expects to hear both news of Louisa’s recovery and her engagement to Wentworth.

Meanwhile an Elliot cousin, heir to Kellynch Hall reconciles with Sir Walter after an estrangement of many years. He sets his sights on Anne, who does not trust him, despite the efforts of other family members to persuade her this is a good match. Then startling news come. Louisa is engaged, but to another naval officer. And Wentworth is in Bath, but remains aloof, seeing Elliot’s attentions.

I found myself thinking throughout this novel that if Anne and Wentworth could have fifteen minutes alone, they could sort things out! But then what would happen to the romantic and dramatic tension?

There is the great irony in Sir Walter’s social pretensions and the reality of his straitened circumstances, requiring him to rent Kellynch Hall to (ugh!) a naval officer, and brother-in-law of Captain Wentworth.

Finally, there are a number of “persuasions” in the story–of Lady Russell, of Cousin Elliot with Sir Walter, of Mrs. Clay, who has insinuated herself into the family circle, and of the family with Cousin Elliot. All of these go against the wisdom of the heart and we hope that the Anne of twenty-seven will be wiser than the girl of nineteen.

This was Austen’s last novel, published posthumously. I like the process of maturing in Anne but thought other characters like Elizabeth or even Lady Russell lacked substance. The interest of Anne and Wentworth seemed obvious enough to this reader that the plotting just drew out the obvious while seeming to leave things up in the air. I didn’t think it Austen at her best.

Review: Theo of Golden

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Cover image of "Theo of Golden" by Allen Levi

Theo of Golden

Theo of Golden, Allen Levi. Atria Books (ISBN: 9781668236512) 2025.

Summary: An old man moves to Golden, sees portraits in a coffee shop and in powerful personal encounters gives them to their owners.

I think I’m a latecomer to the Theo of Golden party. For months everyone who has read this book, including friends with discriminating book judgment, have raved about this book. Truthfully, I feared buying the book and being disappointed. Instead, I was won over from his first portrait bestowal to Minnette. For those who haven’t yet read, the story in brief is this:

An old man, Theo moves from New York City to the southern town of Golden to look after his properties. On visiting the local coffee shop, he notices the pencil-drawn portraits of local residents. He conceives the plan to give them to their proper owners. He purchases them, works with Mrs. Gidley, the administrator for James Ponder, whose vacant apartment he has rented, to contact each with a personal note. In it he invites them to meet him at a particular bench by a fountain known as the Fedder..

Along the way, he becomes deeper friends with some of the residents. James Ponder becomes not only advisor but friend and confidant. Others include Tony, a Vietnam vet bookstore owner, a little girl, Lamisha, with extensive injuries from a car crash, an eccentric, homeless cyclist, Ellen and a gifted young cellist, Simone. Then there is his deepening friendship with the artist of the portraits, Asher Glissen.

I won’t go further than that in the plot except to note we know little of Theo’s background except that he grew up in Portugal, lost a daughter, and obviously is a man of great means. What we do learn, and what makes this book so compelling is the humble and beautiful character of Theo.

What most seems to stand out is how fully present he is to each person he meets. Instead of talking about himself, he listens to and draws out stories, making people feel safe with him. Theo even wins the trust of Ellen, the eccentric homeless woman, with whom he eventually goes on a bike adventure, something no one has ever done. He notices and names. He studies each portrait and then speaks of what he sees in that person from what they’ve said and what he sees. Then he gently invites them to live into what he has named.

He loved beauty and joy. Whether it was evening reveries by the Oxbow River, delight in a street musician, or enjoyment of a rare bottle of port with his bookstore friend on that man’s birthday, he had a great capacity to take joy in beauty. We learn that giving away portraits in Golden has been the happiest time of his life.

Yet he was a man who knew deep sadness in a romance broken off, and the death of his daughter. One of the most profound passages, in which he names a gift of the artist, Asher Glissen is about sadness. He has just observed that he sees sadness in every portrait of Glissen’s.

“It is a very high compliment, young man. A very high compliment indeed. Perhaps I am mistaken but, at some point, if we are wise, we must all confront our sadness, our brokenness, our disappointment. I am quite certain that your portraits help some people in a very tender and courteous way, to ask themselves, maybe for the first time, ‘Who is that person? What do I know to be true, really true, about that face?…Asher, we are masters at masking our sadness, but deep down inside, if we are honest, we know that there is an unsatisfied longing deep inside all of us. Your portraits invite people to be alone and quiet and truthful with themselves, to admit the longing and to discover the goodness in their sadness. Maybe?”

Asher is also one who notices and names through his portraits.

Finally, Theo is a man of deep faith. While Tony, the bookstore owner scoffs at the idea, Theo quietly hopes in heaven. This vision of heaven is evident in the Christmas gifts he gives. He invites Simone, the cellist, to play for the angels. He calls the little girl, Lamisha, a daughter of the King. And he writes to Asher,

“It is an imponderable thought that the Giver of Faces, the face of heaven itself, the face for which every heart yearns, became a wee babe, misty-eyed and helpless, looking Himself for the tender face of his mother on the night of the angels.”

I understand why this book has touched the hearts of many. We are confronted with heartlessness in our media every day. Levi’s book speaks to a yearning in us that believes “another life is possible” as my friends in the Bruderhof describe it. Theo embodies that life. His presence paints a picture of the Christ-transformed life. He incarnates the deep humility, gentleness, generosity, playfulness, and compassion of the Lord of heaven. And quietly, Theo of Golden invites us into that same kind of life.

Review: I Cheerfully Refuse

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Cover image of "I Cheerfully Refuse" by Leif Enger

I Cheerfully Refuse

I Cheerfully Refuse, Leif Enger. Grove Press (ISBN: 9780802165190) 2025.

Summary: In a dystopian America, Rainy and Lark carve out a joyful life until tragedy sends Rainy on a Lake Superior odyssey.

I don’t typically select books this way. Looking at a table of new works at my local store, the cover art of this book caught my eye. The description sounded like a modern day odyssey. And the author was from Minnesota. Having had a good experience with another Minnesota author, William Kent Krueger, I thought I’d give Leif Enger a try. I’m so glad I did, though amid the goodness, truth and beauty of the story was heartbreak and terrible darkness.

The setting is Lake Superior in a not-too-distant future America. Societal order, the economy, and the climate have collapsed. The country is controlled by sixteen multi-billionaire “astronauts.” Some semblance of societal order is maintained by pharmaceuticals developed aboard “ships of horror.” Children are rated on a “feral scale” and medicated. And if it all becomes intolerable, a little slip of paper with a drug called “Willow” will help you end it all. And some are having “Willow” parties. Libraries have closed and books are becoming an increasingly scarce commodity.

Rainy and Lark have somehow carved out a joyful life together. He’s a big bear of a man who paints houses, plays bass guitar, often with a local band, but sometimes just to comfort his friends. Lark is a former librarian with a big heart and a passion for books. She runs a second-hand bookstore in a bakery, scouring estate sales for book collections. Lark taught Rainy to sail, going to a place called “The Slates,” where they had a somewhat mystical encounter they believed was with Molly Thorn, thought to be dead. Consequently, they buy and re-hab an old sailboat.

Lark, in her open-heartedness brings home a fugitive, Kellen. He has run away from one of the pharmaceutical ships. Perhaps the fact that he had in his possession an unpublished work of Molly Thorn’s, I Cheerfully Refuse, sufficiently seals the deal and he stays with the couple. But tragedy strikes the night of Lark’s birthday. Kellen has disappeared. After a futile hunt, he returns home to find his home destroyed, and Lark brutally murdered. A stranger, an older gentleman, who he later learns is Werryck, ran the ship Kellen had fled, and has been around the town, and through the book, has traced Kellen to their house. That’s why Kellen has gone.

Not only that, Werryck is after Rainy. Whatever they tore up the house looking for is still missing. So, Rainy takes to his boat. The only destination he can think of is “The Slates,” hoping perhaps he will find Lark there. Along the way, he is joined by Sol, a young girl he rescues from an abuser, buying her with his bass. Together they endure Superior’s terrible storms, scrape together an existence, outsmart a corrupt bridge operator, and search for an old relative who once cared for her.

The novel asks the question what kind of people will we become and what kind of communities will we form when the societal order fails? Along the way, amid the corruption, Rainy and Sol will find outposts of goodness. But what kind of person will Rainy, who has lived by goodness, supporting his friends, become? He faces his greatest test when he becomes Werryck’s captive.

Rainy’s sailing journey on Lake Superior strikes me as a modern-day Odyssey. Will he, in the end, find home? And how will the journey have changed him? Also, not unlike Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Enger confronts us with a very possible dystopia, asking us what kind of people we would be in such times. He does all this in a compellingly beautiful story.