Tell me everything

by Elizabeth Strout

Strout writes beautifully about aging. In Tell Me Everything, her writing is, as always, pared-to-the-bone, devoid of pity or judgement, and magically full of heartbreaking detail. The way Strout builds her characters is equally wonderous. In this novel she brings back old favorites: Olive Kitteridge, Lucy Barton and Bob Burgess, and the content is a series of unconnected stories, alongside a low-key murder mystery. But it is really a book about love in all its forms. Strout has a gift for highlighting the beauty in fragments of tenderness, reminding us of the healing effect of being truly heard and seen, and showing the tiny connections which are ultimately life-supporting. And she manages to do so totally without ego.