I read My Name is Lucy Barton in March of 2024. That book inspired me to read more about Lucy Barton, so this month I read Anything is Possible, the second book in the Amgash series.
Anything is Possible is a series of linked short stories, similar to Olive Kitteridge, but not quite so depressing. I have seen it described as a novel in short stories, but it did not seem like a novel to me.
Some of the stories give more information about Lucy Barton and her family in Amgash, Illinois. Other stories are about other residents of Amgash, who are in some way connected to Lucy Barton.
The first story, "The Sign," is about Tommy Guptill, who had owned a dairy farm, situated about two miles outside of Amgash. When the dairy burned down, he was unable to continue the business, and ended up working as a janitor in a school in Amgash. Now he and his wife are in their eighties and retired. As he drives around town, he reminisces about his life, before and after the fire. Years before, while doing his janitorial work at the school, Tommy would encounter Lucy Barton sleeping in a classroom to avoid going home. Before going home, he visits Pete Barton, Lucy's brother, who still lives in the house the Barton family lived in when they were children. Pete is sort of a recluse and Tommy likes to check on him now and then. This wasn't a favorite story but it has stuck in my mind and provides some background for a later story, "Sister."
The second story, "Windmills," is about Patty Nicely, who was growing up in Amgash about the same time Lucy Barton was. She is a school counselor and counsels Lucy's niece, who is in high school. She sees Lucy Barton's memoir in a bookstore and reads it and is much affected by it. This was an emotional story. The next story, "Cracked," featured Patty's sister, Linda, who had a very unusual relationship with her husband. At this point I was wondering if there was anyone happy, or even just close to "normal," in Amgash.
"Mississippi Mary" and "Sister" were my favorite stories.
"Mississippi Mary" is about two members of another family in Amgash. In her 70s, after many years of a mostly unhappy marriage, Mary Mumford left her husband and five daughters and moved to Italy to live with her new Italian husband. She has now been in Italy with her second husband for four years; her youngest daughter, Angelina, is visiting her for the first time. Angelina was very hurt when her mother left to marry her lover in Italy and she does not understand how her mother can be happy in a cheap flat on the coast of Italy with not much money to live on.
"Sister" tells about Lucy Barton's brief visit to see her brother, Pete, in Amgash. She is going to be in Chicago for a stop on her paperback book tour and will be close enough to drive to Amgash. They have not seen each other for years. Lucy's sister, Vicky, has declined to come over and see Lucy while she is there, because she is hurt by Lucy's absence for so many years. But Vicky does show up at Pete's house while Lucy is still there, and they all have quite a discussion.
There are a total of nine stories in the book. I enjoyed all the stories, even though some were shocking or sad. I think I got more out of the stories as a whole than each story alone, so in some ways that does make the book like a novel.
I would recommend reading My Name is Lucy Barton before reading this book, but it is not necessary.
7 comments:
I remember your mentioning Strout's work before, Tracy. And I am glad you enjoyed these stories, even if they weren't all what you'd call uplifting. I think it's really interesting to link stories together in that way. It gives the collection a sort of structure, if that makes sense.
Margot, it is very interesting that I do enjoy Strout's stories, even though they are somewhat depressing. Overall the feeling I had at the end of the book was positive.
These are not sounding familiar. May have to look for it.
Patti, I had originally assumed that this book in the series was a novel. This one is more like OLIVE KITTERIDGE and OLIVE, AGAIN (which I have not yet read).
I don't mind sad or depressing under the right circumstances, but right now I need positive and uplifting stories.
Kelly, I do understand that. Over the past year, and even more in the last 3 months, I have focused on lighter feel-good reading. Although right now I am reading a Japanese thriller about three assassins, by the same author who wrote Bullet Train, Kōtarō Isaka. Three Assassins is not depressing at all though, at least not yet.
Oh, I can handle sad, as most of what goes on right now enrages more than it depresses, and the mix of failures faced by our Blitherer in Chief is giving me a bit of hope (though, of course, he throws everything out in hopes of getting some of it to stick). I've been meaning to read Strout for some time, but I've think I've read perhaps one or two in an anthology or two.
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