Oh William! By Elizabeth Strout Book Review

Oh William! By Elizabeth Strout Book Review

Review By Harsimran Kaur

Rating: 4/5

The word ‘Oh!’ is a distressed call to the extrapolations of what bemuses us or is not a refined indulgence in someone’s else’s affair. In the book, Lucy topple-tops William by a fling of ‘oh William’ to his flip-flop iridescence to contain life. Lucy finds William a ‘wagtail’ with a self-denial repository—an aberration to the cryptic realities of life,, vouching ahead for what pleases the self and a full-blown grimace when an elusive past falls like an earthly pot opening a can of worms.   

Lucy’s tusk-tusk of Oh William! at situations least expected in the book makes him a mysterious fall-out churning his own sugarcane. His choices in life seem a bit frozen and he tends to return to Lucy with every dime of friction that nestles his mind. Although, no longer married, their discretions and assessments of each other are a tough barrel to keep them aligned.

Every person we meet in our journey of life is somewhat a bridge between our imperfections and perfections, and their exit from our lives will either weigh us hard or add weight to our perceptions of life. Lucy had her own learning, imperceptibly tusked off from her marriage to William—past always remains the ‘salt on the wound’, even though the present has the ability to clear off the tiny freckles that peach off from the pestering wound. But, when William’s past orchestrates a staccato of blemished symphony, his mind delves into a denial mode. He fears the past as it puts a perspective about him, his mother and the life he has majestically lead.

Lucy and William, amidst their grief and unexpected turbulence, walk together to unravel the past that finally helps them to understand the capriciousness of life and helps them to change their personal equation too.

TAKE AWAY

What is life without blinks and misses? It could be a rough terrain meeting the smooth sailing of water stripes, mixing sensibilities with a tinge of awkwardness, and profligacy of our intemperate self. Elizabeth Strout is a magician to bring forth the voyages we human cover—past, present and future—stories are same, though their positioning becomes circumstantial.

Sensitively written and thoroughly absorbing!!

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