Moving and uplifting. by Cloggie Downunder (9/29/24)
“She thought nothing could be told and be accurate. Feeble words dropped earnestly and haphazardly over the large stretched-out fabric of life with all its knots and bumps”
The Burgess Boys is the fifth novel by award-winning, best-selling American author, Elizabeth Strout. Susan Burgess Olson stayed in her Maine hometown of Shirley Falls even when Steve Olson left her to return to Sweden. Her brothers, high-profile attorney Jim Burgess, and her twin, appellate lawyer Bob Burgess, ended up in New York. But now, she has a crisis with her nineteen-year-old son, Zachary, and they need to return.
Shirley Falls has become a destination for Somali refugees, and Zachary Olson does a stupid thing, as a joke, that understandably causes huge upset within that community and sees him facing court for his actions. His Uncle Bob drops everything to travel to Shirley Falls to support his twin and her son, even though he and Susan don’t get on, while Jim and his wife Helen don’t alter their planned vacation on St Kitts.
Jim does organise the best local lawyer he can find for Zach, later speaks at a rally for goodwill which, in hindsight, does more damage than good to Zach’s case, and is there to support his nephew at the court hearing. But the judge’s orders then are not an end to it, and Jim and Helen’s lives are repeatedly interrupted with new dramas concerning Zach.
Bob is always there to lend support, even though his contribution is belittled by Jim and not exactly appreciated by Susan. It’s on one of these occasions, when Jim has imbibed more than usual, that he reveals to his brother the truth about something that has plagued Bob since he was a boy: a shocking truth that turns his world upside-down.
Strout uses multiple narrators to tell the story, and from their different perspectives, the reader also learns about each character. Jim seems to be basically a good guy but hates Maine, hates Shirley Falls and treats his younger brother badly, heaping on the insults and criticism at every encounter. His wife Helen is entirely focussed on her own family and has nothing but disdain for the Burgess family members, except of course Jim.
Bob has a big heart and is kind to everyone, despite being the subject of his brother’s scorn from a very young age. Bob’s ex, Pam still considers the Burgesses her family, still loves them despite being married to Ted and bearing his sons. Police Chief Gerry O’Hare tries his best for the citizens of Shirley Falls, but has to maintain a balance between the various factions who support or revile the immigrants.
As a child, Susan suffered under her mother’s cruelty and was determined to better as a mother, but is at a complete loss with her quiet, friendless son. Abdikarim Ahmed has witnessed so much horror in his life, including the violent loss of his son, yet can see that Zachary is just a frightened boy, but the wheels of justice turn relentless.
Strout has a talent for describing ordinary people living ordinary lives occasionally punctuated by extraordinary events that bring great joy or sorrow or excitement. Over the course of about a year, she gives the reader significant episodes in the lives of the people from this small Maine town, and the reader can’t help feeling for them and hoping for positive outcomes.
Strout treats the reader to some gorgeous descriptive prose: “…the incident was an irritant rubbing already against the fine fabric or her family, and she felt right now the small pricks of anxiety that precede insomnia” and “…she learned – freshly, scorchingly – of the privacy of sorrow. It was as though she had been escorted through a door into some large and private club that she had not even known existed. Women who miscarried. And the women in the club mostly passed each other silently” and “No exchange rate for the confidence of youth” are examples.
Also: “The silence – where there had been for so long the sound of Pam’s voice, her chatter, her laughter, her sharp opinions, her sudden bursting forth of tears – the absence of all that, the silence of no showers running, nu bureau doors opening and shutting, even the silence of Bob’s own voice, for he did not speak when he came home, did not recount to anyone his day – the silence almost killed him” and “…he went about his life unencumbered by the crust of doubt he’d been so used to that he had not known it covered him until it was gone.” Moving and uplifting.
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