Loneliness, secrets, and existential dread in Elizabeth Strout’s The Things We Never Say

📚 Elizabeth Strout’s latest Booker Prize-shortlisted novel The Things We Never Say is a gloomy, wholehearted, and deceptively simple read all at once. The American author brings what she does best: a character-led story that does so much with seemingly very little. In a characteristic portrayal of everyday mundanities and quiet struggles, Strout delivers a small-town grapple with loneliness, grief, relationships, and tragedy, set against a tense political backdrop and filled with secrets and the fragile entropy of family life. It’s an intimate portrayal that confronts you with rather uncomfortable emotions, only to have you revel in their relatability.

The plot: Artie Dam is our main character, a 57-year-old history teacher at a local high school in coastal Massachusetts. He lives with his wife Evie, while their son Rob occasionally visits from out of town. Artie is an outwardly goofy, extroverted guy who cares about others and is loved by many, especially his students. In solitude, however, he struggles with existential thoughts and often grapples with the idea of taking his own life. He feels increasingly distant from his wife, with their relationship strained by a lingering trauma surrounding Rob from 10 years ago. When Artie goes through a near-death experience while sailing, he re-evaluates how much he actually wants to live, only to learn a secret that upends his world and everything he thought he knew about his family.

What we liked: The story doesn’t involve grand events, grand characters, or even necessarily grand themes. Everything takes place in the close proximity of one man, his super-ordinary life, and his own dreary thoughts. It’s extraordinarily honest, complicated but not overwhelmingly so, and dreadfully normal. Yet, Strout still manages to draw out a richness in these characters and their stories that makes them hard not to care about — or see yourself in. It is ultimately quite a depressing take, however, often underscoring an inevitability in so many relationships: do we really know the people closest to us?

The verdict: At around 200 pages, The Things We Never Say carries you effortlessly through its light prose and, despite its darker moments, could be finished in one sitting. Strout delivers a touching portrait of the human condition, closely interrogating some of our deepest feelings and touching on the silence that quietly engulfs much of our lives. It’s an engrossing read with an impact that creeps up on you — a worthwhile pick when you’re looking to confront some of your own scars.

WHERE TO FIND IT- You can find the paperback at Diwan. You can also get the e-book on Amazon and Kobo.