My Name is Lucy Barton was a recommendation through social media and written by a Pulitzer Prize winning author.  I took a chance and downloaded the audio version from the library without learning having an idea of the plot and at the end, I continued to wonder what the book was really about.

The novel was narrated by the main character, Lucy Barton, as she reflected on a surgical hospital admission.  During her hospital stay, she experienced complications which led to many weeks away from her husband and daughters.  During this time she missed her girls but enjoyed a visit from her mother who she had not seen for many years.  Lucy and her mother reflected on the past and gossiped about the inhabitants of their community.  Issues of  poverty, squalor, neglect and abuse were skirted around but not addressed in a fulsome manner.  Her mother abruptly left at the discussion of more surgery leaving Lucy alone.

Lucy reflected on this visit, her final visits to her parents, her marriages and her children as they grew up.  The novel was bland and subtle.  I struggled with understanding the ‘point’ of the novel and kept waiting for something to happen.  The narration was fine but not very engaging.  In the end, I was happy that this was a short novel.

I am looking forward to my next audio selection, Moonlight Over Paris which is the third, connected novel by Canadian author Jennifer Robson.