The Burgess Boys By Elizabeth Strout
Adult siblings face a major family crisis in this best seller. A deep profound novel that I think you will enjoy if you are willing to take the time to sort out all of the characters. This is the first time I have read Strout, and I plan to read her earlier works based on this selection.
Jim Burgess is a successful defense attorney in Manhattan married to Helen, a proper, wealthy Connecticut socialite. Brother Bob, also an attorney, works for the Legal Aid Society in New York. Bob's twin sister, Susan, has stayed behind in their hometown of Shirley Falls, Maine. She is a lonely, unhappy divorcee who is attempting to raise her only son, Zach , a troubled, distant teenager. Susan makes an urgent, desperate call to her brothers begging them to return to Maine to defend Zach who has been charged with a hate crime.
And so the brothers return to their hometown where deep childhood memories begin to surface. Bob has been belittled his whole life by Jim and seems to take it in stride because he idolizes his brother. He is haunted by the accidental circumstances of their father's death. Susan simply chooses to ignore Bob while heaping praise and adulation on Jim. She is totally overwhelmed at the thought of being a single mother to her withdrawn son. Yet it is Jim who harbors a deep, dark secret, one that threatens to forever change his life. Jim's successful, dynamic career and his supposedly idyllic marriage to Helen are all a facade.
The hate crime is a major part of the novel and sets the stage for tension and fear in the small community of Shirley Falls. There seems to be stories within stories as the book evolves. Envy, guilt, bigotry, deception, forgiveness, and ultimately, love of family-this book has it all.
Adult siblings face a major family crisis in this best seller. A deep profound novel that I think you will enjoy if you are willing to take the time to sort out all of the characters. This is the first time I have read Strout, and I plan to read her earlier works based on this selection.Jim Burgess is a successful defense attorney in Manhattan married to Helen, a proper, wealthy Connecticut socialite. Brother Bob, also an attorney, works for the Legal Aid Society in New York. Bob's twin sister, Susan, has stayed behind in their hometown of Shirley Falls, Maine. She is a lonely, unhappy divorcee who is attempting to raise her only son, Zach , a troubled, distant teenager. Susan makes an urgent, desperate call to her brothers begging them to return to Maine to defend Zach who has been charged with a hate crime.
And so the brothers return to their hometown where deep childhood memories begin to surface. Bob has been belittled his whole life by Jim and seems to take it in stride because he idolizes his brother. He is haunted by the accidental circumstances of their father's death. Susan simply chooses to ignore Bob while heaping praise and adulation on Jim. She is totally overwhelmed at the thought of being a single mother to her withdrawn son. Yet it is Jim who harbors a deep, dark secret, one that threatens to forever change his life. Jim's successful, dynamic career and his supposedly idyllic marriage to Helen are all a facade.
The hate crime is a major part of the novel and sets the stage for tension and fear in the small community of Shirley Falls. There seems to be stories within stories as the book evolves. Envy, guilt, bigotry, deception, forgiveness, and ultimately, love of family-this book has it all.
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