Occupation novelist Role Author Nationality United States Spouse James Tierney (m. 2011) | Movies Amy & Isabelle Name Elizabeth Strout | |
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Books Similar Anne Tyler, Ann Patchett, Frederick Busch Profiles | ||
Elizabeth strout the burgess boys
Elizabeth Strout (born January 6, 1956) is an American novelist and author. She is widely known for her works in Literary fiction and her descriptive characterization. Born and raised in Portland, Maine, her experiences in her youth served as inspiration for the themes, motifs, and plot lines in her novels–the fictional "Shirley Falls, Maine" has served as the setting of four of her six novels. After attending Bates College in Lewiston, and Syracuse University in Syracuse, she waitressed before writing her first novel, Amy and Isabelle (1998). Her debut was met with widespread critical acclaim, became a national bestseller, and was adapted into a movie starring Elisabeth Shue.
Contents
- Elizabeth strout the burgess boys
- Susan richards shreve and elizabeth strout
- Early life and education
- Early career
- Rise to prominence with Amy and Isabelle
- Olive Kitteridge and its Pulitzer Prize
- The Burgess Boys and recent work
- Personal life
- References
Her second novel, Abide with Me (2006), received critical acclaim but ultimately failed to be recognized to the extent akin to her debut novel. Two years later, she wrote and published Olive Kitteridge (2008), to critical and commercial success grossing nearly $25 million with over one million copies sold as of May 2017. The novel was shortlisted for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction before winning it along with the Premio Bancarella Prize; it was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The book was adapted into a multi Emmy Award-winning mini series and became a New York Times bestseller. Five years later, she published The Burgess Boys (2013), which became a national bestseller before writing My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016). Her 2016 effort was met with international acclaim, topped the New York Time bestseller list, and created the main character, Lucy Barton, of her next novel, Anything Is Possible (2017).
Susan richards shreve and elizabeth strout
Early life and education
Strout was born in Portland, Maine, and was raised in small towns in Maine and Durham, New Hampshire. Her father was a science professor, and her mother was an English professor and also taught writing in a nearby high school.
After graduating from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, she spent a year in Oxford, England, followed by studies at law school for another year. In 1982, she graduated with honors, and received a law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law. That year her first story was published in New Letters magazine.
Early career
Strout moved to New York City, where she waitressed and began developing early novels and stories to little success. She continued to write stories that were published in literary magazines, as well as in Redbook and Seventeen. She enrolled in Law School at Syracuse University College of Law, and practiced law for six months before concluding her legal practice and focusing on her writing. In an interview with Terry Gross in January 2015 she said of the experience, "law school was more of an operation, I think." She stated in a 2016 interview with The Morning News,
I wanted to be a writer so much that the idea of failing at it was almost unbearable to me. I really didn’t tell people as I grew older that I wanted to be a writer—you know, because they look at you with such looks of pity. I just couldn’t stand that.
Rise to prominence with Amy and Isabelle
She worked for six or seven years to complete her book Amy and Isabelle, which when published was shortlisted for the 2000 Orange Prize and nominated for the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Amy and Isabelle was adapted as a television movie, starring Elisabeth Shue and produced by Oprah Winfrey's studio, Harpo Films.
Strout was a National Endowment for the Humanities lecturer at Colgate University during the fall semester of 2007, where she taught creative writing at both the introductory and advanced levels. She was also on the faculty of the master of fine arts (MFA) program at Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Olive Kitteridge and its Pulitzer Prize
Abide with Me was published in 2006 by Random House to further critical acclaim. Ron Charles of The Washington Post summarized her book by saying: "as she did in her bestselling debut, Amy and Isabelle, Strout sets her second novel in a small New England town, whose natural beauty she returns to again and again as this tale unfolds against the background of the Cold War tensions of the 1950s." The New Yorker welcomed the novel with a positive review: "with superlative skill, Strout challenges us to examine what makes a good story—and what makes a good life." GoodReads rated the novel 3.75 stars out of 5.
Her third book, Olive Kitteridge, was published two years later in 2008. The book featured a collection of connected short stories about a woman and her immediate family and friends on the coast of Maine. Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker called the short stories "taciturn, elegant." In 2009, it was announced that the novel won the year's Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; Strout collected her award from the President of Columbia University, Lee C. Bollinger. The book would become a New York Times bestseller and win the Premio Bancarella Award, at an event held in the medieval Piazza della Repubblica in Pontremoli, Italy. The book enjoyed widespread commercial success and Louisa Thomas of the New York Times stated:
The pleasure in reading Olive Kitteridge comes from an intense identification with complicated, not always admirable, characters. And there are moments in which slipping into a character’s viewpoint seems to involve the revelation of an emotion more powerful and interesting than simple fellow feeling—a complex, sometimes dark, sometimes life-sustaining dependency on others. There’s nothing mawkish or cheap here. There’s simply the honest recognition that we need to try to understand people, even if we can’t stand them.
The Burgess Boys and recent work
The Burgess Boys was published March 26, 2013, to furthered critical acclaim. A New York Times review noted that she "handles her storytelling with grace, intelligence and low-key humor, demonstrating a great ear for the many registers in which people speak to their loved ones," but criticized her for not developing certain characters. NPR noted the novel by saying: "This is an ambitious novel that wants to train its gaze on the flotsam and jetsam of thought, as well as on big-issue topics like the politics of immigration and the possibility of second chances." The book became her second New York Time bestseller. The Washington Post reviewed it with the following: "[T]he broad social and political range of The Burgess Boys shows just how impressively this extraordinary writer continues to develop."
After a three-year break, she published My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016), a story about Lucy Barton, a recovering patient from an operation who reconnects with her estranged mother. The New York Times reviewed it with the following: "there is not a scintilla of sentimentality in this exquisite novel. Instead, in its careful words and vibrating silences, My Name Is Lucy Barton offers us a rare wealth of emotion, from darkest suffering to—‘I was so happy. Oh, I was happy’—simple joy." The novel would go on to top the New York Times bestselling list.
She broke from her usual multi-year break in between novels to publish Anything is Possible (2017)–her sixth novel. Anything is Possible was called a "literary mean joke" due to its "hurting men and women, desperate for liberation from their wounds" in contrast to its title. The novel had her noted as "a master of the story cycle" by Heller McCalpin of NPR. It was largely seen as an improvement from her previous book due to its "ability to render quiet portraits of the indignities and disappointments of normal life, and the moments of grace and kindness we are gifted in response" according to Susan Scarf Merrell of The Washington Post.
Personal life
Strout is married to former Maine Attorney General James Tierney. He serves as the director of the National State Attorney General Program at Columbia Law School. She divides her time between New York City and Brunswick, Maine.