The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth StroutMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Artie is a middle-aged high school history teacher. He and his wife Evie seem to be at odds with one another, and he doesn’t see or talk to his grown son Rob nearly as much as he’d like to. He wonders why people make small talk but don’t tend to talk about important subjects and speculates frequently about free will. He realizes that people keep secrets from one another. He is suffering from depression and isolation, and it’s starting to affect his teaching and his relationships with others.
This is a very character-driven novel which takes us through a year in Artie’s life – 2024-2025. The reader gets more than a peak into Artie’s mind and thought processes, interspersing vignettes with his wife, his son, his students, friends and neighbors. And it shows the impact that Artie had on all of them. I absolutely loved the relationship that Artie had with his son, and how it developed throughout the book. This is the first book I’ve read by Elizabeth Strout and it certainly won’t be the last. Content warnings.
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