The Burgess Boys

By Elizabeth Strout

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton comes "a portrait of an American community in turmoil that's as ambitious as Philip Roth's American Pastoral but more intimate in tone" (Time).

"What truly makes Strout exceptional . . . is the perfect balance she achieves between the tides of story and depths of feeling."--Chicago Tribune

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, Good Housekeeping

Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a successful corporate lawyer, has belittled his bighearted brother their whole lives, and Bob, a Legal Aid attorney who idolizes Jim, has always taken it in stride.

But their long-standing dynamic is upended when their sister, Susan--the Burgess sibling who stayed behind--urgently calls them home, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed the brothers' relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever.

This edition includes an original essay by Elizabeth Strout about the origins of The Burgess Boys.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812979516
• ISBN13: 9780812979510
• Release Date: April 2014
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

What a great book

This book was good in so many ways. The characters were fully developed. I was completely drawn into the story and the lives of these characters.

The Burgess Boys was a stellar read

Elizabeth Strout is an outstanding storyteller. Tracing the family history - three generations - in this novel set in Maine/NYC is done so well. She goes deep without being mired. Her prose doesn't waste a word. The Burgess Boys, like Olive Kitterege, kept me in page-turner mode from beginning to end. I've since gone on to find more Strout work. It is moving, insightful and honest.