Review: The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Official blurb

Pulitzer Prize–winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Strout’s new novel tells the story of a chance incident that sparks a powerful realization in a beloved teacher’s life — a poignant meditation on loneliness, friendship, parenthood, and the importance of truth in a capsizing world.

Artie Dam is living a double life. He spends his days teaching history to eleventh graders, expanding their young minds, correcting their casual cruelties, and lending a kind word to those who need it most. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbors, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. He is, by all appearances, present and alive. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation. He looks out at a world gone mad — at himself and the people around him— and turns a question over and over in his mind: How is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us?

And then, one day, Artie learns that life has been keeping a secret from him, one that threatens to upend his entire world. Once he learns it, he is forced to chart a new course, to reconsider the relationships he holds most dear — and to make peace with the mysteries at the heart of our existence.

Elizabeth Strout - The Things We Never Say

My Review: The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

I’ve just experienced the lovely writing of Elizabeth Strout for the first time. Her novel The Things We Never Say is a tender journey in which we glimpse the inner life of an ordinary man wrestling with depression, guilt, anguish, anger, and happiness.

Artie is a high school history teacher, passionate about his work, and affected by the political turmoil going on in the world today, the correlations he sees with the past, and change. This causes a level of anxiety that feeds into his personal struggle with thoughts of free will: what it was, and if he (or anyone) possess it.

This sense of history repeating itself appears in other parts of Artie’s life. He comes from a disjointed family and as an adult, is a husband and father within a family profoundly affected by a serious accident some years before. He understands that this accident has disrupted the family dynamics and their ability to communicate with each other.

In the latter part of his life, he knew he was lonely, inwardly isolated and unable to express or put into words what he was feeling. Through Artie, Strout delves into the depths of internal monologues: the conversations we may have (or not have) with others and with ourselves, our innermost thoughts buried safe and sound in the psyche.

On this journey of self-discovery, Artie comes to terms with the aspects of his life that fall short of what he needs and how he has fallen short for the people he loves. He realises that he’s lived a blinkered life; disconnected from his childhood family, his wife, friends, and most importantly, his son. Unexpectedly, a revelation from his son leads to an improved understanding of the world around him. His eyes open to the struggles of others as the things he never says become things he chooses not to say rather than cannot voice, and as he finds a way to say the things that need to be said.

I was not sure where the novel was taking me at first, but as I became immersed in Artie Dam’s life, I realised it was one of those times when the destination was less important than the journey itself.

What we see on the surface of other people’s lives is more of a mask hiding or disguising what’s going on underneath. We all have our secrets, our sadnesses that we can’t (for whatever reason) trust to other people; we’re protecting them and ourselves from who we really are deep down. Some things are just meant to be kept private.

There are more layers to this story, of course. I’ll leave the exploration of friendship for you to discover. I appreciated impressions other characters had of Artie, and their realisation that there is far more to this ordinary man than his “jolly” appearance reveals, and the growing relationship between Artie and his adult son as they learn how to move forward from their past (the accident) and find some happiness.

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Read more about Elizabeth Strout here.