The Things We Never Say, a review
Elizabeth Strout
Viking, 2026
Elizabeth Strout’s new book is out, The Things We Never
Say, and I read it over one week.
Am I an Elizabeth Strout fan? I don’t know, but I’ve read
everything. Why? Because they hold my attention. The writing is such that I can
easily enter the heads of the characters while at the same time nothing is
spelled out. We are allowed to interpret: Was that conversation a bit off? Did
she just dismiss him? Now what are they supposed to do? Basically, they are
basic. The stuff we humans endure. Secrets, inner pain, frustration with
relationships. Laundry. Jobs that do not satisfy. Unfulfilled dreams. Why?
Because they are dreams, destined to stay that way.
The order of things.
I was struck while reading The Things We Never Say how
similar this book is to the writing of Kent Haruf*, a novelist who wrote about a
fictious town on the eastern plains of Colorado. An area called the Front
Range. In the town of Holt where nothing much happened and if it did it was
down at the hardware store or at the local diner. Lives of quiet desperation.
The order of things, where a simple act speaks volumes.
Like Strout, he strived to show the beauty and the
significance of ordinary people and ordinary moments. Like Strout, he
eavesdropped on conversations and let us in on secrets.
Neither author believed people are basically good. Characters
on the page do horrific things to neighbors, hurt the ones they love, can be
tiny-hearted and petty. While other characters, in small, insignificant acts,
restore faith in mankind.
Both authors write about loneliness.
In The Things We Never Say, Strout centers her attention on Artie Dam, a small-town high school history teacher caught in the fraught history of his past and family matters at the fulcrum of the 2024 national election where tRump is returned to power. It can be the stuff of despair, but we are elevated by Artie’s enduring spirit, his belief in his students, which he inspires to do good and work out “world peace.” However best they can. Do your best. Does this work out for Artie? Read the book.
*Kent Haruf, Plainsong, Eventide, Our Souls at Night
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