What I’m Reading: The Burgess Boys

I just finished up The The Burgess Boys: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout.

Here’s what Amazon had to say about it… “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 sleek, 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. Her lonely teenage son, Zach, has gotten himself into a world of trouble, and Susan desperately needs their help. And so the Burgess brothers return to the landscape of their childhood, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed their relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever.”

Here’s what I have to say about it.  The premise of the book it great.  There’s a decent story to be told.  I didn’t hate it.  The book was just a little slow.  Then when writing the review, I noticed that the book was by the same author as Olive Kitteridge.   That explains it.  The author is just a slow story teller.

I wouldn’t say don’t read it and wouldn’t say run out and get it.  I will say that given the option, after reading two of this authors book and thinking both of them are slow, I probably won’t pick her next book to read.