Wednesday, 20 September 2017

Abide With Me, by Elizabeth Strout

This profoundly sad tale wallows in its own poetic religiosity, despite making strong points about the hypocrisy of many people who call themselves Christians. Strout once again evokes small town New England, this time in the repressed and 1950s, where double standards, small minds and shrivelled hearts rule. Compassion, kindness and empathy are hard to find in this community, juxtaposed against the saintly Minister who thinks of everyone else first but is almost oblivious to his small daughter’s suffering. It is difficult to understand why the one kindly character, Carol, took so long to step in and offer help to the damaged five-year-old Katherine; the only explanation is plot convenience. While Tyler having a mini-breakdown and coming to himself after a long period of grief is believable, the effect of that breakdown on his congregation is not. Their miraculous transformation into supportive and loving humans fails to redeem their earlier behaviour – the two extremes are hard to swallow.

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