The Things We Never Say
By Elizabeth Strout
Published 2026
Read June 2026
As usual Strout gives us a character driven novel with characters who are generally ordinary people leading generally ordinary lives. They are generally good people who have flaws and they’ve suffered some setbacks during their lives.
Our protagonist is Artie Dam, a fifty-seven-year-old man who has been married for thirty-four years, has a married son, has been a history teacher at the local high school for over three decades, and who was recognized as Teacher of the Year at the state level five years ago. Artie and his wife now live in the costal home that was his parents-in-law. He enjoys regularly sailing in the bay.
Despite these accomplishments and seemingly desirable life, Artie is feeling increasingly isolated from many aspects of his community. He is pondering whether man has free will and tries to engage others in conversation about this, generally unsuccessfully. He is also pondering suicide although he never reveals this to anyone. Fortunately for his family and friends, after nearly dying in a boating accident, he decides he wants to live.
As he continues with new willingness to live, he experiences several changes at work, with friendships, and in society. His principal, who has held this position during most of Artie’s tenure, requests he change his approach to a specific class due to pressure from students and their parents. A good friend at school, the English teacher, changes when she retires. He and his wife had a several decades friendship with another couple. Artie became good friends with Flossie, the wife. This friendship changes dramatically when Flossie moves closer to her daughter following the death of her husband. A positive, however, is that Artie acquires a new friend with whom he has deeper discussions than with anyone else currently in his life despite the newness of their relationship.
The biggest change for Artie, however, comes when he learns a significant family secret that has been hidden from him. This knowledge staggers him substantially and he exhibits some strange behavior that is unknown to his family and that scares him a bit.
The description of this book so far sounds generally like Strout’s territory and the reason her followers read her. There are a couple of significant deviations, however. This book is not set in Maine nor does it include any of her previous characters. These changes are refreshing in many ways—new possibilities for Strout to explore. The second major deviation is that she firmly sets the “present time” in the fall of 2024 just after the presidential election. Trump’s name isn’t stated but it’s clear to this reader that the characters are discussing him and the potential impacts he will have.
This is the second Strout novel in which she explores the impact of specific major historical events on her characters. Lucy by the Sea was set during the Covid-19 epidemic. This time she explores how her characters are affected by shifts of US culture concomitant with the election of Trump to a second term. Interestingly, Artie’s new friend is a “Trumpster”. Several other characters openly express concern for the future due to this election. This reader wonders whether these two books will have a lasting a following as Olive Kitteridge enjoys. Even more importantly for this reader, this firm political vein detracted from the more universal themes and left this reader somewhat disappointed by this Strout book. However, this reader is very likely to read Strout’s next book which will hopefully arrive soon.
MarshaReads.com 