The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is my fifth book by Elizabeth Strout; I liked Olive Kitteridge, My Name Is Lucy Barton, and Anything Is Possible very much. I also enjoyed Abide with Me, but not as much as the previous three. (My reviews of all four are here, on Goodreads.) Unfortunately, The Burgess Boys continues the downward trajectory of my ratings, and I can barely justify a three-star rating.

Jim and Bob, both lawyers in their fifties, are the Burgess brothers. Jim is successful in everything he does; his brother, not so much. Bob ruminates, "Look at him, his big brother! It was like watching a great athlete, someone born with grace, someone who walked two inches above the surface of the earth, and who could say why?" And: "What was this thing that Jimmy had? The intangible, compelling part of Jimmy?" Whereas Bob is disgusted by "his big, slob-dog, incontinent self, the opposite of Jim."

The teenage son of Jim and Bob's sister commits a civil rights violation offense, which precipitates a crisis in the family. So, although it is not difficult to guess where all these "paint-by-numbers" characterizations are going, the plot is quite engrossing. Ms. Strout's assured, masterful prose saves the novel from the ignominy of a two-star rating.

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