50 pages • 1 hour read
Elizabeth StroutLucy by the Sea
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 2, Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 2
Book 2, Chapter 1 Summary
Lucy and William are still in Maine when she has a panic attack late in July. George Floyd is killed, and, as they watch the protests that follow, she worries that the people in them will get sick. She remembers when Abner Louima was beaten and raped while in police custody, and the deep anger that she felt and feels again with Floyd’s murder. Becka tells her that she, Chrissy, and Michael have been protesting in New Haven. Lucy doesn’t tell William; she is worried and knows he will be too, but she is proud of them.
One day, when Lucy goes to the grocery store, people are waiting in a long line to get into the store. An elderly man takes his place at the end of the line, and no one, including Lucy, gives him their place. When one woman does, and then takes her place at the end of the line, Lucy is ashamed. She also reflects that she has learned something about herself and people in general.
In early June, William makes a trip to see Estelle and Bridget. Lucy is alone for the first extended time since they arrived in March. She thinks she will enjoy it, but the time passes slowly, and she realizes what people who live alone are experiencing during this time.
When William returns that night, Lucy finds him sobbing in the car. She asks him what happened, and he says he is just sad. The only other time she saw him cry was when he admitted to having an affair with Joanne, their college friend, who he later married. He tells her that the visit had been nice, but when Bridget started to cry as he was leaving, he started to cry, too.
Book 2, Chapter 2 Summary
Bob and Margaret invite William and Lucy to visit outside with them and another couple. Katherine, the woman in the other couple, tells them that after her mother died, her father, a minister, hired a housekeeper, and the congregation spread vicious rumors. After she finishes the story, Bob questions her about where she lived and her father. He tells her that her father performed his father’s funeral, and he remembers her standing on the porch as a girl. After a moment, she remembers him, sitting in the car. The scene stayed with both of them throughout their lives. They want to hug, but cannot.
That summer, Lucy and William go for drives throughout the area. One day, at a cemetery, he points out the graves from 1918 and 1919, when people had died of the Spanish flu epidemic. She feels distanced from her daughters, and calls Chrissy to ask how Becka is doing. Chrissy tells her that Becka is doing fine, and now she can take care of herself. Lucy feels a pang.
A few days later, Chrissy tells Lucy she is pregnant. They talk about what might have happened if Michael’s parents hadn’t quarantined. Lucy worries that she is still going to protests, but Chrissy tells her they are small and safe. William is thrilled at Chrissy’s pregnancy, but it also reminds him how much he misses Bridget.
Lucy’s sister, Vicky, calls to tell her she’s joined a Christian fundamentalist church. They have been holding services, and do not wear masks. She has found peace with the church, she says. She tells Lucy that the media is lying, and she doesn’t get her news from television anymore. When they hang up, Lucy is disturbed.
Lucy and William’s neighbor, Tom, subtly acknowledges that he put the sign on their car months ago, but they remain friends. One day late in June, Chrissy tells Lucy that Becka has contracted Covid. She went to New York to talk to Trey, who was sick but didn’t know it, and they had sex. William asks Becka about her symptoms, and reassures her that they aren’t mad at her. Becka calls Lucy often during this time. After Trey gets better, he moves out of their apartment. Three weeks later, when Becka is healthy, she sells their apartment and moves back in with Michael and Chrissy in Connecticut.
When Lucy thinks of her own apartment, she is filled with dread. She doesn’t want to go back because it reminds her of David. Becka tells Lucy about a man she met, and Lucy worries that her heart will be broken again. Not long after, Chrissy has a miscarriage, and Lucy again feels the distance between herself and her daughters.
William speaks to Chrissy and Michael one day, and finds out that they both have the virus—Chrissy was exposed in the emergency room during her miscarriage. Lucy wonders why they called William instead of her, and he tells her it is because he hides his worry. When she talks to Chrissy next, Chrissy tells Lucy that Becka’s new love interest didn’t work out.
Book 2, Chapter 3 Summary
William and his half sister Lois have arranged to meet halfway between their homes. After he leaves, Lucy goes for a walk with Bob and fills him in on her family news, even about Vicky finding God. They discuss their thoughts on religion, and the way the internet is changing the news and society.
When William gets home that night, he is elated—Lois loves him, and Lucy is relieved for him. Later that night, Lucy realizes that William had been lonely all this time, and now he had a sister. She wonders if he had brought her to Maine, instead of somewhere else, in order to facilitate this meeting.
Lucy dyes her own hair at home. It clogs the drain, and because a plumber can’t come to the house, William tries a DIY solution. When they manage to finally clear the drain, they are thrilled with themselves. When her hair begins to grow back again, she leaves it natural.
Margaret asks Lucy to volunteer for a shift at the food pantry where she meets Charlene Bibber, another volunteer. Charlene tells her about stealing a shoe from another woman; she had met another woman, Olive Kitteridge, who had done it.
Lucy likes Charlene, and is surprised to see a Trump bumper sticker on her car as she is leaving. William is surprised that a Trump supporter would volunteer at a food pantry, and then feels ashamed of his assumptions. Lucy doesn’t understand their perspective, but William says he does. She remembers an ugly confrontation one night when they went to get ice cream between locals and an out-of-stater. She can’t forget the feeling of impending unrest and danger she felt.
Book 2, Chapters 1-3 Analysis
Lucy processes the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer. She is again observing from a distance, watching the aftermath unfold, as many people did on television. The anger and frustration she feels reflects the experience of many Americans at the time. Lucy connects the incident to another in 1997—she remembers when Abner Louima, a Haitian American man, was brutally beaten and raped by police officers in New York City. Strout reminds the reader that George Floyd’s murder was not an isolated incident, but rather the latest in a long American history of police violence against Black men.
Strout offers an example of the complicity that creates an environment where such things can happen. Lucy goes to the grocery store, but doesn’t give her place up to an elderly man. Strout suggests that, in these types of situations, people often discover uncomfortable truths about themselves, such as how willing or unwilling they are to forgo personal comfort or safety for someone else’s sake. Strout juxtaposes the murder of George Floyd with Lucy’s experience, and the world that Lucy is watching on her television with the way that larger narratives play out in daily life. Strout draws a connection between the collective selfishness of the grocery store line and the complicity which allows violence to happen to others.
Strout also offers hope with Lucy’s assertion that she and William “started to make friends in Maine” (115). Strout shows the reader that, even in the face of large and small tragedies, connection is possible and life moves forward. Lucy and William’s life in Maine is beginning to feel normal, and Lucy is beginning to get comfortable with their very different lifestyle.
In Chapter 2, Strout draws more connections between her previous books in Crosby. She connects Bob Burgess and Katherine Caskey, who appears as a child in Strout’s novel Abide with Me (2006). They realize that, as children, they had shared a connection through their grief over recently dead parents, one that neither of them had forgotten. Strout uses this moment of connection to alleviate the intensity of the previous chapter, as well as offering readers who are familiar with her work a chance to reconnect with old characters.
Lucy’s relationship with her daughters shifts again. Lucy remains an important source of support for them, and yet she can feel the distance growing. When she asks Chrissy why Becka doesn’t call her much anymore, Chrissy tells her: “I think she doesn’t need you like she used to […] She’s on her way” (130). It hurts Lucy when Chrissy tells William that she and Michael have Covid, instead of telling her. However, when William explains that they don’t tell her because they don’t want her to worry, she responds: “I get it.” (145). Again, Lucy is willing to reach for understanding.
Through Lucy’s sister, Vicky, Strout offers another example of how people reacted to the pandemic. Vicky cannot afford to leave work, pointing again to Class Divides in America. As a way of dealing with the pandemic, Vicky and her family have joined a Christian fundamentalist church. Strout shows that she is seeking safety and meaning. However, Vicky’s church holds unmasked services. Additionally, Vicky has begun getting her news from unreliable sources. Strout shows how, in seeking safety and answers, Vicky, like Michael’s parents, has retreated into denial.
Strout continues to explore class divides through Charlene Bibber, who Lucy meets while volunteering at the food pantry. Both Lucy and William are surprised that someone with a Trump bumper sticker would be volunteering at the food pantry, but William is quickly disgusted by his reaction: “Jesus, look at how small-minded I am” (163). William explains:
Lucy, people are in trouble. And those who aren’t in trouble, they just don’t get it. Look how I just didn’t get it—being surprised that this Charlene woman was working in a food pantry. And also, we make the people who are in trouble feel stupid. It’s not good (164).
Strout uses Lucy and William’s affluence and privilege to show how their assumptions might appear to those on the other side of the divide.
As a sidenote, Charlene brings Olive Kitteridge, the protagonist of Strout’s Olive Kitteridge (2008) and Olive, Again (2019), into the narrative through a second-hand story that readers may recognize from the Olive books.
In Chapter 3, Strout offers a scene that illustrates the practical aspects of lockdown. Salons were closed, and Lucy decides to color her hair for the first time. She clogs the shower drain, and she and William cannot get a plumber to come to the house. When William’s home solution works, they are both absurdly pleased by their small success. There were many similar moments throughout the pandemic, when people had to take on tasks that they had always outsourced and make them work.
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By Elizabeth Strout
