Tell Me Everything

Although Lucy isn’t the protagonist of Tell Me Everything, she is a prominent character in the novel. Lucy is a writer who moved from New York to Maine with her ex-husband, William, during the pandemic. When Olive first meets Lucy, she describes her as “a small woman who looked meek and mousy” with “a slightly stunned look on her face” (9). Throughout the novel, however, Olive and Lucy develop a close connection through their shared interest in the “unrecorded lives” of others. She introduces Olive to The Importance of Perspective in Storytelling, forcing Olive to understand how, in many ways, the storyteller defines the story.

Everyone in Lucy’s life understands that she is different from most people. For example, William says, “Lucy is a spirit. She’s different from the rest of us” (29). Lucy translates that negatively, saying he means she is a “strange one.” After meeting her, Jim sums Lucy up by saying to Bob that although she looks similar to a scared rabbit, she is really listening to you while you are talking. Bob admits that this quality is part of the attraction for him, specifically her telling Bob she hears him. Although Bob usually plays the role of listener in his relationships, in Lucy, he finds someone who actually listens to him. 

Lucy’s love of connection doesn’t extend only to people; she also connects with and appreciates nature. For example, she expresses gratitude and excitement when the dandelions bloom in early spring, which endears Bob. This highlights her characteristic joy and how she connects with people and elements in her environment, including in small moments others may overlook. Throughout most of the novel, Lucy is Bob’s love interest, and he sees her as “golden” as his love for her reaches its peak. Their relationship remains strictly platonic, and in the end, they both admit they each had a “crush” on the other.

Olive is the protagonist of Strout’s Olive Kitteridge and Olive, Again. In Tell Me Everything, Olive is 90 years old. She was born and raised in the Crosby area before becoming a high school math teacher until her retirement. Olive’s friendship with Bob leads to a new connection with Lucy. Olive approaches Lucy with a story to tell, and Strout intersperses their storytelling sessions throughout the story. In this way, Olive plays an important part in the theme of The Importance of Perspective in Storytelling. She and Lucy trade stories, and together, they explore the big questions in life, looking for meaning in “unrecorded lives.” Throughout the story, Olive begins to understand the craft of storytelling as Lucy forces her to consider the importance of who is telling the story. Olive also develops her skills in her sessions with Lucy and then later when she shares the same stories with Isabelle.

Olive is a notorious curmudgeon, and when Bob asks Lucy if Olive was “unpleasant” at their first meeting, Lucy replies that Olive is “a bully, and bullies are always frightened” (26). As the novel continues, however, the narrative reveals Olive’s gruff manner as a cover for a deeply sensitive and intelligent woman. By the end of the novel, she can admit to Lucy and Bob how much they matter to her, even though she must still exclaim “Phooey” when she does it. Strout also gives Olive the final scene of the novel, in which she watches her dearest friend sleep while reflecting on Lucy’s assertion that “love is love” (326). Olive’s character arc spans not just this novel but all the others she appears in, as she gradually can make herself vulnerable and declare her love for Isabelle.

Matt is Bob’s client and the main suspect in his mother Gloria’s murder. Throughout the novel, the narrative reveals it is Diana, his older sister, who committed the crime. Although Gloria Beach’s death is a mystery the characters must solve, Strout uses the mystery to probe the Beach family and their relationships.

Matt is the youngest of Gloria’s children. When he was 10, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and Gloria took care of him. They have always been close, and Matt is living with Gloria when she disappears. Bob describes him as “a small man, short and thin, with graying hair. He wore black glasses that appeared too big for his face” (112). The first time Bob sees him, he remarks that Matt is “without guile.” Local gossip says that Matt is a “pervert” because he paints pregnant women, but when Bob sees Matt’s work, he recognizes his extraordinary talent. The paintings reveal Matt’s diligence and commitment to his art, as he is completely self-taught. At the beginning of the novel, Matt doesn’t have a cell phone because he has no one to call, but by the end, he is dating, the result of his friendship with Bob.

Diana Beach is Matt’s older sister and is a high school guidance counselor. Unlike her older brother, Thomas, she is still in touch with Gloria, but only because she feels like she must be for Matt’s sake. She hates Crosby and her mother, and throughout the novel, Diana’s reasons become clear. Her father sexually abused her, with Gloria’s knowledge, and a family friend later raped her. When she hires Bob to take Matthew’s case, Diana also reveals that her husband recently left her for her best friend; as Lucy and Bob suggest later, that was the catalyst for her murdering Gloria, even though the trauma with her mother was years ago. Diana is an example of The Impact of the Past on the Present, as she is unable to leave her mother’s abuse behind, even as she tries, unsuccessfully, to build a new life.

Gloria was Matt and Diana’s mother and the victim in this murder mystery. Bob and Susan recall that Gloria was known as “Bitch Ball,” a reference to both her demeanor and weight when she worked as a school cafeteria worker. However, as the story continues and reveals Gloria’s true story, her story connects to The Importance of Perspective in Storytelling. Although everyone but Matt sees her as a villain, her journals show Gloria as the product of a traumatic background. The journals also reveal Gloria’s self-loathing and how her weight gain and loss directly connect to her trauma and anxiety. In particular, she writes, “The more frightened I become the more awful I behave. No one (and this is underlined three times) can hate themselves more than I do” (103). With Gloria, Strout further illustrates The Impact of the Past on the Present, as her history was unknown to her children, who bore the brunt of its impact. While initially portrayed as a flat character, Gloria becomes a round character with a complex history and motives.

Jim is Bob’s older brother, a prominent New York lawyer, now retired. Before Tell Me Everything begins, Jim revealed to Bob that he had caused the accident that killed their father and had let Bob take the blame for most of their lives. Jim is a bully and is especially hard on Bob, which Lucy attributes to him being “scared to death” (89). She feels compassion for Jim for living his life with the weight of his guilt. She attributes his treatment of Bob to the fact that Bob “makes him feel very vulnerable” because he loves Jim despite what happened (89). Jim goes through the transformative events of his wife’s death and son’s hospitalization, which force him to reckon with his past behavior. By the end of the novel, he has made progress in his relationships with both Bob and his son, Larry. Jim serves as another example of The Impact of the Past on the Present, as the unseen guilt that Jim has carried since childhood has shaped every relationship he has.