I was surprised, as I often am while reading Strout, that Charlie, the man we’d met in a previous chapter, acted so dishonestly.  We see him, in this chapter, engage with a prostitute called Tracy. He even treats his wife, Marilyn, as if she were completely unbearable. (99) I enjoyed the section, toward the beginning of the chapter, when we first meet Tracy. Strout writes:

 “Now she looked at him with a sardonic, apologetic expression. “I need money,” she said. And she sighed deeply, putting her hand on the bedspread. The fingers each had a ring, including her thumb, and it was still surprising to him how his mind was trying to remind him–Charlie, for God’s sake, take note!–how repulsive so many parts of her should be to him and yet were not.”

It seems Charlie feels Tracy is unbearable, too. I found it interesting that Strout would transform Charlie in this way. Of the few questions I have, one of them is: why? Most all of Strout’s characters are well developed, and/or multi-dimensional. Charlie is one of those characters. Before this chapter, I’d thought of him only as a military veteran– the man for whom Patty Nicely had feelings. Having read further, I eventually realized that Charlie is, like all of us, completely, and utterly flawed. Why does it take Charlie doing cheating on his wife, for me, the reader, to realize his humanity? Is this how Strout crafts her characters into full, well-rounded people?