At the edge of the continent, Crosby, Maine, may seem like nowhere, but seen through this brilliant writer's eyes, it's in essence the whole world, and the lives that are lived there are filled with all of the grand human drama - desire, despair, jealousy, hope, and love. At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town and in the world at large, but she doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her: a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive's own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse. As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life - sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition - its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires. 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner in the Letters, Drama and Music category
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
So Honest...I was Pleasantly Surprised:
I have never read a book like this where it is a collection of short stories about small town people that help create the life of one main character. It was a really neat idea and very daring. It turned about to be a very interesting and heartfelt book. It was just an honest book that I think many people could relate to. I am excited to read other books by this author. I will definitley put a book by Elizabeth Strout on our local book club list! To the author: Thanks for trying this approach to... more info
A tapestry of characters:
A delightful collection of stories, characters interwoven with one compelling prickly Olive. Love the ease of connecting to each story from Olive's perspective. Beautiful writing.
Great read - not for everybody:
I LOVED reading 'Olive Kitteridge' and I did not expect that I would. Elizabeth Strout has created characters and scenarios that I found compelling and creative and unique and ... there are not enough superlatives. This is no straightforward 'beginning-middle-end' novel. Instead. it is a study of the extraordinary emotional highs and lows that occur in everyday, ordinary life. Like life, it can be messy, confusing and unresolved. Characters appear and we don't always know what happened to their thread... more info
Interesting characters but poor connections between the stories:
This reads like a walmart of sufferings of ordinary people, so quietly and privately taking place all around us--estrangement of emotions and interests among family members, depression, misunderstanding, unspoken hopes and disappointments that play out through their lives, too set by the time they were realized. Characters are realistic and vivid without overt melodrama, even their life changing decisions are played out very quietly as most of real life events are. But I thought their stories didn't feel... more info
