Olive Kitteridge
by Elizabeth Strout
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Book Reviews of Olive Kitteridge
Book Review: Surpringly Well Done
Summary: 4 Stars
This is not a book I would typically pick up, but there were two books I definitely wanted on the buy 2 get 1 free table at the local book store. This was the only other one that piqued my interest. I go back and forth on whether I like it or not. So, at the moment of the reveiw I like it and gave it a 4.
Olive Kitteridge, a retired school teacher from a small coastal town in Maine, is a complex character with demons that haunt her closest relationships. The reader gets to know Olive through the eyes of various townspeople with each chapter written as a short story. Olive's relationship with her husband and son are strained. Yet, Olive's persona has profound impacts on the residents of this small town.
I found the book to be extremely well written. I particularly felt Strout did an excellent job of developing Olive and Henry through the eyes of others. Each chapter is written from a different character's perspective. For most of the book Olive is not focus. Some chapters Olive doesn't appear but is merely mentioned. Further, Stout does an excellent job of portraying the various stages of life, presenting the questions, fears, and priorities of each stage. When the book opens Olive is a teacher with a young child. By the close of the book Olive is in her 70's. Finally, I think Strout did an excellent job of creating such a realistic yet complex character in Olive. Olive can be compassionate one moment and cold the next. I thought the parent-child relationship Strout developed between Olive and Christoper was extremely well done. Strout created a human being that, on some level, I think most people could relate to.
The issues I had with the book are really more of a personal nature. I have a difficult time with novels written in short story format. With all new books it takes me a little bit of time to get into the flow of the book. With short story format, I feel like I'm having to find that rhythm with every chapter. I found that to be particularly true with this work. It also bothered me that, with the exception of Olive and Henry, just about every character was having an affair or had an affair that was being revealed in the chapter. I realize this was a choice to contrast Olive and Henry's relationiship, but I just thought that it was too much.
I have one question. Does anyone know why all contemporary works on family dynamics feels a need to incorporate 9/11? I have read several books over the past few years and this seems to be a common thread. In fact, I kept asking myself "when's the 9/11 reference coming". Then voila, there it was.
Book Review: Well-Written and Wise
Summary: 4 Stars
Back as a nerd in high school, I began a tradition of reading all of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels. During this last decade, I've been especially glad of my little commitment because the committee has chosen some fantastic works of fiction--Gilead, Empire Falls, The Known World, The Road--that I have no doubt will stand for a very long time. But despite winning the prize, I don't sense yet that Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge has quite garnered the same respect as those other fine novels. Perhaps it doesn't quite deserve to be considered at quite that level, but I was still really taken with the beautiful and precise writing and with the fascinating main character. It is a very worthy Pulitzer selection.
I think that some people dislike Olive Kitteridge for two reasons. The first is the novel's structure. It can't, for instance, be called a traditional novel. It's really a collection of short stories, all of which surround or mention the title character. Olive Kitteridge, despite this disparate-seeming structure, though, does seem to me to be making a coherent statement, the individual works coming together to weave a tapestry of the novel's core themes about loss, betrayal, vulnerability, self-security, self-destructiveness, and fears of death and loss. The stories are each themselves beautifully written, and because they view the title character from multiple perspectives, they allow for a full portrait of the complex figure at the heart of the novel, a paradoxical woman who may be both mean and large-hearted, fearful and strong.
Olive herself would be the second large reason why people may shrink from the novel. She is a complex character and is not always likeable. I don't see why the main character has to be entirely likeable, though, especially since Olive is so real, so believable and well-drawn. Olive is very human, a flawed woman who sincerely would like to love people and know how to live and be better. I felt for her and enjoyed her wit and intelligence and rooted for her to keep growing.
So, I guess that Olive Kitteridge is not for every taste. But it was for mine, a beautifully written and wise work. If you do enjoy Olive Kitteridge, make sure to check out Anne Tyler's Breathing Lessons, another Pulitzer novel (which I count among my very favorites) that Oliver Kitteredge kept reminding me of.
Book Review: Bittersweet, poignant, fun, but rather homespun
Summary: 3 Stars
Olive Kitteridge reads like a series of hometown short stories with a recurring leitmotif in the form of a vivacious and opinionated woman. Tracing her life through marriage, events, sadness, humor, loves, sharing, and independence we find hope simmering like a pot of gold ready to burst forth regardless of the circumstances. On the surface, Olive herself is rather unlikeable and a frequent grouch with a glaring tendency to find the negative. Yet as the book progresses we see a sensitive, warm creature cheering for the unfortunate and seeking ways to reach out to people. In many ways, Olive is an "everyman" replete with insecurities, fears, compassion, and wild opinions about virtually any subject. She is the collective "we" and from her we learn about ourselves.
In the midst of her life, the author traces the lives of other people through different stories demonstrating a wide array of human emotions and experiences. From the sadness of suicide, lost jobs, medical problems, and discovered love, the reader receives a mosaic of emotional complexity that forces a gentleness and empathy toward all kinds of people. In spite of her many flaws, or maybe because of them, and because of the challenges of the people she encounters, we become cheerleaders for her happiness and her comfort. In some ways, she is the lady at church who sits on the back pew wondering if she will ever have a normal life, even wondering what "normal" means.
The prose is smooth, the scenes well written, the stories moving, and the descriptions accurate. We feel what they feel, see what they see, cry when they cry, and laugh with them rather than at them. While all these things make an excellent read, and it is easy to acknowledge the excellent writing, in the end the book felt rather commonplace. Good but not great, deep but not emotionally changing, pleasant but not unforgettable. Some books, like McCarthy's The Road leave the reader shaken, fearful, but also energized. Other books are frightening or joyful or descriptive or driven to a satisfying conclusion. Olive Kitteridge is a fine novel by an excellent writer, but in the end it did not alter my view of the world nor change me in any way. I think that for all its praise, and winning the Pulitzer Prize, it is somewhat overrated. Regardless, it is still worth reading and I enjoyed my experience.
Book Review: GLAD I MET YOU, OLIVE
Summary: 4 Stars
OLIVE KITTERIDGE
I have been invited to join a book discussion group and this is our first book. We have not yet had our meeting, which is later this month. I am hoping everyone else enjoyed this book as much as I did. I cannot wait to discuss this with others.
Olive Kitteridge is an intimidating woman, physically large, over-bearing, and someone who doesn't hold back in speaking her mind. She seems cold, unattached, devoid of feelings and emotions, intolerant of mankind in general. But, but, but, she is not this at all. She is tender, caring, emotional, loving, but she is very careful not to show this side of herself to anyone involved in her life .
I am not generally a fan of short stories, but this book blended the 13 stories into one great novel. Olive is not present in all of the stories, but all of the characters in the entire book are from a small Maine town and some of them knew each other. This worked and read well.
For me, most of the stories were excellent and I enjoyed them thoroughly. Olive is every person, sometimes I would gasp and think "That's me! I act like that!" And, sometimes when I was thinking that I thought like Olive, I would be ashamed that I did. For Olive could be such a negative and intemperate person. Who wants to be like that? This is what great writing is all about -- getting right into the heart of a character and making the reader feel so much like that character.
I kept rooting for Olive to find some happines, some kindness in her adventures in life. Her outlook on life was open-eyed and honest, yet she was constantly disappointed in what life dished out to her. And, for the most part, she felt most people were morons or nit-wits. And those are Olive's words. She never did realize what an effect she had on people's lives, good or bad.
I really liked this book and recommend it. The stories, while dark and somewhat depressing, are so true to life and have so much to say about life in the human form. All of the characters could be your neighbor; Crosby, Maine, could be your home town.
Elizabeth Strout is an awesome author who can keep a person glued to a book and wishing and hoping that it wouldn't end so soon.
Thank you!
Pam
Book Review: Complex Character - Or Is She Just Real?
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, it is important to realize this book is not written as a "normal" book. It is told in a series of short stories, that in some way have a connection to a central character: Olive Kitteridge. Some of these stories are told from Olive's perspective, others are told with just a passing reference to her. Yet, through these stories we come to know and, perhaps, understand this woman.
Olive is a retired school teacher living in a small Maine town. She is married and has one son. She is very precise in her thinking and her opinions, and while this does rub some people the wrong way, it is so very true to life. How often do we really meet some one who is the embodiment of perfection? Yes, oftentimes we do meet people who have irritating little flaws or opinions or are busybodies or just annoy us. Most of the time we probably write them off and move along. This book forces us to delve a little deeper and realize the person underneath.
I know some reviews state here they didn't like Olive, that she wasn't a "nice" person, she wasn't some one they wanted to spend time with. Yet, for all her flaws, Olive is tragically human. And a lot of flaws within her are within some of all of us.
I know that some here have also stated this book was depressing. Huh. Well, this book is about life, and guess what? Life isn't always rosey. There's depressing parts. So, yes, there were parts to this that made me sad and reflective. There were also parts that brought tears to my eyes. There were parts where I truly laughed out loud (and not many books can make me do - I can be a tough critic!). There were parts were I couldn't believe what Olive did or said. And there were parts were I just had to say, "Thatta a girl, Olive! You go, girl!"
I just can't recommend this book highly enough, and felt those who vote for the Pulitzer did right this time. (And I don't always agree with them, either!) If you are looking for the perfect heroine, or a story that will tell you everything in life is just peachy, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a story that will make you think, and allow you to explore the range of your emotions, pick this one up!