Olive Kitteridge (2008)

Elizabeth Strout's character based stories, and her treatment of the lives of small towns and the people in them, stay with me. ( )

I very much enjoyed this collection of interlocked stories. In each of them, Olive Kitteridge appears, sometimes as a main character and sometimes as a passing (but often pivotal) influence. She’s very human – passionate, angry, amazed. She makes mistakes and lives with them. She’s awkward and ungainly, and yet always exactly where she needs to be. She’s a heroine I’ll remember for a long time. ( )

This novel can really be summed up in a single word: empathy. It is no mean feat to pull a reader in a million directions with a character: should I be rooting for them? Loathe them? Show my sympathy? Recognize them for being a deeply flawed human being who is trying to make it through life despite their faults? And yet, somehow Elizabeth Strout does this with Olive Kitteridge. Olive is not someone who particularly wants sympathy (at least at parts of our story) and is convinced of her own self-righteousness. But while this is typically the marks of an unlikeable character, Strout manages to turn it around and make us see how Olive's self-righteousness, while aggravating and particularly harmful to her relationship with her son, is not something that disqualifies her from still being someone that the reader wants to succeed. In this collection of stories, Olive isn't always the focal point; indeed, there are some stories where she is little more than a mere mention. But she is the force of nature motivating the majority of the storylines, and she is the lesson in empathy that the novel shows us so vividly.

I think my favorite part of the novel was Olive's complicated relationship with her son. Most mother-son relationships in real life don't fit into some simple archetype of the doting mother and the sensitive son or the overbearing matriarch and her resentful progeny, and Ms. Strout has proved herself up to the task of rising above these obvious patterns of interaction to create a fully fleshed and recognizable relationship between Olive and Christopher. Indeed, if there was one thing I wish I could have seen from this collection of stories, it would have been a tale told from Christopher's perspective. I can understand why Ms. Strout chose not to do this, as it would have perhaps have made it a bit more clear why Christopher is so angry with Olive (as is, we only seem to get fleeting references to the source of that) and leaving it more mysterious leaves it more open to the reader's interpretation. Nevertheless, I would have enjoyed it.

I can see why others don't like Olive. For me, however, she was a refreshing narrator you don't see in most books these days. The Pulitzer Prize books can sometimes get a little too "out there" for my tastes, but this was a joy to read. ( )

A wonderfully written book; deeply insightful into the human condition. I loved it even though I found much of it very sad and poignant. My first five star in a few months. Doesn't surprise me it won a Pulitizer.

I see Strout has a brand new book out; I plan to get it and read as soon as possible. ( )

Olive Kitteridge is the story of a very complex woman, the story of a marriage, the story of a small town, the story of desperation, hope, kindness, cruelty, love, and betrayal. In short, it's the story of humanity.

Olive is obviously at the heart of this collection of stories. It's very easy for fictional characters to be all good or all bad. I had moments where I hated Olive, cheered her on, admired her, pitied her, and even loathed her. But if you look deeply inside all of us, isn't that the way we would really feel about everyone? We see Olive's warts, but we see that she's constantly learning, even as she ages. There's none of that business about old dogs and new tricks here. She changes and learns when she's ready to, and I think that's how we all are.

The other characters in the stories were interesting as well. They weren't only there to highlight an aspect of Olive's character, although they did serve that purpose too. Sometimes they had their own messages to share. I don't feel like I can say more without giving their short stories away.

I can see why this won a Pulitzer. It's a very enjoyable read with huge messages and themes packed in. There is so much to think over and discuss here. I recommend it for those in search of one of those books that will stick with you for a while. I know I'll be thinking about Olive for some time to come. ( )