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Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
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Olive Kitteridge (edition 2008)

by Elizabeth Strout (Author)

Series: Olive Kitteridge (1)

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9,868616753 (3.92)741
At the edge of the continent, in the small town of Crosby, Maine, lives Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher who deplores the changes in her town and in the world at large but doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her.
Member:LanaDriscoll
Title:Olive Kitteridge
Authors:Elizabeth Strout (Author)
Info:Random House Trade Paperbacks (2008), Edition: Reprint, 320 pages
Collections:Your library
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Work Information

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

  1. 110
    Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2810michael)
  2. 80
    Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (gust, ainsleytewce)
    gust: Ook een verhalenbundel met terugkerende personages in de verschillende verhalen
  3. 70
    A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (_debbie_)
  4. 82
    Empire Falls by Richard Russo (2810michael)
  5. 50
    Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (chrisharpe)
  6. 62
    The Other Hand by Chris Cleave (sarah-e)
  7. 30
    Our Town by Thornton Wilder (ainsleytewce)
  8. 20
    Moral Disorder and Other Stories by Margaret Atwood (RidgewayGirl)
    RidgewayGirl: Both tell the life story of a woman in short story form, with compassion and an unflinching eye.
  9. 20
    Plainsong by Kent Haruf (aprille)
  10. 10
    The Evening Star by Larry McMurtry (Ciruelo)
    Ciruelo: A strong willed and contrary woman is the foundation of each book.
  11. 10
    Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters (ainsleytewce)
  12. 10
    Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro (ainsleytewce)
  13. 10
    The Edge of Darkness by Mary Ellen Chase (CurrerBell)
    CurrerBell: Maine regionalism can often be at its best when written as a collection of short stories, character studies, or vignettes all united around a single character, as in the case of Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge, Mary Ellen Chase's The Edge of Darkness, and Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs.… (more)
  14. 10
    Tunu by Kim Leine (2810michael)
    2810michael: Mest pga opbygningen med novelleagtige kapitler, der portrætterer en by og dens personer
  15. 10
    The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld (thelittlematchgirl)
    thelittlematchgirl: both are stories about women some people will find unlikeable and some will want to be friends with.
  16. 10
    The Way to the Cats: A Novel by Yehoshua Kenaz (SqueakyChu)
    SqueakyChu: another crotchety old woman - about whom it's fun to read
  17. 10
    A Reckless Moon by Dianne Warren (lkernagh, mymia)
  18. 10
    The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks (jbvm)
  19. 00
    Tinkers by Paul Harding (sturlington)
    sturlington: Two Pulitzer Prize winners set in Maine
  20. 00
    The Civilized World by Susi Wyss (ShortStoryLover)
    ShortStoryLover: While the settings in these books are very different, both are collections of linked stories in which the main characters are revealed through a kind of multi-faceted prism, as the reader experiences them not just through the main characters' points view but also through the points of view of the other characters.… (more)

(see all 23 recommendations)

AP Lit (231)
To Read (169)
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» See also 741 mentions

English (608)  Catalan (4)  Dutch (3)  Danish (2)  Italian (2)  German (1)  Spanish (1)  All languages (621)
Showing 1-5 of 608 (next | show all)
This was a hard book for me to read! It basically is about one person from different views! It seemed to drag in spots! ( )
  MommaTAS | Mar 22, 2024 |
This was another book that I got for a college class. The professor only assigned certain sections, but after having read the whole thing, I wish we had read it all back then. Each story provides insight into Olive and the lives of the other citizens that builds strongly upon each other. If I had to pick a theme of this book, it would be that it is filled with love stories and heartbreak. I was surprised how many of the stories had to do with at least one partner cheating on the other. I did appreciate that all of the main/pov characters were older. I overall enjoyed it, but its probably not a book I'll pick up again soon. Maybe in a few years. ( )
  BarnesBookshelf | Feb 21, 2024 |
Review of Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

I decided to read this book now, so long after its original publication, because Elizabeth Strout has been recommended to me by so many trusted friends. When the book was new, I was put off by the short story format, and I’ve always had plenty else on my TBR. But as I approached Olive this time, I found that I did in fact like the separate stories which are unified by their focus on Olive and by their setting in the small town of Crossby, Maine. I found Strout’s writing clear and pleasant to read. The stories are well drawn scenes, that made me laugh at times, cringe with embarassment at others, sometimes even flinch with pain. But what I enjoyed most about the book was the character of Olive herself. From the outset, she is an unpleasant woman, not very sociable. She suffers from a wide streak of paranoia. Much of the time she treats her husband terribly, and she manages to totally alienate her son who grows up afraid of her; she is a controlling, demanding, and irritable mother. Many of her students (she teaches math) fear her as well, though some do appreciate her as a teacher. The remarkable thing about her characterization is that it was not long before I began to like Olive, and by the last stories, I was rooting for her. It gradually becomes clear that she loves her family fiercely and loyally. I really want her to figure out how to repair her rifts with them.
I rated Olive Kitteridge at 3.5 stars. I enjoyed reading it and will be reading more of Elizabeth Strout. ( )
  dianelouise100 | Feb 13, 2024 |
An ordinary woman tries to make sense of life. The author shows her experiences and those she interacted with, like a Virginia Woolf novel. Such incredible writing and character depth. ( )
  lneukirch | Feb 4, 2024 |
3.5 stars. This book was very well written and I did like it. It was written more as a collection of short stories about the people of Crosby with Olive being a recurring character. I prefer to read novels so it was a lot harder to get into. I thought there were some wonderful characterizations and insights into life, but I came away with the thought that the book seemed a bit depressing. ( )
  slittleson | Feb 2, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 608 (next | show all)
Each of the 13 tales serves as an individual microcosm of small-town life, with its gossip, small kindnesses, and everyday tragedies. Not all the minor characters stand out the way Henry and Olive do, and there are a pile of them to keep straight by the end. I also couldn’t quite place how one story, “Ship in a Bottle,” meshed with the rest. But those are small flaws far outweighed by the book’s compassion and intelligence.
 
The pleasure in reading “Olive Kitteridge” comes from an intense identification with complicated, not always admirable, characters. And there are moments in which slipping into a character’s viewpoint seems to involve the revelation of an emotion more powerful and interesting than simple fellow feeling—a complex, sometimes dark, sometimes life-sustaining dependency on others.
 
Olive Kitteridge might be described by some as a battle axe or as brilliantly pushy, by others as the kindest person they had ever met. Olive herself has always been certain that she is 100% correct about everything - although, lately, her certitude has been shaken. This indomitable character appears at the centre of these narratives that comprise Olive Kitteridge. In each of them, we watch Olive, a retired schoolteacher, as she struggles to make sense of the changes in her life and the lives of those around her always with brutal honesty, if sometimes painfully. Olive will make you laugh, nod in recognition, as well as wince in pain or shed a tear or two. We meet her stoic husband, bound to her in a marriage both broken and strong, and her own son, tyrannised by Olive's overbearing sensitivities. The reader comes away, amazed by this author's ability to conjure this formidable heroine and her deep humanity that infiltrates every page.
 

» Add other authors (5 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Strout, Elizabethprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Blanchette, Dana LeighCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Burr, SandraNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Castoldi, SilviaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Farr, KimberlyNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stjernfeldt, Agnes DorphTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Versluys, Marijkesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Dedication
For my mother
who can make life magical
and is the best storyteller I know
First words
For many years Henry Kitteridge was a pharmacist in the next town over, driving every morning on snowy roads, or rainy roads, or summertime roads, when the wild raspberries shot their new growth in brambles along the last section of town before he turned off to where the wider road led to the pharmacy.
Quotations
Olive had sat in her bedroom and wept like a baby, not so much for this country but for the city itself, which had seemed to her to become suddenly no longer a foreign, hardened place, but as fragile as a class of kindergarten children, brave in their terror.
She showed him the library built the year before Henry's stroke, with its cathedral ceiling and skylights. He looked at the books, and she wanted to say, "Stop that," as though he were reading her diary.
Who, who, does not have their basket of trips.
He wanted to put his arms around her, but she had a darkness that seemed to stand beside her like an acquaintance that would not go away. – "Pharmacy"
Angie... felt she had figured something out too late, and that must be the way of life, to get something figured out when it was too late. – "The Piano Player"
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (2)

At the edge of the continent, in the small town of Crosby, Maine, lives Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher who deplores the changes in her town and in the world at large but doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
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 of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her; a lounge musician haunted by a past romance, 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 into a deeper understanding of herself and her life - sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty.

Stories:
Pharmacy
Incoming Tide
The Piano Player
A Little Burst
Starving
A Different Road
Winter Concert
Tulips
Basket of Trips
Ship in a Bottle
Security
Criminal
River
Haiku summary

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