Random House Trade Olive Kitteridge

Olive Kitteridge is a Pulitzer Prize Winner for fiction, which is breath-taking in its beauty and eloquence. The structure of the novel is 13 episodic stories, which provide a candid and searching insight into a small community in the coastal town of Crosby in Maine. It would be unfortunate to race through the pages without savouring the atmosphere, the wonderful sense of time, and the rich array of fascinating characters that enhance the human relationships on display. It takes the little breaks between stories to reflect on the mastery of prose and the observational expression of Elizabeth Strout.Olive Kitteridge is the indomitable presence throughout the book. Some stories have the faintest mention of Olive while in others she impacts with the overbearing resolve of a woman that is determined to get what she wants. Olive is rarely the focal point, but she acts as a magnet drawing each story to exist in her presence.Olive is an ex-school teacher, a tall and often clumsy woman, but as the years progress she becomes big,“… her ankles puffed out, her shoulders rolled up behind her neck, and her wrists and hands seemed to become the size of a man’s. Olive minds – of course she does; sometimes, privately, she minds very much. But at this stage of the game, she is not about to abandon the comfort of food, and that means right now she probably looks like a fat dozing seal wrapped in some kind of gauze bandage.”Olive has a formidable presence and a complexity that is intriguing and undefinable. While she offers very little filter in her comments and consideration of others and thinks it ludicrous to cry at weddings, she cries when she sees a young anorexic girl, Nina.“Olive shook her head again, blew her nose. She looked at Nina and said quietly, ‘I don’t know who you are, but young lady, you’re breaking my heart.’‘I’m not trying to,’ said Nina, defensively. ‘It’s not like I can help it.’‘Oh, I know that. I know.’ Olive nodded.”The first story is a touching story of her husband, Harry, who is a pharmacist, and his relationship with a young married assistant who tragically loses her husband. The relationship is subtly transformed from a platonic friendship to the delicate suggestion of deeper feelings as he allows himself to imagine what life would be like with this young woman. The emotional conflict burdens him until he finally asks Olive if she would ever leave him. “Oh, for God’s sake Henry. You could make a woman sick.” she responds.Most of the following stories reverberate with a sense of betrayal. You can feel the connection with the characters, laugh through incidents, be astounded by some events, nod in recognition with many, and shed a tear or two at others. The writing is emotionally stimulating and reveals such vivid moments that give breath to sentiments you may not have been expecting.This is a wonderful reading experience, infused with beautiful prose, images and feelings that we all encounter or witness throughout our lives. I would highly recommend this book. The reason why I jumped to read this book after it sitting on my bookshelf for so long, was that the sequel, Olive, Again, is due for release on 31st October this year.

Read by our small, friendly Book Group and found it split opinions down the middle - which is great for lively discussion!Some did not like the format of 13 short stories about people in the community - 2 of which Olive was not even apparently relevant to.Not a cheerful book - OK it is showing a community and how people's lives intertwine but surely some people could be happy too...

It's beautifully written and some of the little detail in the descriptions is brilliant - little vignettes of the sort of thing that you might notice in a flash and remember although it has no real relevance to a story. Each chapter of the book tells its own story and they are inter-connected in that Olive Kitteridge - who features as the central figure in the first one - appears in every other chapter to a greater or lesser degree and sometimes almost only as a passing character. All the stories are set in one small community in America - so, yes, it is American in style but not aggressively so. You find yourself sympathising with some of the people but not all - and you will have mixed feelings about Olive herself who is physically large and a slightly looming and forbidding personality, but she has been a teacher who commanded respect although she is herself emotionally vulnerable and unable to express herself. It's not particularly a laugh out loud book though there are one or two things that will make you smile, but it's a brilliant portrait of a community and its inter-relationships. There are quite a lot of sadnesses but life is like that - nobody's life is perfect. A good read and a good one for a book club.

I read a chapter of this book every morning while on holiday in Spain. The character 'Olive' dips in and out of the chapters. I felt such empathy for her - either putting her foot in it or saying just the right thing at the right time. Based in a small town many characters are brought to life. Sometimes you come across people in real life for brief periods and wish you could have spent more time with them. It's the same here. A book I will reread in the future.

Having read two thirds of this book before putting it in the recycling I know enough about Olive Kitteridge to be confident she would have thrown it away much sooner without apology or regret. I don't say it is not insightful, well written and well constructed, I just really didn't like it. If you feel too happy, too optimistic about the future, read this, it is the book for you.