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Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1)

Elizabeth Strout

Start date: May 1, 2020

Finish date: June 30, 2020

Discussion: 2020 Book Discussion Archive

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May 04, 2020 Brina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: pulitzer-winner, fiction

Every year I grow giddy with anticipation for the Pulitzer announcement. Usually the awards are announced on the third Monday in April at the luxurious Columbia University library. This year the award ceremony was pushed off until May 4 and streamed online. Although I was not overly thrilled with this year’s batch of winners, I am sure that I will find some hidden gems among the honorees. The fact that I am not overly wowed by the new winners has given me impetus to focus on my annual Pulitzer c Every year I grow giddy with anticipation for the Pulitzer announcement. Usually the awards are announced on the third Monday in April at the luxurious Columbia University library. This year the award ceremony was pushed off until May 4 and streamed online. Although I was not overly thrilled with this year’s batch of winners, I am sure that I will find some hidden gems among the honorees. The fact that I am not overly wowed by the new winners has given me impetus to focus on my annual Pulitzer challenge. Each year I try to read twenty winners across all platforms and have a stellar lineup put together for the rest of the year. So far, I had completed one winner for history and finally got to my first fiction winner of the year as part of a buddy read in two different groups. On Pulitzer Award day, I finished Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, a book of interlocking vignettes starting an unforgettable title character who I will savor for awhile.

Olive and Henry Kitteridge are a retired couple who are looking forward to living out their older age in a renovated home that they worked on themselves. They call Crosby, Maine home, and in this small quirky town, there is quite the cast of characters, although none is as outspoken, ahem opinionated, as Olive. Olive used to teach math at the local middle school, dispensing advice to generations of students of Crosby, and Henry worked for years as the town pharmacist. Time has started to pass them by: a chain pharmacy replaced the locally owner store rendering Henry’s job obsolete, and Olive taught long enough to retire from her job as an algebra teacher. Although no longer at the center of the workings of the town, Olive still makes her presence felt by all who know her on a daily basis, so much so that Strout has presented her story as a series of vignettes, not all of which focus directly on Olive. Strout has noted that if she wrote the story as one linear tale, then Olive might have appeared as too overwhelming to the peripheral characters who make Crosby the quirky small town that it is.

While Strout does her best to focus on other characters, Olive is the central point that holds the novel together. We find out that Olive and Henry have one son Christopher who is a podiatrist. Olive constructed Chris a beautiful home in Crosby not far from her so that he could care for his parents in his old age. Olive also noted to Henry years earlier that most people marry people who remind them of their parents. This was in regards to one of Henry’s former young employees at the pharmacy, but the same could be said of Chris. In a Little Burst, we find out that Olive detests Dr Sue, Chris’ first wife. A bossy lady who just as easily abhors Olive, the two women make for a battle of wills. The marriage does not last but not before Dr Sue sells the house and whisks Chris away from Crosby, breaking Olive’s heart. Sadly, this marriage is not meant to be, but Chris’ second wife Ann is little better. While not as loud as Dr Sue, Ann is still opinionated, so much so that Olive can not stand her either. Choosing two loud women who Olive can not stand, Chris has essentially married his mother. It is little wonder that people in Crosby view Olive as opinionated and loud, and people in the town either love her or detest her. Although Chris’ two wives are examples of those who want to be as far from Olive as possibly, there are those who love her as well.

Olive made her influence felt on the younger set in town because it is apparent that most of her peer group would rather avoid her. There is Kevin who she tries to talk out of suicide, Pam Howe, who she saves, and Julie, who Olive had a bigger influence on then she could have imagined. The story of Julie and Winnie and their unstable home life stands out for me, only because their mother is so loud and strange that she makes Olive look, for lack of a better word, normal. It is quirky people like these who give Crosby its charm. We know that Bonnie does not like cinnamon donuts but her husband purchases one for her each week to hide an affair. In a small town, affairs and suicide attempts seem to be prevalent, making the reader wonder why as Strout uses detailed prose to describe Crosby as a seaside community full of luscious spring and fall blooms. With foliage like this, it is easy to fall in love with Crosby, yet, perhaps, the local residents grow tired of isolation, become quirky, and choose to step outside of the box rather than leave town. Those that do leave are viewed as the fortunate ones, and Olive, of course, still knows everything about everyone’s life.

Strout’s description of Olive Kitteridge as a loud, opinionated woman in a quirky town make her story to be unforgettable. Dual buddy reads gave me the opportunity to finally read her story, and it was a memorable one. I believe this depiction of Olive merited the Pulitzer because she is an older woman who fills a room and does not slow down just because she is getting to a stage in life where most people are content to scale back on their endeavors. In retirement, Olive remains the outspoken woman who she has always been, dispensing advice to people whether they want it or not. Love her or detest her, Olive is a heck of character, and in essence, there is a little of Olive in all of us.

5 star read
...more

101 likes · Like · see review

May 12, 2020 Maureen rated it liked it

Shelves: pulitzer-prize, nyt-best-books-21-centuty

I enjoyed it but didn’t love it. Maybe it is me I know many people loved this book.

14 likes · Like · see review

Aug 11, 2010 Book Concierge rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, book-club, maine, relationships, library, concierge, strong-women, pulitzer, short-stories

This is really a collection of short stories about the people who live in a small coastal Maine town. Virtually all the stories mention Olive Kitteridge, and we learn a little tidbit about her in each one. Olive is a hard woman to know and even harder to like. She is quick to judge, slow to forgive. She is not really in touch with her emotions at all (but then, most everyone is town has the same flaw). You really have all the elements of life in this little town – weddings, babies, death, divorc ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Jun 11, 2020 Celia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ten-year-challenge, pulitzer, group-bom, kindle-list, eol-book-club, jaline, short-stories, 2020-read

A set of stories about small town life in Maine. As the book progresses, they get sadder and sadder.

Henry Kitteridge-pharmacy owner in 'next town over'
Olive-his wife
Christopher-their son
Other citizens and acquaintances as described within each story

Pharmacy-Denise Thibodeau replaces Mrs. Granger as inventory specialist at the pharmacy. We follow her story as wife of Henry and as a wonderful employee.

Incoming Tide-Patty Howe is a waitress at the local diner. Kevin, a childhood friend, sits in his ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

May 12, 2018 Tasha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A really enjoyable, thought-provoking and touching read. I enjoyed the short story format with Olive as the link throughout most of the stories. What I like most about this one is the nudge it gave me to savor and enjoy my present relationships with those in my life, particularly my husband. Olive and Henry's relationship is probably like most spousal relationships and it's easy to take for granted the bond you have after so many years. The ending left me with feelings of hope for Olive and all ...more

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Sep 28, 2019 Kris (My Novelesque Life) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, audiobook, elibrary, literary

RATING: 5 STARS

Another novel I am kicking myself for not reading sooner! I love Olive as she is unlikable but interesting. I was invested in her, and all the other characters, as well. While Olive comes off as another cranky older person in a quirky novel, there is a lot of heart with this one. Olive Kitteridge is more of a character study (studies) than plot driven. If you are looking for a fast pace book, this will not be the one for you. There is no action, per se to keep you reading, it is a ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jun 08, 2021 Samantha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary-literature-post-1900, owned

A wonderful book that considers the often taken for granted complexities of a community whilst celebrating the hidden strengths behind a beautiful marriage.

4 likes · Like · see review

May 21, 2020 Kelly rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

The word I think bests describes this book to me is honest. The characters were made realistic and not cookie cutters and the setting was flushed out so well that you felt like you were there. I found the writing absolutely beautiful. The reason I gave it only three stars is because of my lack of connection to the characters, which is what I dislike about short stories to begin with. Even though these stories have some similar characters spread throughout and the setting is the same, I felt a di ...more

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Nov 30, 2018 Theresa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories-and-essays, contemporary-general-fiction, highly-recommended-by-me, first-in-a-series, z-pop-sugar-2015-reading-challenge, z-aty-2018

Reading this is to experience Olive Kitteridge's lifetime, and the joys and sorrows of many of the denizens of Crosby, Maine, a small ordinary unremarkable coastal village. Told via a collection of short stories, more or less sequential in time,each from a different local POV, I felt like I was in Crosby, watching and listening. It all seems so ordinary, but then, each story starts pulling back the veil, and from the merest glimpse you see that no life is ordinary. The stories are all tied toget ...more

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May 03, 2019 MaureenAnn rated it liked it

Olive was a very interesting character, but I was disappointed that she hardly featured in some chapters and I couldn't find a consistent thread through the book. For me, the most interesting aspects were her difficult relationships with her son and daughters-in-law and of course her amiable and long-suffering husband - he deserved his own award.
I saw some flashes of brilliance in the novel (short stories?) but can't see why it was a Pulitzer prize-winner, but then I'm not a literary critic. ...more

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