Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1) in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Jun 13, 2011 jess rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook-d, 2011, fiction

I know this book was hugely popular and won some major awards, and I think I have meant to read it since it came out, and finally I did. So, yes, context.

This is a series of linked stories that take place in Maine, mostly rural Maine, and each story is, in some way, about the titular Olive Kitteridge, a wholly unpleasant junior high math teacher, wife and mother. Sometimes Olive just walks through the story, sometimes she is the main character, but all of the stories orbit in this universe wher I know this book was hugely popular and won some major awards, and I think I have meant to read it since it came out, and finally I did. So, yes, context.

This is a series of linked stories that take place in Maine, mostly rural Maine, and each story is, in some way, about the titular Olive Kitteridge, a wholly unpleasant junior high math teacher, wife and mother. Sometimes Olive just walks through the story, sometimes she is the main character, but all of the stories orbit in this universe where Olive is, well, not exactly the sun, which would imply she was bright and provided energy and life, but some kind of major gravitational force in the center of it all. This felt universal; everyone's life is a series of linked stories, and anyone is Olive Kitteridge to other people who pass through their solar system. So, from that perspective, it is interesting.

The big picture perspective follows Olive from the early days, when her son is young and her husband owned a pharmacy and she taught junior high math, all the way to the modern era. Chain stores take over the old-fashioned independent businesses, certain characters eat soy hot dogs, do yoga, join self-help cults, get jilted at the altar, become widows and suffer from eating disorders. There is a lot of poignancy in these stories. Everyday moments become significant if you let them. Every small detail has the potential to become a quirky story line.

I think that my friend Imogen really summed up my feelings about this book in her excellent review, particularly when she writes this:

So... Elizabeth Strout is an MFA professor... What this book reminded me was that, when you do all the MFA writing program things well- the telling details, the crushing epiphanies, the building tension- what you are doing is hiding the fact that these are the MFA writing program things... So she does mostly a good job of camouflaging the MFAness of her writing, but sometimes she doesn't.

That hits the nail on the head. It's just a little too "writerly" in a self-aware kind of way that stops just short of genuine sometimes.

And now, for my own purposes, here is a list of my favorite characters from this book:

Angie O'Meara - Alcoholic lounge act piano player whose love life is a complete shambling disaster, and yet i got the feeling that things would shake out alright for Angie. also, she makes her living playing the piano. how rare and precious and beautiful is it for a normal someone to make a living from music?

Louise Larkin - Did John Waters write Louise Larkin?? Her son repeatedly stabbed a woman to death. Louise had shock therapy and seems to have never recovered. She is shuttered in her house for years, but manages to send Olive a sweet note on nice stationary? Her story is one of the best things I've read this year. She's such a horrible character. I shudder when I think about how much I love her.

Winnie & Julie - It kills me that I can't pick a favorite between these two. They are sisters, both navigating poverty, their parents' unstable behaviors, loyalty, love and their hopes for the future. Julie is more worldly and sees beyond the horizon. Her desires are palatable. Winnie is younger, and she obstinately maintains a naivete that I reveled in. At the same time, Julie is foolish & naive in her desperation for love and escape and Winnie seems to know more than she lets on. Like I said, I can't choose between them.

Denise Thibodeau - I found a lot to dislike in Denise's character, honestly, but I was really captivated by her grieving process and her journey to become an independent entity after she was widowed. I was really touched that she kept in touch with Henry for so many years after she moved away. I think I see a lot in Denise to admire, even though her simpering and stumbling irritated me to the ends of the earth. ...more

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Feb 13, 2011 Beth added it

This was so depressing, I thought I might not get through it. But since everyone seems to have loved it, I thought I should finish. I wish someone had just told me to read the last chapter, which I have to say, I truly loved (the ONLY one I actually enjoyed). On another positive note, I really liked how it is organized; each chapter a short story from a different point of view. However, organization and final chapter aside, I really, really disliked it.

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Jan 08, 2012 Molly rated it really liked it

At times silly, at times beautiful. Made me think of people I have known or just passed on the street. We all are vulnerable. Made me think of the future and made me realize how lucky I am.

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Oct 09, 2009 Joanna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-read, short-stories

I loved these stories despite the overall depressing nature of the book. This is one of the few novels in short stories that works on both levels -- each of the stories works as a stand alone story, but there is also character development and history across the stories that holds it together as a novel. I thought the best story was the first one, but many of the others were also quite compelling. I wish there had been a story from the perspective of Olive's son, Christopher. He seemed to be the ...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Joan rated it liked it

It seems that most of the reviewers either really liked this book or couldn't stand it, but I don't have strong feelings either way. Olive is not a pleasing/pleasant woman; I hope I grow old(er) more happily than she. The book, really a collection of stories about people in a town in Maine, complicated and flawed, who make a difference in their world. ...more

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Apr 21, 2015 Julie rated it really liked it

Probably only one or two of the narratives in here fell a little flat, but by and large I loved this book and its characters. I felt like this conveyed a lovely be-grateful-all-the-time theme without being cheesy about it, and I read the last page probably 10 times because I thought it was so beautifully written.

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