Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1) in Bound Together

Jul 16, 2011 PattyMacDotComma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: aa-col, favourites-adult, stories-essays-collections, kindle, aa, re-reads

5★
“Olive's private view is that life depends on what she thinks of as ‘big bursts’ and ‘little bursts.’ Big bursts are things like marriage or children, intimacies that keep you afloat, but these big bursts hold dangerous, unseen currents. Which is why you need the little bursts as well: a friendly clerk at Bradlee's, let's say, or the waitress at Dunkin' Donuts who knows how you like your coffee. Tricky business, really.”

Tricky business, indeed. Anything with Olive is tricky. I met Olive in 201 ...more

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Jun 11, 2019 Chrissie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: usa, philo-psychol, fiction, kirkus, shorts, 2019-read, audible-uk, life-stages, lgtb, relationships

I cannot possibly say I like Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. but I have to admit that in the author’s ability to shake me up and rip me apart, she has definitely succeeded in getting her message/s across. An author can write well and still you do not necessarily like their books. Who enjoys going through torment? Authors that have the ability to create a strong emotional response in their readers, must be considered talented.

I am very glad I have continued the book to its end. Reading this ...more

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Apr 21, 2012 ☮Karen rated it really liked it

This book made me laugh out loud and cry too.

The woman Olive Kitteridge is the common thread in each of these short stories, where we get to know her and those whose lives she has touched. Olive is a bit like all of us and we all have a little bit of Olive in us (but don't tell her that if if you’re a Republican; she would not like that). Olive is at times grumpy and yelling at her son or husband, then trying to save the life of an anorexic or instill some wisdom in her students, or just trying ...more

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Sep 27, 2010 Irene rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Beautiful!!!

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Apr 20, 2009 Bucket rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary, love, many-perspectives, women, reviewed, parents-affecting-children, life-and-death, identity, pulitzer-winners

My review below is from 2011. On a second read (in 2025), I stand behind most of what I wrote before. My perspective on Olive's son Christopher is very different this time though. I don't find him "bitter and hopeless" and I don't think he "throws everything in Olive's face in a self-righteous way."

Instead, I think he grows significantly throughout the story. He finds who he is and what he values, despite the ways that his mom's anxiety and self-protection were pushed onto him, and hurt him. In My review below is from 2011. On a second read (in 2025), I stand behind most of what I wrote before. My perspective on Olive's son Christopher is very different this time though. I don't find him "bitter and hopeless" and I don't think he "throws everything in Olive's face in a self-righteous way."

Instead, I think he grows significantly throughout the story. He finds who he is and what he values, despite the ways that his mom's anxiety and self-protection were pushed onto him, and hurt him. In the end, he is very honest with her and that crushes her, but I found him to be full of hope and a deep understanding of himself, and probably Olive too.

2011 review:

This is a novel in stories. Several of the stories are from Olive's point of view and she features as a character in every single one. The stories that aren't Olive-centered center on the lives of other townspeople in Crosby, Maine. The book is entirely chronological, beginning in the 1970s and ending in 2000-something. Throughout the book, we get a picture of Olive as a person - she is large, self-conscious, adamant, unforgiving, quick to judge, and also very intuitive about when others are having problems, loving in her own way, and willing to help people. We also get a picture of her influence on people in the small town as a math teacher and a lifelong community member.

Olive is a complex, well-drawn character. She has extremely large flaws - including anger and cruelty and an inability to either compromise or apologize, but she is also sensitive and kind and loving in the only way she knows how. I like her, and I think this has a lot to do with being able to see her from so many different characters' perspectives. Olive has a lot of regret, and this makes for interesting reading and is very thought-provoking as far as how I want to be as a person in my own life. Olive is unable to see her mistakes as such, but she feels them and is affected by them. I thought it was interesting the way her son turned out - he is bitter and hopeless and throws everything in Olive's face in a self-righteous way. She created that monster but she doesn't understand why he would hurt her. It was eye-opening to see the way a parent can affect her child without knowing it or intending to.

Strout is a master at creating characters. Not only Olive, but even the characters we see for just one story are real and complex. They are confused and often without hope, but they are also struggling in ways that make this, in the end, a hopeful book. I like that Strout seems to build her characters and then see what happens with them. To me this is a key aspect of the best modern literature. It's character-driven rather than plot-driven.

Themes: family, death, growing old, love, will to live, being haunted by the past, everyday struggles, self-understanding, the human condition ...more

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Feb 25, 2014 Laurel Bradshaw rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, pulitzer-prize, domestic-fiction, daytimers-book-club, audiobook, maine, hfu2014ba

If I rate this on "liking" the book or the characters, it might be 3 stars. If I rate it on how much it will stay with me and I'll be thinking about Olive and other characters it might be 4 or 5. And if I rate it on literary merit, the use of language and how the stories intertwine to create a whole, maybe 5. So I'll compromise with 4. Olive is not an easy person to like. Sometimes she has a heart of gold, and is almost painfully empathetic and compassionate. But she has a mean streak and at tim If I rate this on "liking" the book or the characters, it might be 3 stars. If I rate it on how much it will stay with me and I'll be thinking about Olive and other characters it might be 4 or 5. And if I rate it on literary merit, the use of language and how the stories intertwine to create a whole, maybe 5. So I'll compromise with 4. Olive is not an easy person to like. Sometimes she has a heart of gold, and is almost painfully empathetic and compassionate. But she has a mean streak and at times a selfishness that will always be her undoing. She is raw, crusty, and as she describes herself, she has the "soul of a peasant." I think of peasants as being simple in their approach to life. Olive is anything but. You'll get to know her through her own story, her son, her students, and her neighbors. Each story is complete in itself, but taken all together has a richness that is greater than the individual parts. At the same time, each story will make you think about life, love, security, and isolation, and how we cope with things that seem to be out of our control even if they are of our own making.

Book Description: At the edge of the continent, Crosby, Maine, may seem like nowhere, but seen through this brilliant writer’s eyes, it’s in essence the whole world, and the lives that are lived there are filled with all of the grand human drama - desire, despair, jealousy, hope, and love. 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 and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: 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 to a deeper understanding of herself and her life – sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition - its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires. 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner in the Letters, Drama and Music category. ...more

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Jun 09, 2011 Terry M rated it liked it · review of another edition

The main character, Olive, was difficult to like but since she was so oblivious to her own wrong-headedness I grew fond of her, in a sad way. Not so much a novel as short stories with varying degrees of 'Olive'. ...more

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