Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Feb 16, 2015 Sera rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, favorites, literary-fiction, library, own, plays-short-stories-etc

Olive Kitteridge is a book with many stories about the inhabitants of a small town who in some way or another have a connection to Olive. Olive is a cranky, judgmental woman who needs to mind her own business more than she does. Like most people, however, Olive just wants what most people want - to be loved, accepted and to have more control of the events that occur around her.

I highly recommend this book, because Strout takes many different threads and is able to weave them into one overall coh ...more

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Jan 14, 2010 Rachel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010-reads

I really loved this book. It's very well written and also has a good pace. It's not feel good, but i believe it captures raw emotion and I truly believed the characters. ...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Laura (booksnob) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, 2012, pulitizer

Olive Kitteridge is a retired teacher who lives in a small town called Crosby, Maine. Olive is married and has a grown son and has made an impact on the people she meets. Olive gets older as the novel progresses and as we read through the curves that life throws her, she searches to understand and come to terms with her life.

Thirteen interconnected stories weave through the town of Crosby, and the core of the novel is Olive. Each short story in the book has Olive Kitteridge drifting through the ...more

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Nov 28, 2019 Mansir rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library

I read this book mainly while I was sick. I'm not sure I would have finished it otherwise. It's very well written - her beautiful human writing transports you into the lives of a community in Maine. The readers experiences quite a bit. At times it felt like it was getting close to a great American novel but the book is happy to just portray lives without weaving and orchestrating connections between them as much. And, so, at the end, I didn't experienced whatever it was that the Pulitzer Committ ...more

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May 15, 2010 Samantha rated it it was amazing

I love and author who writes the story and character honestly. She doesn't make them what she wants them to be, but rather allows them to be themselves, to grow and fail as we all do. I loved this book. The story of Olive Kitteridge told partly from her point of view, partly from the people that she is surrounded by. I love love this book. ...more

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Oct 15, 2010 Annie rated it really liked it

This book was very good in that I didn't put it down until I flipped over the last page. However, it was frustrating to see such a well-developed character change so little. I suppose that's what makes it so realistic - how often do we actually experience radical epiphanies, despite the upheavals in our lives? ...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Lisa rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-adults

Ok. I'm not sure what I was expecting... but this clearly wasn't the book for me. I couldn't ever really figure out what was going on. I think if I had known it was interwoven short stories that might have helped me. I thought it was a novel and was trying to read it as such.
Nevertheless, I didn't like it. This was more a book about the characters... and I didn't particularly feel any empathy for them. It was kind of a dreary outlook on life... one I don't like thinking about. Now that I'm done ...more

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Nov 22, 2009 Sylvie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Absolutely liked this book!
A bit like short stories that have one link ... Olive.
You learn to know her throughout the book.

The only thing ... need to stay focu to enjoy the book.
Do not take on if you cannot complete the read in a short time ... difficult to get back in the story (not an airplane book)

Very enjoyable writing ... nice style.

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Nov 29, 2017 Nikki Morse rated it liked it · review of another edition

I enjoyed this, in spite of not really liking Olive herself. I’m surprised it won a Pulitzer. And as late as 2008 I’m shocked writers were still using the word queer. It may have gotten a 4th star weren’t it for that, but it’s so jarring in a contemporary book.

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