Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Feb 19, 2010 Tara rated it really liked it

I was not sure what I was going to think about this book since it was all short stories and the last book I read of short stories made me feel unfulfilled. I loved that all the stories had a common element though. Olive Kitteridge was such a character. She reminded me a lot of my grandmother and my mom, which made her enduring to me. I loved getting to know the other characters as well, I actually really liked Ann. She was a nice compliment to Christopher's character.
It was a nice commentary on ...more

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Jan 03, 2023 Abbyb1 rated it really liked it

I quite enjoyed this book. It was so much better than Strout's 'Oh William' which seemed to go nowhere. Even the characters we meet for only a few pages are given dimensions and stories which are interesting and somehow relevant. I wanted to know them... that wasn't always true in "Oh William" though.

Olive is smart, funny, lonely, misunderstood, bitter, confused... and she appears to feel a lot like how I feel some days... She's an outsider who may or may not really want to be an insider. Her ju ...more

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Apr 05, 2010 Suzanne rated it really liked it

This book is reminiscent of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, OH. I think of the book as "doughnuts and suicide!" "Hells bells" would work too. Olive, who appears in each of the short stories, is such a well-written character - at turns moody and mean, and others generous and genuine. I can't adequately describe how moving this book was; it will definitely stay with me for a long time. Elizabeth Strout certainly deserved the Pulitizer for this work! ...more

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Jul 11, 2009 Sabrina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Meh...

I'm kind of indifferent about this book; I didn't love it; I didn't hate it. I did, however, based on Strout's previous works, expect more from it.

While Strout's descriptions and characterizations of the characters in her novel in stories are well-done--at times achingly heart breaking and at other times spot-on funny--I found myself exceedingly irritated with Olive Kitteridge, the character, as well as with the format of the book.
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Feb 16, 2010 Marlawanda Briley rated it really liked it

I am giving this book four stars because it was excellently written and the stories were all very good, however, given the choice, again, I would not have downloaded this book. All of the stories were depressing and I downloaded it for my ski trip read where I'd rather have had light hearted and happy. ...more

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