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Olive Kitteridge |  | Author: Elizabeth Strout
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Seller: _beaglebooks_
Rating:  440 reviews
Sales Rank: 257
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0812971833
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780812971835
ASIN: 0812971833
Publication Date: September 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 440
 My Heart Aches April 30, 2008
Brett Benner (Los Angeles, CA USA)
198 out of 209 found this review helpful
These stories of small town life in Maine linked through one woman, Olive Kitteridge are so emotionally honest and resonated so deeply, I felt literally fragile after I finished. I bought the book knowing nothing about it besides the fact the stories were linked, based merely on how much I had loved her previous novel, 'Abide With Me'. I liked this even more. I adored the character of Olive so much, and could almost see her in front of me when she opened her mouth to speak. Strout is an exceptionally writer who mines human emotion for literary gold. Highly, highly recommended.
Brilliant Writing, Exceptional Characters April 25, 2008
Mary Lins (Houston, TX USA)
79 out of 88 found this review helpful
As a fan of Elizabeth Strout's writing, I posit that "Olive Kitteridge" may well be her best novel yet. It's actually a collection of connected stories (through the eponymous Olive) about life in a small New England town.
Strout draws each character, and each relationship with a keen and economic eye to detail; in just a short story we learn so much. She deftly describes the intricacies of life weaving the momentous with the mundane, just like reality does. And also like reality, people are multi-faceted. At first Olive may strike the reader as a crabby old woman, which is one facet of her character, but as the stories progress, we learn more and more about this complex and ultimately interesting person.
This is simply a wonderful book. Stout's prose is so perfectly apt and so fluidly succinct, that aspiring writers will be alternately envious and awestruck. This is the kind of writing that we avid readers wait for.
Best of 2009! April 27, 2009
Holly K. Lee (Chicago, IL)
30 out of 33 found this review helpful
Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge" is the Pulitzer Prize Winner Fiction for 2009. Because I have so greatly adored the previous few winners I had to pick this up as soon as the winner was announced. It did not disappoint!
This book has depth! Be prepared to immerse yourself in the world created in this novel. It's not a quick read, it takes focus to get through it. I even took notes in the back few blank pages of the book.
The book is centered around Olive Kitteridge, yet most of the chapters and stories are not directly about her. Each story is about someone that was affected by her, or involved with her somehow. There are a few sections that are directly about Olive herself as well.
The characters are referenced in other chapters other than their own, so I opted to keep a chart of characters with a little blip about them and their relationships with other characters, as a reference. This came in handy! I would recommend keeping a character chart so that you can full experience the depth of the novel.
The stories are so real, its small town America! All of the people in the town know each other, they know each others secrets and have crossed each others paths on many occasions. Their lives are intertwined whether they like it or not.
The mothers and fathers desire so greatly to have their children in their arms forever. They want the best for their families and can't understand their children's need to run away all the time. They resign to the fact that all children hate their parents, but have a hard time understanding why.
Spouses find themselves having their needs fulfilled by people they never expected to want or need. They wonder how their relationships have gotten to the places that they are today. They wonder who they have become and why they should need another person to complete them.
The book deals with issues such as anorexia, divorce, aging, disaster, marriage, family and love.
The relationships are complex, and the writing is introspective. This is by far the best book I have read in 2009.
Olive Kitteridge is every person who questions what in the world they are doing here. June 23, 2008
Nancy T. Schlegel
33 out of 37 found this review helpful
I closed this book with a feeling of "oh my gosh, what a story!" Presented in a series of short stories within the ongoing story of a woman's later years in life, this was one of the most unique books I have read in a long time. The main character is somone we have all been at one time or another whether we want to admit it or not. We have all felt put-upon, self-rightous, lonely, hateful, superior, and tired. I also think, at one time or another, we have all felt that all the other people around us are slow-witted jerks who are only trying to make our lives miserable. This is Olive Kitteridge. She, like all of us, is ego-centric and wonders why all these things keep happening to HER. At times you want to despise her while at the same time completely understanding what she is thinking. The author does a wonderful job at describing the insecurities, obsessions, insanities and sadnesses of small town denizens and their interconnected lives.
Luminous Insights Into Private Lives May 4, 2008
Jill I. Shtulman (Chicago, IL USA)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
What an exceptional novel! Elizabeth Strout binds together thirteen short stories with one character, Olive Kitteridge, who straddles each of them. And in the end, she learns (I paraphrase), "Lumpy, aged and wrinkled bodies were as needy as young, firm ones; love is not to be tossed away carelessly on a platter with others that got passed around again."
Olive is a large (and sometimes, larger-than-life) woman who lives in Crosby, Maine, with her amiable husband Henry and her conflicted son, Chris. Through these stories, we will see these three characters, and others who are peripheral to their lives, change and evolve with many unexpected surprises.
We meet many characters who live inside the homes we pass every day: a former student who contemplates suicide, an anorexic young woman who is literally starving while many in the town are figuratively starving, an aging married woman who learns that small moments are not always gifts, a spurned fiancee who chooses love on any terms. As these Crosby residents grapple with problems large and small, and choose or reject love, Olive slowly gains insights into the human condition.
I loved this book. I loved its beautiful writing, solid core, hidden truths, and ruthless honesty. I will miss Olive Kitteridge, and her small human dramas. I cannot imagine anyone reading this book and not agreeing with the book's conclusion: "It baffled her, the world. She did not want to leave it yet."
Showing reviews 1-5 of 440
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