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Olive Kitteridge: Fiction |  | Author: Elizabeth Strout
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $6.95
as of 11/27/2009 16:47 CST details
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Seller: classgames
Rating:  281 reviews
Sales Rank: 95
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 0.8
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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Product Description
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 of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; 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.
Praise for Olive Kitteridge:
“Perceptive, deeply empathetic . . . Olive is the axis around which these thirteen complex, relentlessly human narratives spin themselves into Elizabeth Strout’s unforgettable novel in stories.”
–O: The Oprah Magazine
“Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge. . . . You’ll never forget her. . . . [Elizabeth Strout] constructs her stories with rich irony and moments of genuine surprise and intense emotion. . . . Glorious, powerful stuff.”
–USA Today
“Funny, wicked and remorseful, Mrs. Kitteridge is a compelling life force, a red-blooded original. When she’s not onstage, we look forward to her return. The book is a page-turner because of her.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
“Olive Kitteridge still lingers in memory like a treasured photograph.”
–Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“Rarely does a story collection pack such a gutsy emotional punch.”
–Entertainment Weekly
“Strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force. . . . [She] makes us experience not only the terrors of change but also the terrifying hope that change can bring: she plunges us into these churning waters and we come up gasping for air.”
–The New Yorker
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 281
 Bittersweet, poignant, fun, but rather homespun November 27, 2009
Robert Tucker
Olive Kitteridge reads like a series of hometown short stories with a recurring leitmotif in the form of a vivacious and opinionated woman. Tracing her life through marriage, events, sadness, humor, loves, sharing, and independence we find hope simmering like a pot of gold ready to burst forth regardless of the circumstances. On the surface, Olive herself is rather unlikeable and a frequent grouch with a glaring tendency to find the negative. Yet as the book progresses we see a sensitive, warm creature cheering for the unfortunate and seeking ways to reach out to people. In many ways, Olive is an "everyman" replete with insecurities, fears, compassion, and wild opinions about virtually any subject. She is the collective "we" and from her we learn about ourselves.
In the midst of her life, the author traces the lives of other people through different stories demonstrating a wide array of human emotions and experiences. From the sadness of suicide, lost jobs, medical problems, and discovered love, the reader receives a mosaic of emotional complexity that forces a gentleness and empathy toward all kinds of people. In spite of her many flaws, or maybe because of them, and because of the challenges of the people she encounters, we become cheerleaders for her happiness and her comfort. In some ways, she is the lady at church who sits on the back pew wondering if she will ever have a normal life, even wondering what "normal" means.
The prose is smooth, the scenes well written, the stories moving, and the descriptions accurate. We feel what they feel, see what they see, cry when they cry, and laugh with them rather than at them. While all these things make an excellent read, and it is easy to acknowledge the excellent writing, in the end the book felt rather commonplace. Good but not great, deep but not emotionally changing, pleasant but not unforgettable. Some books, like McCarthy's The Road leave the reader shaken, fearful, but also energized. Other books are frightening or joyful or descriptive or driven to a satisfying conclusion. Olive Kitteridge is a fine novel by an excellent writer, but in the end it did not alter my view of the world nor change me in any way. I think that for all its praise, and winning the Pulitzer Prize, it is somewhat overrated. Regardless, it is still worth reading and I enjoyed my experience.
Forceful November 25, 2009
Stephen T. Hopkins (Oak Park, Illinois)
The thirteen connected stories in Elizabeth Strout's new collection titled, Olive Kitteridge, are set principally in Maine, and combine to produce what feels like a novel, and a comprehensive view of a memorable character. Olive could readily be called "a piece of work." Her forceful character, formed by rugged Maine life, dominates these stories. As schoolteacher, friend, wife, mother and grandmother, she comes alive on these pages with the full package of strengths, weaknesses and quirks that make for an authentic human personality. Olive notices everything, has an opinion about the ways things should be, and often runs roughshod over everyone in her life, while she truly enjoys the love and beauty of life. Olive Kitteridge offers fine writing, especially to those readers who enjoy both the precision of the short story genre, and the sweep of continuity from viewing a character from multiple perspectives and time periods. Reading a story a day for two weeks may feel like a vacation in Maine, even in the story when Olive visits her son in New York.
Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
Olive Kitteridge November 23, 2009
J. A. Theroux (Minneapolis, MN United States)
I loved this book. Olive has many dimensions as a human, like all of us she can do the right thing or react badly and do the wrong. Elizabeth Strout has captured what "Being Human" is all about.
Olive Kitteridge November 21, 2009
ajr (Milford, NH)
An interesting collection of characters, but all sad. The writing and character development make this a good, but depressing, read.
olive kittridge November 19, 2009
waymar (San Rafael CA)
This Book kept me interested and it had very good insights into small town Main life but I swear I was beginning to think Olive was bipolar or something. And I also did not like the political smart ass comments.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 281
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