Olive Kitteridge Pulitzer Prize Winner by Elizabeth Strout
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Web ID: 15624449A deserving prize-winner.
Olive Kitteridge is the first book in the Olive Kitteridge series by award-winning, best-selling American author, Elizabeth Strout. The small coastal Maine town of Crosby is where Olive Kitteridge and her husband Henry have lived most of their lives. Olive taught math at the Junior High School for thirty-two years; Henry was a pharmacist in the next town over until he retired. Olive is a bit of an enigma: many in Crosby wonder how Henry puts up with her; she can be direct to the point of rudeness, never suffers fools, is petty and vindictive when it suits her, manages to unwittingly estrange those she cares about to the extent of her own heartbreak, yet can be uncannily perceptive to what others in distress need. When, in her early seventies, her son finally has the wherewithal to be candid, telling her she is bad tempered, her moods capricious, she is mystified and hurt. Strout has a talent for describing ordinary people living ordinary lives occasionally punctuated by extraordinary events that bring great joy or sorrow or excitement. She gives the reader significant episodes in the lives of the people of Crosby, told from multiple perspectives, and while Olive narrates only some, she features in each one, sometimes as a bystander, sometimes in a more important role. Related in separate chapters are instances of infidelity, accidental killing and the ensuing grief, a suicide thwarted, ageing, anorexia, an armed hold-up during which are uttered cruel words that can never be unsaid, superficial friends, a couple become reclusive through the actions of their son, early widowhood, confessions of adultery, the aftermath of a last-minute wedding cancellation, a progression from petty theft to arson, and late-in-life relationships. “But here they were, and Olive pictured two slices of Swiss Cheese pressed together, such holes they brought to this union – what pieces life took out of you.” Strout treats the reader to some gorgeous descriptive prose: “At the very moment Kevin became aware of liking the sound of her voice, he felt adrenaline pour through him, the familiar, awful intensity, the indefatigable system that wanted to endure. He squinted hard toward the ocean. Great gray clouds were blowing in, and yet the sun, as though in contest, streamed yellow rays beneath them so that parts of the water sparkled with frenzied gaiety.” When, at a certain point, Olive feels “something she had not expected to feel again: a sudden surging greediness for life. She leaned forward, peering out the window: sweet pale clouds, the sky as blue as your hat; the new green of the fields, the broad expanse of water – seen from up here it all appeared wondrous, amazing. She remembered what hope was, and this was it”, Kevin’s perception is different: “Hope was a cancer inside him. He didn’t want it; he did not want it. He could not bear these tender green shoots of hope springing up within him any longer.” A deserving prize-winner.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Good Reading, but Flawed
Olive isn’t an easy woman to love. Do you know someone who is sort of tough on everything? I mean like, nothing really makes them happy and they’re about to sabotage the people around them? That’s Olive Kitteridge. This is an award-winning book, so when I picked it up I had high hopes for it. I have to admit, this is a novel told in short stories. While this format might work for some books, this one was a tad jagged in places. The story involving Olive having to use the bathroom and ending up in the hospital comes to mind. I thought the stories would revolve around Olive more as a central character. Many times she’s a side player. Also, the writing didn’t flow as well as I might have liked and I did put this book down often. But if you go in knowing this is a different sort of book, a novel in short stories, then it might resonate differently with you. There are characters I did worry about and some I wanted to see more of. Many of the stories were quite bittersweet in nature, too. If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, then this might be the book for you. originally posted at long and short reviews
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com