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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Olive – Emma Gannon
This is one of those books that kept popping up in my timeline – recommended by bloggers, instagrammers and tweeters I follow. I was interested in the blurb:
“OLIVE is many things.
Independent.
Adrift.
Anxious.
Loyal.
Kind.
Knows her own mind.
It’s ok that she’s still figuring it all out, navigating her world without a compass. But life comes with expectations, there are choices to be made, boxes to tick and – sometimes – stereotypes to fulfil. And when her best friends’ lives start to branch away towards marriage and motherhood, leaving the path they’ve always followed together, Olive starts to question her choices – because life according to Olive looks a little bit different.
Moving, memorable and a mirror for every woman at a crossroads, OLIVE has a little bit of all of us. Told with great warmth and nostalgia, this is a modern tale about the obstacle course of adulthood, milestone decisions and the ‘taboo’ about choosing not to have children.”
This sounds like just my thing, a voice for her generation and covering a topic which resonates with me – I’m 37 and don’t have children, although I am fortunate to have lots of nieces and nephews as well a surrogate nieces and nephews. I’m sorry to say, as I do appreciate how much blood, sweat and tears go into the publication of anything – I really disliked it. I hated Olive and her voice, she is breathtakingly selfish and self centred and then constantly wonders why her friends are not replying instantly to her WhatsApp messages. This review is going to contain spoilers, so I can talk a bit about specifics. Don’t read on if you do want to read this without knowing some of the details and plot points.
A problematic or unreliable narrator is nothing new, of course, and they can often make for interesting narratives – a redemptive character arc, the shape of someone based on the people around them, a bit of a detective story as you try to work out what’s really going on. “Gone Girl”, by Gillian Flynn, for example. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. Olive learns nothing new in the course of the 4oo pages. Literally nothing, and her bad behaviour is validated by her friends and family, even to the point where her new boyfriend applauds her independence to the point of selfishness.
Her inner monologue, as we never hear from anyone else, is of a pretty dreadful human being. She moans when her friends are late but continually mooches around and turns up 15 minutes late to all of her meetings – including boasting that she’s so good at her job and so senior that she can turn up when she wants and no-one will challenge her.
She lies, too, telling people she’s busy with work when she really wants to run a bath and relax. Nothing wrong at all with relaxing, and taking time for yourself – but I believe that you should be honest and tell your friends and boyfriends what you’re doing, or at least recognise that it’s a bit crap of you to lie outright.
She also pats herself on the back when she reaches out a tiny pinky finger to help her supposed best friends. One of them is going through post natal depression, one has three kids and a cheating husband and the other is just enduring her third round of IVF and is desperate for children. At one point, this friend has an argument with her partner and comes to stay with Olive. Olive promptly claims triumph for being a great friend, then leaves her to go to an improv class, followed by beers with the class. She then has a tantrum when her friend suggests they eat dinner together, telling her she needs to work and basically, that’s her too bad if she can’t handle that. At one point she wonders where her elderly next door neighbour is as her lights are off at night, very unusual for her. She shrugs, goes to bed and then when she wakes up in the morning she decides to go and knock on her door – but makes sure she washes her face and gets properly dressed first. Her neighbour turns out to be dead in the hallway, having been found by the postman that morning. Seriously.
It isn’t just Olive’s jaw dropping narcissism that made this unlikeable for me to read, but also the lack of any other characters’ perspectives. She is front and centre, and I think it would have been great to hear from other people in her life. What does her boyfriend of nine years really think about what happened – did they break up simply because he wanted kids and she didn’t? How about her sister, who dips in and out but doesn’t seem to hold any sort of view, really, apart from to tell Olive how she should work for charity because it’s so rewarding.
Additionally, there were some wince-inducing.. mistakes, I guess, which I would have thought would have been picked up by an editorial read. A couple of times she orders a ‘small beer’ in pubs. What’s a small beer? I have drunk beer in pubs for 20 years and have never ordered a small beer. If I had, I would have been laughed at by the person behind the bar. Some of the timelines were strange too – she has an appointment at 9am and then goes to get a gin immediately afterwards, encouraged by her gay BF from work. With the rest of the book, getting a gin on a work day and on what would have been about 11.30am at the latest, would have received some attention, but this passed without her comment. There’s another section where she talks about it being light and warm in the evenings because the clocks have just gone back, mid summer. Er. Clocks go back in October. Head scratching.
I know, none of this sounds particularly important or life changing, but for me they really bounced me out of the story.
Lastly, there were no distinct voices. I struggled to remember who was talking most of the time – Cec, Iz or Bea, as they are all so interchangeable. I also struggled with the timeline, partly as a result of the lack of unambiguous dialogue – it jumped about without seeming to really settle on what it was trying to say or highlight.
Phew. I did like some aspects - a couple of Instagram accounts I follow were referenced, like Accidentally Wes Anderson. I also liked the premise that there is room for women who choose to not have children – unfortunately in this instance, it comes across as the only space available and everyone else is wrong.
I do think it’s important to write honest reviews, and I hope that’s come through with this one. Thank you as always to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the digital ARC!
This is one of those books that kept popping up in my timeline – recommended by bloggers, instagrammers and tweeters I follow. I was interested in the blurb:
“OLIVE is many things.
Independent.
Adrift.
Anxious.
Loyal.
Kind.
Knows her own mind.
It’s ok that she’s still figuring it all out, navigating her world without a compass. But life comes with expectations, there are choices to be made, boxes to tick and – sometimes – stereotypes to fulfil. And when her best friends’ lives start to branch away towards marriage and motherhood, leaving the path they’ve always followed together, Olive starts to question her choices – because life according to Olive looks a little bit different.
Moving, memorable and a mirror for every woman at a crossroads, OLIVE has a little bit of all of us. Told with great warmth and nostalgia, this is a modern tale about the obstacle course of adulthood, milestone decisions and the ‘taboo’ about choosing not to have children.”
This sounds like just my thing, a voice for her generation and covering a topic which resonates with me – I’m 37 and don’t have children, although I am fortunate to have lots of nieces and nephews as well a surrogate nieces and nephews. I’m sorry to say, as I do appreciate how much blood, sweat and tears go into the publication of anything – I really disliked it. I hated Olive and her voice, she is breathtakingly selfish and self centred and then constantly wonders why her friends are not replying instantly to her WhatsApp messages. This review is going to contain spoilers, so I can talk a bit about specifics. Don’t read on if you do want to read this without knowing some of the details and plot points.
A problematic or unreliable narrator is nothing new, of course, and they can often make for interesting narratives – a redemptive character arc, the shape of someone based on the people around them, a bit of a detective story as you try to work out what’s really going on. “Gone Girl”, by Gillian Flynn, for example. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. Olive learns nothing new in the course of the 4oo pages. Literally nothing, and her bad behaviour is validated by her friends and family, even to the point where her new boyfriend applauds her independence to the point of selfishness.
Her inner monologue, as we never hear from anyone else, is of a pretty dreadful human being. She moans when her friends are late but continually mooches around and turns up 15 minutes late to all of her meetings – including boasting that she’s so good at her job and so senior that she can turn up when she wants and no-one will challenge her.
She lies, too, telling people she’s busy with work when she really wants to run a bath and relax. Nothing wrong at all with relaxing, and taking time for yourself – but I believe that you should be honest and tell your friends and boyfriends what you’re doing, or at least recognise that it’s a bit crap of you to lie outright.
She also pats herself on the back when she reaches out a tiny pinky finger to help her supposed best friends. One of them is going through post natal depression, one has three kids and a cheating husband and the other is just enduring her third round of IVF and is desperate for children. At one point, this friend has an argument with her partner and comes to stay with Olive. Olive promptly claims triumph for being a great friend, then leaves her to go to an improv class, followed by beers with the class. She then has a tantrum when her friend suggests they eat dinner together, telling her she needs to work and basically, that’s her too bad if she can’t handle that. At one point she wonders where her elderly next door neighbour is as her lights are off at night, very unusual for her. She shrugs, goes to bed and then when she wakes up in the morning she decides to go and knock on her door – but makes sure she washes her face and gets properly dressed first. Her neighbour turns out to be dead in the hallway, having been found by the postman that morning. Seriously.
It isn’t just Olive’s jaw dropping narcissism that made this unlikeable for me to read, but also the lack of any other characters’ perspectives. She is front and centre, and I think it would have been great to hear from other people in her life. What does her boyfriend of nine years really think about what happened – did they break up simply because he wanted kids and she didn’t? How about her sister, who dips in and out but doesn’t seem to hold any sort of view, really, apart from to tell Olive how she should work for charity because it’s so rewarding.
Additionally, there were some wince-inducing.. mistakes, I guess, which I would have thought would have been picked up by an editorial read. A couple of times she orders a ‘small beer’ in pubs. What’s a small beer? I have drunk beer in pubs for 20 years and have never ordered a small beer. If I had, I would have been laughed at by the person behind the bar. Some of the timelines were strange too – she has an appointment at 9am and then goes to get a gin immediately afterwards, encouraged by her gay BF from work. With the rest of the book, getting a gin on a work day and on what would have been about 11.30am at the latest, would have received some attention, but this passed without her comment. There’s another section where she talks about it being light and warm in the evenings because the clocks have just gone back, mid summer. Er. Clocks go back in October. Head scratching.
I know, none of this sounds particularly important or life changing, but for me they really bounced me out of the story.
Lastly, there were no distinct voices. I struggled to remember who was talking most of the time – Cec, Iz or Bea, as they are all so interchangeable. I also struggled with the timeline, partly as a result of the lack of unambiguous dialogue – it jumped about without seeming to really settle on what it was trying to say or highlight.
Phew. I did like some aspects - a couple of Instagram accounts I follow were referenced, like Accidentally Wes Anderson. I also liked the premise that there is room for women who choose to not have children – unfortunately in this instance, it comes across as the only space available and everyone else is wrong.
I do think it’s important to write honest reviews, and I hope that’s come through with this one. Thank you as always to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the digital ARC!
I want to be clear that while I LOVED this book, I don’t think it’s for everyone. It spoke to me so much in the stage of life I’m currently in, but I don’t think it would be as impactful for someone who is already a mother or is TTC. That being said, it’s a beautiful book about the power of making your own choices and living life in an authentic way, on your own terms. There’s lots of underlying friendship themes threaded throughout, and it focuses a lot on how friendships change as we age. If you think you might be on a different “non-traditional” path as a woman - you will love this book. Such great perspective and a reminder that there is no “right” way to live your life as long as you are always seeking what brings you joy.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While I understand the distain this book has received, I enjoyed it. Yeah, she's a bit over-sensitive and annoying, but it can be depressing when your only friends desert you. Yes, she could have said things earlier, but she thought her friends were too busy. Yes, it's 'first world problems', but it's also light entertainment, don't take everything so seriously.
Olive is a contemporary novel about Olive and her three friends, all in their early thirties. Bea is a mother of three, married to a movie director. Cec is a lawyer, pregnant with her first child. Isla is a therapist, who's struggling with fertility issues. Olive, on the other hand, is adamant she doesn't want children, which, of course, causes consternation, reprobations, and a long-term relationship to fall apart. How dare Olive not want what she's supposed to want?
Kudos to Gannon for approaching this controversial topic of women opting to stay child-free. I think she covered the many facets very well. Women don't owe anyone any explanations about their choice to procreate or not. Not in this day and age anyway.
Kudos to Gannon for approaching this controversial topic of women opting to stay child-free. I think she covered the many facets very well. Women don't owe anyone any explanations about their choice to procreate or not. Not in this day and age anyway.
Surprisingly resonated with this book more than I expected.Told from the perspective of Olive, who has decided not to have kids, this book described the challenges women face when making such a decision and how it affects their relationships - romantic but also friendships.
It was eye-opening, a little sad but also heart-warming as a story itself. I liked the characters, and the story flowed nicely - i finished the 400 pages in a day!
For a romance novel, it felt a lot more realistic as it touched upon some pretty heavy, real life topics.
I know some people here weren't a fan of the ending, but I actually liked it - it felt much more like a choice, not like a "happy ending for the sake of it being a romance novel"
It was eye-opening, a little sad but also heart-warming as a story itself. I liked the characters, and the story flowed nicely - i finished the 400 pages in a day!
For a romance novel, it felt a lot more realistic as it touched upon some pretty heavy, real life topics.
I know some people here weren't a fan of the ending, but I actually liked it - it felt much more like a choice, not like a "happy ending for the sake of it being a romance novel"
3.5 stars - I was really excited about this book after hearing it being discussed on 'Fortunately' & ' The High Low'. As another review mentioned it was an easy read. It covers a wide range of topics and perspectives related to the choice of parenthood - some were great to see on the page and normalised in this way, but others felt cliched and forced at times. I'll definitely be recommending it on and think it'll be great to discuss. I think I was maybe expecting too much from it & didn't ultimately feel I found Olive's world believable.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Its not often that we read about characters who choose to be child-free, alongside other stories of motherhood, fertility and family, which I think was the main reason I enjoyed this book. The tensions articulated between the close group of friends felt authentic but were handled carefully so that no character felt superior or more likeable than any other. My main gripe was the fact that it felt very white, middle-class and London-centric. While it did a good job of portraying a wide range of experiences relating to motherhood, it would have benefited from also examining the potential influence of race, disability, class or sexuality for example. That might have tipped it into strained woke essay rather than enjoyable novel, but a recognition of these other factors would have added depth to the story. Gannon is presumably writing about "what she knows" though, which she has done well.