Reviews - Olive Kitteridge

4.85k reviews for:

Olive Kitteridge

Elizabeth Strout

3.81 AVERAGE

meags_'s review against another edition

3.0

dark sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: No

jenniekeohane's review against another edition

4.0

Not a novel, but 13 little short vignettes in which Olive features to varying degrees. Each felt like a little treasure of human connection sought and sometimes found. Lovely.

bairdthereader's review against another edition

4.0

This book takes hold of you gradually, as does Olive herself. Brusque sometimes to the point of meanness, but also deeply perceptive, she's a fascinating yet completely normal main character. By the end, you feel you know her, maybe that you are her, in some way. Some of the individual stories are told from her point of view, some from the point of view of fellow townspeople. Occasionally she's only referenced obliquely, but that reference gives you a crystal clear piece of her nature. The story is simple really--one person's life--but its brutal honesty is balanced by compassion for a woman who occasionally feels that life getting away from her. I thought it was beautiful, gritty, and poignant, the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

tmeter's review against another edition

5.0

Well this was just wonderful!

clairezel's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wow I adored this book. The way all these random characters in this town received such intimate care in such short stories was masterful. The abrupt endings that always made me think.