Reviews - Olive Kitteridge

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4.83k reviews for:

Olive Kitteridge

Elizabeth Strout

3.81 AVERAGE

sevenseventeen's review against another edition

3.0

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

meanieheadbookreviews's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A thrift store find I knew nothing about other than Frances McDormand played in titular character in the screen adaptation. Excellent casting, btw. And this book won the Pulitzer, so of course I’m going to read it. This is a series of short stories in novel format (many of them were published first in different literary journals), and it follows Olive and people in her town she knows both intimately and distantly. I’d call them various slice of life vignettes. Olive is a retired math teacher and a very severe, difficult personality. She reminded me of a lot of battle-hardened people I know, particularly some people I work with. This was an extremely human read. Imperfect people who get in their own way and lift each other up and break each other down. A lot of explorations of what it means to be self aware. And the ending really stuck the landing. I had to remind myself it was written before Trump, because GOLLY it was still accurate today. I might actually watch the miniseries. It won a bunch of Emmys. If you enjoy literary fiction that really explores the human condition, you’d like this one. It lived up to the hype.

makienzl's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

danaegele's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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

ari_bluerose's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

karenrj's review against another edition

4.0

Bafflingly, I thought I'd already read this book and found it good. Now one of my book clubs is reading Olive Again, and I decided to reread this one as a review. Only then did I discover that I hadn't read it and that I really, really liked it. It'd definitely be a 4.5 if that were possible. Deliberately, the author lets Olive grow on the reader; early on, she's not presented positively at all, but, as the book continues, her depths make her a fascinating character. I also enjoyed the portraits of the secondary characters, of whom there are a gracious plenty. This book reminded me of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. a collection of stories knitted into a united whole by the presence of an observing character. Olive isn't an observing character, but, in some of the chapters, she plays a very minor role, albeit one that gives the reader more insight into her character. Highly recommended, and I'm very glad that, now, I've finally really read it.