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A review by benjiox
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
3.0
Eh, kind of disappointed with this one in all honesty. This novel is made up of 13 connected vignettes or short stories in their own right, with the titular Olive Kitteridge in some way playing some part in each section - most of the time as the central character.
Elizabeth Strout looks, in turn, at different snapshots in time of a wide-ranging cast of characters, most of whom know each other in some way, be it through working together, going to the same school - in which Olive used to be a maths teacher - and half the fun is picking up on these connections and subtle tie-ins between the sections.
There's something wonderfully... off-kilter about Strout's prose. Often I was caught out by an unexpected, but deft, turn of phrase, and the 'novel' has its moments. Sadly, for this reader, many of the chapters left me cold and unfeeling - a lot of the time, because we're introduced so briefly to supporting members of the cast, it becomes hard to invest in their everyday concerns.
I enjoy Strout's writing, and do fully intend to read some of her other work, particularly My Name is Lucy Barton and her newest book Anything is Possible, but I expected more from this Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2009).
Elizabeth Strout looks, in turn, at different snapshots in time of a wide-ranging cast of characters, most of whom know each other in some way, be it through working together, going to the same school - in which Olive used to be a maths teacher - and half the fun is picking up on these connections and subtle tie-ins between the sections.
There's something wonderfully... off-kilter about Strout's prose. Often I was caught out by an unexpected, but deft, turn of phrase, and the 'novel' has its moments. Sadly, for this reader, many of the chapters left me cold and unfeeling - a lot of the time, because we're introduced so briefly to supporting members of the cast, it becomes hard to invest in their everyday concerns.
I enjoy Strout's writing, and do fully intend to read some of her other work, particularly My Name is Lucy Barton and her newest book Anything is Possible, but I expected more from this Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2009).