Olive Kitteridge is the winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize and author Elizabeth Strout's third work. It is an unusual novel, in that it is not really a novel but a collection of 13 short stories. I don't usually enjoy short stories very much, as they seem to finish just as I start to get involved with the characters, leaving me with a sense of incompleteness. But I made an exception for Olive Kitteridge and I'm glad I did.
The stories are all set in a small town in New England, and each is seen through the eyes of different residents. Olive features in all of them, though in some of them she is only mentioned (The Piano Player and Ship in a Bottle, for example). Taken together, they draw a picture of Olive as a person; whether it is a complimentary picture or a derogatory one is up to each reader to decide (the sub-title on the cover is "What will you make of her?" ). Personally I found Olive very disagreeable and brash and I would struggle to spend a lot of time with her. And yet, in the stories that are from her point of view, I couldn't help but feel terribly sorry for her. "She didn't like being alone. Even more, she didn't like being with people." This complexity in her character come through most forcefully in the story Security where she visits her son in New York and ends up having a blazing row with him, all the time wishing inside her head that the argument would stop.
There is a sense of overwhelming sadness in almost all the characters. Most couples are in dysfunctional relationships and most children have unexpressed grievances with their parents. I was most relieved to meet Jane and Bob in The Winter Concert, an elderly couple still in love. When their contentment is threatened by a possible past indiscretion, I almost cried out "NO".
So, what did I make of Olive. I'm not sure if I'd like to be her neighbour or a member of the Civil War group she attends as I think I'd find her too overbearing, but she'd probably make a very stolid relative. As Jane says about her husband Henry, "He loves her. That's how he can stand her."
The book is well worth a read. It is a relatively quick read and easy to digest. I think it would make a good book club read; you can discuss Olive for hours!
If you have read the book, which story did you like best?
4 comments:
I have this on my TBR pile. Glad to read another positive review!
I'm reading this right now and yes it is vwery sad in most stories but many stories remind me of incidents in my life so I am indentifying with it a lot.
Claire, it is good. I read on Jackie's blog that she didn't think it would stand the test of time and still be popular years from now. I've been wondering about that, and maybe it is a bit too simple to have a long life. But for now, it is definitely a good read.
Lucy, I too identified with some situations, but mostly from the younger character's point of view (Olive's son for example). I wonder if I'll appreciate the older characters' point of view as I get older and gain more life experiences. Which characters did you identify with?
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