This week our travels take us to a small coastal village in Maine named Crosby. Here we explore the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winning book by Elizabeth Strout titled Olive Kitteridge. Does the author sound familiar? Her previous novels include Amy and Isabelle and Abide with Me.
I hesitate to call it a novel. To me, a novel has a distinct timeline or timelines and plot. Olive Kitteridge is a collection of 13 short stories that all take place in Crosby and have one person, the title character, in common. One story does not flow into another, the characters change often, and plots are subtle if at all present in this book.
What makes this a delight to read is the character study. We begin to interact with the main character of each vignette with sympathy. We want them not to hurt but hope. We want them to shine and not be scared. We want those alone to find someone. Then, lo and behold, Olive shows up and says forget that. What we want as readers is nice and all, but not the way the world works.
Each vignette also builds on Olive’s character. There are times when Olive is merely mentioned such as the story titled “The Piano Player.” Angela O’Meara plays the piano at the Warehouse Bar and Grill four times a week. Never been married, has no children and has sustained a 20 year relationship with a married man, she is now in her fifties.
On a particular night before Christmas, Angela is playing carols as an ex-boyfriend walks through the door. He takes a seat in the corner to watch her play as the Kitteridges’ pass through to the restaurant. Angela notices both but acknowledges Henry, Olive’s husband, whom she likes with his favorite tune, “Good Night, Irene.”
Here we see Olive do a trademark move. She waves over the back of her head to Angela as she quickly moves on to the backroom. From this we imagine Olive cannot be bothered with small talk. She has an agenda we are not privy to but we feel it important; although, Angela admits feeling rather uncomfortable on those nights Olive does stop to chat.
It is easy to see why the Pulitzer committee chose this book. We know Olive. Along with that thought, we know an Olive or Olives amongst us. Heck, Olive exists within our own selves, too. The book falls flat as one big story but knitted togetherness shows its humanistic appeal is universal.
For an excellent review see Nan at Letters from a Hill Farm!
13 comments:
This sounds a little different and that's a good thing! I've seen people reading it, but this the the first review I've read.
I've heard so many good things about this one! Thanks for your thoughts!
Stacy - I love this book and throughout I would wonder when is Olive going to show back up! :D
Tiffany - Good Stuff! I do want to warn you. It is not a feel good read. Lots of sadness but packed with human nature.
This is a great read. I had a little trouble getting into it, but once I finished the first story I was hooked. There's some Olive Kitteridge in all of us and Tiffany's right - it's not all feel good.
Thanks Linda! I hope you stop by more often. :)
I keep hearing about this book but haven't yet read it. It sounds like it's worth a look!
I've been wanting to read this. You have pushed me closer! Thanks for the great review!
Yes guys! It is harder for me to get into my next book b/c Olive was that good. I look forward to y'alls opinions! :D
Terrific review, Maggie! I just finished the book today, and after I wrote my blog entry on it, I came right over to read yours. Interesting that in that whole book, you and I chose the piano player and the favorite song, though we have a bit of a different approach to it.
I encountered Olive Kitteridge as a book on CD, not knowing if it was new or old. I also had no idea it was a short story collection, so I encountered it as a novel. (I blogged on it earlier). Olive seemed so hard at first, but she grew on me. By the end, I really cared for her.
Recently the book was under discussion on NPR. The discussion convinced me I needed to convince my book club to choose the book so I would have an excuse to read it again.
I'm reading this right now, and have just read the piano player chapter (only started yesterday)
Love it already!!
Why thank you Nan! The Piano Player is very powerful and it proves how one reader can get a totally different perspective from the same story!
Nancy - this book is a shoo-in for book club! Hope I get the assignment! ;D
Great Carole! it is soooooo good! :)
This is a GREAT book club selection although I predict that some will not be able to get around their dislike of Olive. One member commented that she tries to avoid people like Olive which I guess is the "feel good" thing. Most humans are flawed, some more than others, and all in different ways. Olive certainly demonstrates that. I loved the various themes which were so artfully developed throughout the book: secrets, the hunger for happiness and fulfillment, trust, betrayal, resentment. Strout placed Olive in all of these awful situations and somehow she seemed to know how to react honestly and efficiently. Unfortunately, she did not seem to have the same skill set for her own life.
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