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ISBN13: 9780812971835
Condition: New
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Description
At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.
As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition–its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.
Praise for Olive Kitteridge:
“Perceptive, deeply empathetic . . . Olive is the axis around which these thirteen complex, relentlessly human narratives spin themselves into Elizabeth Strout’s unforgettable novel in stories.” –O: The Oprah Magazine
“Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge. . . . You’ll never forget her. . . . [Elizabeth Strout] constructs her stories with rich irony and moments of genuine surprise and intense emotion. . . . Glorious, powerful stuff.” –USA Today
“Funny, wicked and remorseful, Mrs. Kitteridge is a compelling life force, a red-blooded original. When she’s not onstage, we look forward to her return. The book is a page-turner because of her.” –San Francisco Chronicle
“Olive Kitteridge still lingers in memory like a treasured photograph.” –Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“Rarely does a story collection pack such a gutsy emotional punch.” –Entertainment Weekly
“Strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force. . . . [She] makes us experience not only the terrors of change but also the terrifying hope that change can bring: she plunges us into these churning waters and we come up gasping for air.” –The New Yorker
Product Details
Author:
Elizabeth Strout
Paperback:
304 pages
Publisher:
Random House Trade Paperbacks
Publication Date:
September 30, 2008
Language:
English
ISBN:
0812971833
Product Length:
8.01 inches
Product Width:
5.22 inches
Product Height:
0.67 inches
Product Weight:
0.47 pounds
Package Length:
7.9 inches
Package Width:
5.2 inches
Package Height:
0.8 inches
Package Weight:
0.35 pounds
Average Customer Rating:
based on 453 reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Well written, but... Sep 01, 2010 Elizabeth Strout has written a strong, emotionally stirring series of tales. I appreciate the way she believably weaves together the lives of her characters. Strout certainly has a gift for keenly observing human behavior of all ages and dispositions.
That said, I didn't find the book outstanding enough to receive the Pulitzer. It also seemed that some of the characters could have been omitted entirely and there would not have been much of an impact on the book as a whole (for example, the alcoholic pianist and the kleptomaniac daughter of a minister).
While Olive was the central character (but not obviously so), I don't think she necessarily had to be the focus of the book. The title of the book seems a misnomer. The book calls to mind a modernized, somewhat spicy version of Our Town.
I did enjoy reading Olive Kitteridge, but again, I do not think this book is Pulitzer material. It's somewhat slow-moving, but there is a market for this writing style. I don't think I would recommend Olive Kitteridge for those who want a central storyline and more action, but some readers may enjoy it very much for the fly-on-the-wall view of life in a small coastal town and some beautifully written scenes.
best book I have read this year Aug 31, 2010 I bought this book last year and saved it - until last week. Just finished it today - was breathtakingly, at times, heartbreakingly, beautiful. I have never read anything by Elizabeth Strout - just bought Amy and Isabel. I bet I will not be disappointed. She is a magnificent writer.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Old grumpy people Aug 24, 2010 This is a book about old grumpy people whining about their lives. All the things you don't want to read about getting old. Skip this one.
Songs of Experience Aug 21, 2010 Blake's poem "London" sums it up: "I wander throe' each charter'd street ... And mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe." Substitute small-town, ingrown, petit bourgeoise Crosby Maine, and you have it.
Strout's lovely phrasing folds in layer upon layer of bitterest irony. For example, a suicidal man, watches a waitress leave a cafe and reflects: "... as she moved toward the dock, he watched her shoulders, the long back, her thin hips as she moved - she was lovely, the way a sapling might be as the afternoon sun moved over it." Only the clinically depressed could so artfully twist the knife.
Love in its many dysfunctional forms is the reader's compass: excess of love, too little love, forbidden love, fear of love, infidelity, jealousy, narcissism, etc. It is love with a wonderful unexpected twist. Strout's maladroit lovers are not cliche, fresh-faced, rash and brash, twenty-somethings. Her lover's are past middle age, retired, twice-burned, fat, angry, fearful and depressed. They are a TV watching, fast-food-eating generation who married in the 1960s, had children in the 70s, retired in the 90s, and are now fading.
Olive Kitteridge, our prickly, self-righteous heroine, finally learns her lesson: "What young people didn't know ... that love as not to be tossed away carelessly, as if it were a tart on a platter with others that got passed around again. No, if love was available, one chose it, or didn't choose it." .... Her eyes were closed, and throughout her tired self swept waves of gratitude - and regret." Regret, because now lonely, she neglected her dead but loyal husband, Henry. Gratitude because in her old age she is having an affair, even though with a man both she and Henry once despised - an Harvard educated republican from New Jersey, who retired to Crosby and disdains the locals. It is advice to the young, from the old, to be disregarded. Thick and bitter irony.
Good book, great for a book club, not on my top list of books I've read Aug 20, 2010 Good book, great for a book club, not on my top list of books I've read
based on 453 reviews
Well written, but... Sep 01, 2010
best book I have read this year Aug 31, 2010
Old grumpy people Aug 24, 2010
