Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth StroutHere is a collection of 13 stories (a novel in stories) so beautifully written that it won the Pulitzer prize for fiction this year. The common thread weaving these stories is Olive, a big-boned force of a woman in her 60's, cranky, abrasive, and not one to mince her words around anyone she encounters. Taking place in a small town on the coast of Maine, Elizabeth Strout draws us in to the subtle yet dramatic lives of the townsfolk of Crosby, interjecting Olive Kitteridge as both a meaningful figure in some and a peripheral figure in others. We come to understand Olive in her loneliness, love, her grief, and aging and grow with her when, after a lifetime of little patience for anyone she encounters in her life, she realizes and accepts her needs as well as those around her. This is life in all its honesty and a book you'll want to come back to time and time again. I loved it.
3 comments:
This sounds pretty good, but you know what sounds even better? Egg salad. And that's the truth.
My dad got this for me for Christmas last year. I turned my nose up at it...literally judged it by its cover. Then it won the Pulitzer. So, red faced, I took it off my shelf and ended up enjoying it quite a lot. I maintain my judgment on the cover design and the quotes they pulled. It looks like an Oprah's Book Club book. But it's actually really good, detailed and surprising writing.
That Oprah. Why can't she go away? Should've known we were in trouble when she stamped her big "O" on the cover of "The Road"!!
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