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    Olive Kitteridge: The Beloved Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel
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    Olive Kitteridge: The Beloved Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel
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    Olive Kitteridge: The Beloved Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel
    Ebook338 pages6 hours

    Olive Kitteridge: The Beloved Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel

    By Elizabeth Strout

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Olive Kitteridge – the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novel
     
    This beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, turned into an Emmy Award-winning HBO mini-series, is an extraordinary story about an ordinary woman’s life, and a vibrant exploration of all that connects us. The story of Olive Kitteridge will make you laugh, nod in recognition, wince in pain, and shed a tear or two.
    'As perfect a novel as you will ever read… So astonishingly good that I shall be reading it once a year for the foreseeable future and very probably for the rest of my life.'Evening Standard
     
    Olive Kitteridge is a complex woman. Described by some as indomitable and by others as compassionate, she herself has always been certain that she is absolutely right about everything. A retired schoolteacher in a small coastal town in Maine, as she grows older she struggles to make sense of the changes in her life.
     
    Through different narratives, telling the triumphs and tragedies of those around her, and spanning years, Olive’s story emerges. We meet her stoic husband, bound to her in a marriage both broken and strong, and a young man pained by loss – whom Olive comforts by her mere presence, while her own son feels overwhelmed by her sensitivities.
     
     
    Praise for Elizabeth Strout
    ‘Strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force.’ The New Yorker 
    'A terrific writer.' Zadie Smith
    'So good it gave me goosebumps.’Sunday Times
    'A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own.' Hilary Mantel
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster UK
    Release dateApr 12, 2013
    ISBN9781471128653
    Unavailable
    Olive Kitteridge: The Beloved Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel
    Author

    Elizabeth Strout

    Elizabeth Strout is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Burgess Boys; Olive Kitteridge, for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize; the national bestseller Abide with Me; and Amy and Isabelle, winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in London.

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    Reviews for Olive Kitteridge

    4/5

    3,608 ratings364 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Olive Kitteridge is the retired schoolteacher of Crosby, Maine whose influence has spread not only to her students but to the community at large. Challenging and difficult, aloof and critical, she does have a soft side. Unfortunately not many people see that soft side. Overall, she is an interesting and formidable character
    • 3/5
      Eh? After all the glowing reviews of this book I was quite disappointed. The construction of the book was interesting but I was left wanting to know more about the people whose lives we briefly observed. Did any of them ever get it together? I suspect not, since all the characters, regardless of their age or circumstance, seemed to feel isolated, lonely, and depressed. Except Henry. I would have enjoyed this more if it had been called Henry Strout with him as the lynchpin around which everything revolved.
    • 4/5
      Olive, the stern, contrary, complex school teacher, is the connecting thread through what are essentially a series of short stories. A snapshot of a small Maine town, the people that live there and the events that shape them.
    • 2/5
      Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge is a“novel in stories” set in a small community on the coast of Maine, a quintessentially New England town.

      One story takes place at the funeral reception of a man whose wife has just learned that he had been unfaithful to her. Another story describes a hostage-taking in a hospital. Then you have the story of an old lover who surprises a lounge pianist, sending her reeling back into painful memories. An overbearing mother, Olive, visits her estranged son and his pregnant wife. this ends badly. The stories all involving Olive Kítteridge, encompass a wide range of experience.

      Olive is a stern seventh-grade math teacher and the wife of a pharmacist. This strong character link the 13 stories. She is a big woman as pointed out throughout the events. You will not like Olive, but the stories are interesting

      The stories involving her son though the years of his growing up and moving away, you see his mother hurling insults at her son and at times you will feel he is mistreated, but she also loves him, almost more than she can bear. Her husband is a kind man and she loves him too, although she has trouble expressing it. She doesn't treat husband, Henry very nicely either, and he begins to roam. She’s prone to “stormy moods,” as well as “sudden, deep laughter,” and she harbors a sense of compassion, even for strangers.

      In one story, Olive bursts into tears when she meets an anorexic young woman. “I don’t know who you are,” she confesses, “but young lady, you’re breaking my heart.” “I’m starving, too,” Olive tells her. “Why do you think I eat every doughnut in sight?” “You’re not starving,” the girl replies, looking at this large woman, with her thick wrists and hands, her “big lap.” “Sure I am,” Olive says. “We all are.”

      I enjoyed the book but didn't see a Pulitzer and was glad to close the cover at the end.

    • 4/5
      I saw the movie before I'd read the book, which didn't give me the sense of how it was written. Such a unique format! It's episodic, with each chapter written about completely different people, and only some in Olive Kitteridge's "voice." (those were my favorite chapters) However, all tie together, b/c all of these different and unique characters have had some sort of interaction with Olive.

      All in all, a great read.
    • 4/5
      This book is a series of independent short stories. The common thread is the title character, Olive Kitteridge, who appears or is at least mentioned in each of the stories. Olive is a complex character. She appears to be emotionless until her relationship with her son is discussed. His unwillingness to embrace her gnaws at her constantly throughout the stories. The writing of this short story novel is worthy of the Pulitzer Prize it won.
    • 4/5
      A really lovely book - the Midwest Reservoir 13. Every chapter stands alone as a dazzling short story, and they come together to form a charming bundle. I'm excited to see the HBO adaptation - and read the recently-announced sequel.
    • 4/5
      Because the language and characters are so good, this book is enjoyable to read even though the scenes portrayed are sometimes depressing, and even though I usually prefer novels to short stories. The character, Olive, is portrayed through a number of stories which center on different characters who live in her New England town. This at times reminded me of Salinger's stories, in that some of the minor characters in one story appear later in their own stories. This creates a loose web of relationships and shows different views of the characters. I had not read anything by Elizabeth Strout before, but this book makes me want to read more of her writing.
    • 4/5
      Olive Kitteridge is subtitled a "novel in stories". Reading this book is like looking through a family photo album. Each short story is a snapshot portraying life in small town Maine. Strout expertly constructs each snapshot for us with her beautiful prose, adding layer upon layer, and often adding a slight twist at the end of the story which completely changes the picture we thought we were seeing, into something we weren’t quite expecting at all.Olive is of course our title character but she isn’t always the main character in each short story. In those stories where she is our main character, we get to spend a little time in the head of a woman who is struggling mightily to make sense of her life as she grows older and feels the world moving on without her. In some of the other stories Olive plays a secondary character, in others she’s merely an extra in the scene, and in still others she’s nothing more than a memory, but she does manage to show up, in some way, in each one. These other stories serve not only to introduce us to some of the other people in the town but also to show us the other sides of Olive’s character, thereby letting the reader see that the way we see ourselves is not always the same way that others see us.
    • 4/5
      This is a novel made up of short stories, many of which relate to the eponymous character, who is given to behavior whch causes one to alternately admire and dislike her. The events occur in a coastal town in Maine, which seems to be a town where everybody knows eveybody, but a lot of not good things go on: adultery, incest, drug terrorists, etc. I guess the reason I gave the book four stars instead of 3 and a half is because Olive's feeling about George W. Bush are just like mine.
    • 5/5
      Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout was a novel comprised of thirteen short stories about people living in rural Maine. Several of the stories were based on the title character, but many of the stories only showed us a glimpse of Olive. From any perspective, Strout provided her readers with an enjoyable cast of characters and their life stories.Olive was a retired teacher, married to Henry, and the mother of one son, Christopher. As a teacher at the same middle school for years, she had the rare opportunity to know most of her neighbors through school. Olive was flawed, often depicted as angry, condescending and sharp-tongued. However, in other chapters, Olive showed many favorable characteristics, helping her former students and fellow townspeople in small but significant ways.Through this quilt of stories, the readers – and Olive –gleaned lessons of loving and living. One of my favorite thoughts from Olive Kitteridge was at the very end: “…that love was not to be tossed away on a platter with others that got passed around again. No, if love was available, one chose it, or didn’t choose it.” Though Olive’s life story, I learned something about my own life and choices (good and bad) that I’ve made. The character of Olive Kitteridge with her detestable moments in one chapter and her tender moments in another made her real and alive to me. She was a cantankerous old lady with a heart of gold. Indeed, she will go down as one of my favorite literary characters.If you enjoyed the structure of Winesburg, Ohio or the small-town writing style of Richard Russo, then grab Olive Kitteridge. But even if you don’t, grab this book anyway. I think most readers of contemporary women’s fiction can find something to like in Olive Kitteridge (and I bet it will be Olive herself).
    • 4/5
      A great book and a talented writer. As someone who reads a lot of fiction, I find that characters in novels can start to blend together after awhile. Not so for Olive Kitteridge! This is one book that I plan to read again in a few years and I bet that it will be just as good or better the next time around...
    • 5/5
      I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this wonderful book as part of LIbraryThing's Early Reviewers program. The book takes its title from the main character Olive Kitteridge, a former teacher in her small Maine town. The reader becomes acquainted with Olive through a series of short stories, each of which feature her as a main or minor character, as she interacts with and is remembered by others in town. This allows the author to develop Olive's character so fully that I felt as if I knew her when I was done reading the book.Olive is quite a tall woman with strong emotions and outspoken opinions about almost everything and everybody. She does not suffer fools gladly and consequently many in town are intimidated by her. Since there is little dramatic arc in this novel, it could almost be called more of a character study. I loved this book because I felt as if I was getting to know this complex woman in a very natural way, starting with the superficial external qualities and gradually becoming acquainted with her innermost thoughts and feelings. I was sorry to finish reading this book because I kind of miss old Olive and wonder what she's up to these days.However, as we see in various of the stories in this book, Olive has a big heart and cares strongly for her friends, family and former students. She just can't express her love, so she is often misunderstood.
    • 4/5
      Olive Kitteridge (the book) is a collection of 13 short stories set in the small town of Crosby, Maine. Olive Kitteridge (the character) is a retired school teacher who makes appearances in each of the short stories. In some, she is the main character and the story is told from her point of view; in others, she just passes by in the background. Each one of the short stories could (and has, as I understand) stand on its own. Typically, I prefer to invest my time and emotions into reading a full novel - getting to know and care about the characters in a way that is difficult to achieve in a short story. Somehow, Elizabeth Strout manages to overcome this challenge in each of her short stories - I found myself easily relating to many of the characters and feeling as though I've met them before in my own small town. In regards to Olive, sometimes I liked her, other times I was irritated by her - which felt very authentic and comparable to relationships in real life. I would recommend this book to others.
    • 2/5
      Set in a town in Maine, this is a collection of inter-related short stories all of which involve the title character, sometimes as the star and sometimes in a walk-on part. The stories feature a lot of anger, infidelity, depression, and general mean-spiritedness that one might find among the people of any small town (or large city). Apparently fictional accounts of awful people are all the rage in my book groups as of late. At any rate, Strout's writing is decent but this book just didn't move me.
    • 5/5
      Elizabeth Strout's novel-in-stories about an acerbic math teacher from Crosby, Maine, has all the virtues of her first novel Amy and Isabelle, and then some. Strout writes about the lives of ordinary people with a clear-eyed yet empathetic realism, and she evokes strong emotion from the reader without resorting to melodrama.Olive Kitteridge, a salty old woman with a dried pit of a heart, is nasty to her sweet husband Henry, and verbally and physically abusive to her son, Christopher. She walks through life steeped in disdain and disappointment toward all whom she encounters. There really isn't much to like about this character, but there is much to marvel about Strout's wonderful job of characterization, because this woman really breathes. As the book progresses, Olive pays dearly for some of her worst behavior, and the readers does end up understanding if not forgiving her.Not every story in the book centers on Olive, but each illustrates the same theme of ordinary couples and individuals struggling with their secret failures and disappointments, mostly in their relationships with each other. A perky picker-upper this book is not, but I would scarcely call it "depressing," as some have. Indeed, all this intense emotional realism, rendered in Strout's beautiful unadorned prose, is positively exhilarating.
    • 5/5
      Olive Kitteridge was selected by my book club The Page Turners, as our November read. Olive Kitteridge was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. After reading it, I can say that I am very pleased with this choice of winners. I have a certain expectation for story telling and writing when I pull a Pulitzer awarded book off the shelf and Olive Kitteridge did not disappoint.The book is a collection of short stories of ordinary folks from a small town. I didn't feel like I was reading short stories that end and leave me wanting more. After hearing the second story, I was confident that I would be satisfied with another story that would some how connect me to the character, Olive Kitteridge. I was engrossed in the stories as if I was reading a novel. I was reminded of Russo's, Empire Falls. (Pulitzer Prize 2002). Often the best stories seem to come from a day in the life of ordinary people with every day family dynamics and issues.The book takes place in the small town of Portland, Maine and the stories revolve around a central character Olive Kitteridge. At times she is a grumpy, outspoken, and a rude woman. As the stories unfold, more is revealed of Olive. Who is Olive Kitteridge? Do we love her or hate her? I appreciated her for being ordinary and sensible despite her flawed demeanor. For me Olive is " the town staple" like the local store or any other structure that individualizes a town.Henry Kitteridge, Olive's husband, is a wonderful man and perhaps it may seem that he is too nice and too kind for Olive. Does he deserve the wrath of Olive? Yet we can sense at times that Olive has a deep love for Henry, her son and others. Why oh why doesn't this come through in her dealings with them at all times. The stories interconnect in a way to reveal Olive's insecurities and the depth of her character in relation to the perils of the community. Outwardly it seems that she doesn't have deep compassion to love those in her life, and yet the stories reveal more to us.Who of us doesn't know an "Olive." And do we see or feel an "Olive" in our own self? So often it seems that Olive could use a word or two to "mend" a situation. What gets in the way of a kinder word being spoken to heal or mend the situation?The writing is utterly fantastic. I do regret that I only listened to the audio book of Olive Kitteridge and I don't have any quotes to share as I was driving a lot when I listened. However, I want to say that this audio book was outstandingly well read. This is also book that I want to put into my own library.How did my group like the book?A member in Mississippi said, "I liked the book a lot and of course marked several Olive-isms." She had a lot more to contribute than just that and she enjoyed reading the book and savoring it.Another member had this review to share:" I gave Olive Kitteridge two stars because I liked the format of the book (a collection of short stories) and thought that some of the stories had profoundly thought provoking points. Unfortunately, the book didn't grab me. It could be because every short story seemed to start off the same... it took a several pages to figure out what was going on because of the exhaustive use of "they," "he," "she," or "it" before anything was clear. Overall, it wasn't a terrible book but not one I may recommend either."-Chuluota Book JunkieI give the book high praise for my favorite read of 2009.
    • 3/5
      A novel of linked short stories in the realist tradition bears a double burden: each story must establish its own terms while furthering the emotional arc of the larger narrative. It's a difficult balance to strike, and much of the time Strout engages on both levels. While the book as a whole hums around the central character of Olive, an acerbic retired teacher in small-town Maine—the queen in her own rather desolate hive—she is a major presence in just over half of the stories. Six of the thirteen are told from her perspective. When Olive makes an obligatory appearance in several others, we glimpse her as her neighbors or former students do.Perhaps because that double narrative duty is weighty, I most enjoyed some of the stories that intersected least with Olive, as stories in their own rights. “Ship in a Bottle” is told from the perspective of a young girl growing up in an eccentric household who, somewhat uncomprehendingly, gives her older sister a chance at a different sort of life. “Criminal” deftly inhabits the mind of a desultory young woman who has slipped through the cracks of convention.In many ways Strout wisely allows small moments to carry the force of the narrative. She is adept at the quick turn. After a bizarre interlude in “A Different Road,” in which Olive and her husband are held hostage, the trauma the couple experiences results not so much from the event itself, but rather from the terrible fight they have under pressure. The punch comes in a pleasingly slight way: Olive transfers this lingering hurt to caring for the boy who held a gun over them, imagining he might want a handmade smock for working in the prison garden. In “Security,” when Olive visits her estranged son and his new family in New York, she reaches her breaking point because of something similarly minor but deeply meaningful to her: Christopher and his wife don’t tell her she has spilled ice cream on her shirt, reminding Olive of her Aunt Ora’s pathetic decline and, inevitably, her own.At times, the flimsiness of certain conceits undermines the emotional weight that Strout tries to sustain. Some dialogue is blatantly unbelievable and it’s hard to avoid the impression that she not infrequently condescends to her characters. Disappointingly, at the end of the final story, when balance is so important not only to the story but to the novel, Strout resorts to a pedestrian metaphor: "Olive pictured two slices of Swiss cheese pressed together, such holes they brought to this union—what pieces life took out of you." Ostensibly this is the sort of image that a woman like Olive might settle on, but in contrast with the elegiac tones of the surrounding narration, it’s played in the wrong register.
    • 4/5
      This novel takes the form of thirteen linked narratives set in a small coastal town in Maine, in which characters’ lives intersect, weave in and out, or exist only as hearsay to one another. The only thing that all the stories have in common is that the title character, Olive Kitterage, appears in all of them: sometimes as a central figure, sometimes glimpsed in passing, or in the thoughts of her husband Henry. This narrative approach results in the most effective portrayal of a Woman in the World that I have read for a long time. Our early impressions of Olive are fleeting, through the eyes of others who, apart from Henry, are not her intimates. In this way, a complex and sometimes contradictory picture of her is created. Sure, a first person narrative would give a more consistent, accurate and personal view of Olive – as she sees herself. The shifting perspectives (temporal & individual) that we get correlate so much more with how individuals experience one another in ‘real life’. The lack of an extensive subjective narrative leaves gaps and questions that both add to the complexity of the portrayal and leave the other characters’ stories room to breathe. We spiral closer and closer to the subject as the narrative progresses, until we are with Olive alone, reflecting on a life.Is Olive a likeable character? As the school maths teacher (latterly retired) she is known to everyone in town; though she does not seem to have any close friends. She has a short temper and a sharp tongue, most notably when dealing with her son. She seems to be respected, not least for her honesty – but she seems to be disappointed to the point of bitterness by the people around her. Perhaps a better question would be, does Olive like herself?
    • 3/5
      I really didn't get the whole book, it was very disjointed to me. I kept reading hoping to find some nice tidy resoultion at the end, but that never happened.
    • 5/5
      I finished this book in about a week, and it may have been the best book I read all year. Strout evokes New England in a way that makes it seem both insane and full of aching nostalgia and clean simplicity. All of the bruised people, wary and gossiping but somehow also keeping to themselves, go about their lives with a kind of quiet pain. And yet the novel isn't ultimately sad. Olive Kitteridge, bristling, tough and emotional, is an incredibly complex and memorable character. The way Strout writes the novel, in stories sometimes about Olive, sometimes about others in the town, works with a kind of subtle magic. Some of the stories are better than others - the first one is brilliant and gives Henry (Olive's husband) to the reader in such a full and intriguing way that he stays lodged in your heart even though he's only seen in the rest of the stories briefly and through someone else's eyes.

      The prose itself is quite simple, but all the more powerful and human for it. "She'd been through some things, but never mind. She straightened her back. Other people had been through things, too."

      I adored this book and wish it had been twice as long. The Pulitzer was more than deserved.
    • 5/5
      This is the story of Olive Kitteridge, a woman from Maine. I loved the writing and the descriptions. Living in Maine, I think Elizabeth Strout captured small town life in Maine perfectly. The story is told in a bunch of short stories from various viewpoints (Olive, her husband, other townsfolk). It makes you remember that how you see yourself is not how other people see you. Some people think Olive is cold, but she thinks she's very loving. Great story of small town life. I highly recommend.
    • 5/5
      I have been wanting to read this book for quite awhile. It is on all the "Book Club Lists" and "Must Read Lists" and has won a Pulitzer Prize. I figured it had to be good and so it was chosen as our book club pick this month. I am looking forward to hearing what everyone thought next week.Each chapter is like a short story revolving around a character or characters in the town of Crosby, Maine. At some point, Olive Kitteridge weaves her way into their story as well sometimes in a big way and others a small way. This book is like taking your community and being a fly on the wall in each other's homes.....getting to see what is really going on inside. I really became wrapped up in the stories in each chapter and was sad when some of the chapters were done. I was left wanting to know more, which I am sure was intended by the author. Lessons were learned and thoughts were provoked many times throughout the book. I ended the book with tears rolling down my cheeks and lots of feelings on the surface. It gave me a lot to think about as a parent and friend to others. I think this would make a great book club pick as there are lots of dynamics and characters to discuss. I also think it would appeal to both men and women. It was a quick read and one you could read over the course of a couple days or many days due to the way the chapters are laid out.
    • 3/5
      At first, I didn't like Olive Kitteridge. She was an annoying, spiteful character. How could a person be so horrible? But I know there truly are people like that. But at the end, I understood her better. I didn't love the book, but the writing itself was good. Too many bad things happened and no real good came of it. Would I suggest it to someone? I really can't say that I could.
    • 5/5
      Told through a series of interconnected short stories, Olive Kitteridge was a (mostly) fascinating story of the lives of folks in a small town in Maine, centered around a woman for whom the book is named.What I loved best about this Pulitzer-winning book is that stories came through bits and pieces during the whole book, and characters came back at various times, with just enough frequency that they were easily recognizable. The small town really is a small town, and that's why the folks were so intertwined, I think.There were a few dull spots, or stories that dragged just a hair for me, but the last story, among other ones, was a definite winner for me.Some quotes I tagged in the book are:"People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it." "Don't be scared of your hunger. If you're scared of your hunger, you'll be just one more ninny like everyone else."Olive Kitteridge was not just the story of a woman or her life, nor was it just a story about a town. It was a story to hang on to; a story with which almost everyone can relate. It was a story that held bits of wisdom. I'll bet if I read it again at a different time in my life, I'd get new things from it in every read. Now *that* is a mark of a good book.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book because it's so refreshing to meet a real character with so many flaws and who is such a bitch. She is one of the most interesting, well described people I've met in a story in a long time. Although she is the central character, this is a collection of short stories about the people who live in a small town in Maine, near the coast. We meet Olive and her husband Henry in the first chapter. Henry is a local pharmacist and Olive teaches math at the high school. Her students are terrified of her and Henry absolutely adores her. He is a kind, generous, neighbourly person while she is opinionated, vicious and mean to her family and few friends. They have a son Christopher, who leaves home as soon as he can. These stories are about ordinary people with their own mental health issues, loneliness and heartache and yet there are several where the characters find joy in everyday living. Each is such a well drawn character with a mundane or interesting life that their life experiences are fascinating.We witness Christopher marry twice, Olive retire, Henry have a stroke and Olive mellow a little over time. What is particularly enjoyable is to watch Christopher stand up to his mother after years of therapy and anger management. Olive does settle a little into her life as an old lady and she seems to appreciate her own loneliness and that of others. The last chapter where she befriends Jack Kennison, a rich Republican, is told very tenderly.
    • 4/5
      Both of my bookclubs have read this novel, and I encourage others to do so as well. It is unusual, tragic, humorous and thought-provoking. It is a statement about aging....and since I am aging, perhaps it was more meaningful to me.
    • 5/5
      i loved each and every character in this book and could have read an entire novel about each one. As the new yorker says, "strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force." one of the best books i have read in a long time!"She remembered what hope was, and this was it. The inner churning that moves you forward, plows you through life the way the boats below plowed the shiny water, the way the plane was plowing forward to a new place new. "
    • 3/5
      Interesting format of short stories only tangentially bound to the title character, but a bit dreary. The writing is good with some inspired passages. However, taken as a whole, I didn't find that this book lived up to the hype.
    • 5/5
      I loved this amazing collection of stories filled with unforgettable characters and beautiful writing. I only wish the book were longer.Olive Kitteridge is a gift, a gem. From the first sentences in this beautiful work, I was smitten, and from the last, deeply sorry for the stories to end. Elizabeth Strout took me to a vivid small town world filled with beautifully complicated, conflicted, real people and their intricate, multifaceted lives. In each poignant chapter, constantly shifting characters and perspective reveal rich human experiences and emotions, spanning all life’s stages, twists and turns, and prove how very hard it is to truly know another person, or yourself.The author writes with beautifully reticent honesty as she shares these stories, collections of people’s secrets in the world as they choose to see it, and the parts of themselves they wish to show, or need to hide. Some stories sparkle, some startle, with characters ranging from broken or damaged, weary, lonely, fragile or desperate, to surprisingly tender, honest or strong, through love, loss or betrayal, with yearning and need strewn through their lives as randomly as the rocks along the coast. The characters are so skillfully created that the more I came to know them, the more I wished to know and understand them, especially Olive. She is an enigma, and a perfect vantage point to view the town, and herself: from afar, from her imposing size to her brusque, often rude assessment of her former students or associates or family, her curt, weary, reluctant interaction with the world. Through Olives eyes, and the eyes of those who know her, the stories unfold to paint and unforgettable portrait of life, and of people painfully flawed and human.I found the novel luminous, haunting and at times, profoundly sad, but true and touching and heartwarming. Olive Kitteridge has my highest recommendation, particularly and especially to book clubs, as there is so much to explore, and so much to learn from bringing our own perceptions and biases and stories into the discussion.