Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Jul 21, 2010 Kathy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: a-through-z-challenge-2010

OK, since 3 stars denotes that I "like it," that's the rating I went with for this book. It's actually a hard book for me to rate. It was a good enough read, but it just never grabbed me like I wanted it to. Olive was a hard character to get close to. ...more

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Feb 19, 2010 Tara rated it really liked it

I was not sure what I was going to think about this book since it was all short stories and the last book I read of short stories made me feel unfulfilled. I loved that all the stories had a common element though. Olive Kitteridge was such a character. She reminded me a lot of my grandmother and my mom, which made her enduring to me. I loved getting to know the other characters as well, I actually really liked Ann. She was a nice compliment to Christopher's character.
It was a nice commentary on ...more

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Apr 05, 2010 Suzanne rated it really liked it

This book is reminiscent of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, OH. I think of the book as "doughnuts and suicide!" "Hells bells" would work too. Olive, who appears in each of the short stories, is such a well-written character - at turns moody and mean, and others generous and genuine. I can't adequately describe how moving this book was; it will definitely stay with me for a long time. Elizabeth Strout certainly deserved the Pulitizer for this work! ...more

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Feb 09, 2021 Cora rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, kindle, america, new-england, family, family-relationships, relationships, dysfunctional-families, marriage, small-town

Olive Kitteridge is a book of connected short stories. All of the stories are about residents of a small coastal town in Maine and all of the stories somehow feature the title character (it was could be as little as something she once told a character or as much as having the whole story from her perspective). The characters and their situations felt very authentic to me. Olive herself was not an easy character to like, but she was complicated and the author did a great job having the reader see ...more

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Oct 09, 2009 Joanna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-read, short-stories

I loved these stories despite the overall depressing nature of the book. This is one of the few novels in short stories that works on both levels -- each of the stories works as a stand alone story, but there is also character development and history across the stories that holds it together as a novel. I thought the best story was the first one, but many of the others were also quite compelling. I wish there had been a story from the perspective of Olive's son, Christopher. He seemed to be the ...more

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Jul 11, 2009 Sabrina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Meh...

I'm kind of indifferent about this book; I didn't love it; I didn't hate it. I did, however, based on Strout's previous works, expect more from it.

While Strout's descriptions and characterizations of the characters in her novel in stories are well-done--at times achingly heart breaking and at other times spot-on funny--I found myself exceedingly irritated with Olive Kitteridge, the character, as well as with the format of the book.
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Jun 20, 2014 Rebekah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-book-club, genre-contemporary, genre-literature, genre-novels, genre-adult, genre-adult-fiction, rating-4, genre-literary-fiction, genre-short-stories, genre-family

This book was beautifully written, raw and powerful, but it is one of the most depressing books I have ever read. Themes are aging, illness, suicide, dysfunction, etc. Several scenes were like a literal punch to the gut and it was hard to read over a holiday weekend!

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Oct 09, 2009 Lorna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-general, pulitzer-prize

A series of stories that all connect someway with the main charater. I liked the style of writing and the strong characterization of Olive. Quite touching in some places. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2008.

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