The beloved first novel featuring Olive Kitteridge from the author of Olive, Again and Oh William!
Olive Kitteridge: indomitable, compassionate, and often unpredictable. A retired schoolteacher in a small coastal town in Maine, as Olive grows older, she struggles to make sense of the changes in her life. She is a woman who sees into the hearts of those around her, their triumphs and tragedies.
A penetrating, vibrant exploration of the human soul, 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' Evening Standard
'A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own' Hilary Mantel
I loved this. Being from Maine, I felt like it was very authentically "Maine", from the speech patterns and atmosphere to phrases like "Jeezum Crow", which I haven’t heard myself in at least 13 years. Add to that Olive’s occasional resemblance to my great-grandmother, and in a lot of ways reading this book was like visiting home. It’s not a particularly happy book, though there is a little bit of light at the end. Sometimes Olive is the center of the story, sometimes she’s a bit player, and sometimes she’s just walking by, but she always makes a mark. Olive’s life is hard, and there’s so much you really don’t know about her, which you realize during her heart-wrenching visit to her son’s home in New York. I think the thing that sticks with me the most is the tangible love between Olive and Henry, which is most apparent when she calls to talk to him at the nursing home and maintains her one-sided conversation. Overall, it’s just a beautifully constructed collection of stories.
