Elizabeth Strout has written three books, Amy and Isabelle, Abide with Me and Olive Kitteridge. I have read each book, not because I had any real desire to read them, but because they were given to me. Amy and Isabelle was rather sad, and Abide With Me was great, but also rather sad. Olive Kitteridge won the Pulitzer Prize, and I have to say that I think it was deserved. Though, in the tradition of her other books, it was not a happy book.
Different than the other books, Olive Kitteridge followed a hard and opinionated woman through her life in her small New England town. She is tall and sturdily built, a teacher at the local high school. She speaks plainly at all times, oftentimes when her opinion is not asked. Some people in the town openly hate her and others have glimpsed her compassion. Olive's portrait is pieced together through short story vingettes that reveal others in the town as well as Olive herself. The most poingent and painful story that is told trhoughotu the book are Olive's interactions with her only son. We see these interactions when her son is young and then when he marries for the first time and again for the second time. In the final vingette between Olive and her son, which becomes a confrontation, we see the culmination of the groundwork that she she laid in their relationship and it is terrifying.
The greatest thing that I would say about Olive Kitteridge is that it explores the hard and easy elements of aging and of aging with your spouse. Things you say that you can't take back, the way your children's actions affect your relationships with your friends, and how important your sex life remains.
Parts of this book were hard to read, but I certainly found it to be the strongest of Elizabeth Strout's books. She was able to show the beauty and joy that remain possible throughout our lives if we have the correct spirit in pursuing it. Over and over this triumphant element came through the hardships and the difficult lives that were portrayed in the book.
Also, Elizabeth Strout used some beautiful phrases in the book. For instance, when Angie, the piano player in a local night spot, hears cruel words from an ex-boyfriend, she understands that while many people comfort themselves with bitterness, "it is a thin milk, this form of nourishment."
When I was half-way through this book, I would not have recommended it, but after finishing it, it is a triumph and a must. Also, it is a super fast read!!
Also, this is the outfit I made for Olive on polyvore!!!
1 comment:
Thanks for the book review. I couldn't get past Chapter 2, but now I want to pick it up and read it all tonight, before book club tomorrow. I like the syle she wears. Plain and simple but classic. I can see a strong woman with strong words as you depicted her in word and graphics.
Thanks, see ya tomorrow night
mary helen
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