Elizabeth Strout, who spent much of her childhood and young adulthood in Maine, set Abide with Me ( Selection ) and Amy and Isabelle (2000) there; here, she offers a collective portrait of small-town Maine life.
The Story: Olive Kitteridge, a retired seventh grade math teacher and pharmacist’s wife, is quick, sharp, big, gossipy, and not an easy force to reckon with. In 13 short stories set in Crosby, a small, fictional town in Maine, Olive crosses paths with ordinary Mainers—or at least has walk-on parts in stories featuring them. In "A Little Burst," Olive plays a trick on her son’s wedding day; she later visits him and his family in New York. In "Incoming Tide," Olive sees one of her former students in a car—and decides to intervene in what she understands to be a problematic situation. Olive’s relationship with her kind, suffering husband takes center stage as both age and experience love, loss, betrayal, and, above all, flashes of empathy toward their very small-town neighbors.
Random House. 288 pages. $25. ISBN: 140006208X
Seattle Post Intelligencer
"Strout’s greatest strength is her ability to depict the innermost thoughts of varied characters across several generations, from schoolchildren to the elderly. Almost all of these disparate folks are captured with humanity, empathy and economy." John Marshall
Cleveland Plain Dealer
"[‘Pharmacy’ and ‘Incoming Tide’] are so good—the balance of their ache placed so precisely—that I found myself trembling. The remaining tales aren’t quite at that level, but you won’t catch me complaining." Karen Long
NY Times Book Review
"By its very structure, sliding in and out of different tales and different perspectives, it illuminates both what people understand about others and what they understand about themselves. … The pleasure in reading Olive Kitteridge comes from an intense identification with complicated, not always admirable, characters." Louisa Thomas
Oregonian
"Strout’s true gift, though, is describing life’s finer details; the normal, everyday things that might otherwise be overlooked—the bad breath of Olive’s denture-wearing friend or how Olive always feeds her dog Dunkin’ Donut holes. … Strout’s style is as clean and polished as the inside of an oyster shell; flip that shell over, though, and it’s layered and gritty." Nicole Chvatal
Seattle Times
"Elizabeth Strout has drawn an indelible portrait of a difficult woman whose life is fraught with disappointment, some of it self-inflicted. Despite all, she can penetrate the hearts and souls of others, bringing sweet relief and comfort to those who despair of their own lives." Valerie Ryan
Wall Street Journal
"[Olive Kitteridge is] a thoughtful, compelling collection likely to reward those who seek it out. … Ms. Strout shines a harsh light on these provincial lives, and at times it’s difficult not to squirm as we view the misery of others." Kate LaVoie
Critical Summary
Critics generally raved about this novel-within-stories—a 21st-century version of Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town, claimed the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, but with constantly evolving characters. Indeed, these men, women, teenagers, and children—not always upstanding, and often lonely and scared—elicited the highest praise from reviewers. Olive in particular captured critics’ hearts, her flaws more than offset by her flashes of compassion. Brilliant dialogue, beautiful language, and an eye for the fine details of life round out the stories. Reviewers cited "Pharmacy" and "Incoming Tide" as two of the best, but they commented that when Olive isn’t on the page, the stories feel empty. While Strout deftly captures the spirit of small-town life, Olive Kitteridge—in its exploration of family dynamics, loneliness, infidelity, and grief—is a far cry from a provincial book.