Between the Lines - Olive Kitteridge

December’s Pick - Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout

Thoughts

There’s so much life in Elizabeth Strout’s, Olive Kitteridge. Set in a coastal community in Maine, the book is structured as a “novel in stories”; Olive links the 13 stories, but otherwise they are all stand alone narratives. In “Winter Concert,“ a woman remarks to her husband while driving through a neighborhood lit up by Christmas lights “All these lives,“…. “All the stories we never know. “ In Olive Kitteridge, Strout does a remarkable job of telling those stories. They are stories of loneliness and loss, but they are also stories of tenderness and acceptance and each one leaves an imprint. At first you may find Olive, a stern and retired math teacher, too tough, too demanding, too critical, and she is all of those things, but as the stories progress a more complicated and empathetic Olive is revealed. Of course this Olive was was always there too, and I think that’s what the author wants us to understand about the human condition - that it is tough and fragile and often at the same time. When Olive senses “just how desperately hard every person in the world was working to get what they needed,” you feel a rush of sympathy and tenderness for Olive and mankind in general. I finished the book a couple of weeks ago, and I continue to feel Olive’s presence in ways that are both haunting and heartening.

Overall

Strongly Recommend  -  These stories are deeply moving and serve as a reminder to be kinder, do better, and to acknowledge and move past regret while remembering that all we really have is this one short, sometimes painful, but always achingly beautiful life to live.

P.S. I was excited to learn that Olive Kitteridge will return in Strout’s next novel, Olive, Again, to be released on September 3rd, 2019. Picking up where Olive Kitteridge left off, we will see what the next decade holds for Olive. I, for one, hope that Olive recognizes life’s “quietly joyful” moments and remembers that “when she is living life she is living it.”

P.P.S. If you missed, like I did, HBO’s highly acclaimed four part miniseries featuring Frances McDormand as Olive, you may want to watch it now. I am excited to sit down and enjoy the show. I can’t think of a better actress to take on Olive, and I have read that Richard Jenkins and Bill Murrays’ performances are nuanced and memorable.

Kathryn