Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition – its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.
At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.
As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life – sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty.
(from Goodreads)
More reading
Author Elizabeth Strout’s official website
Wikipedia entry (with resume of each story)
Elizabeth Strout interview by LitHub – ‘On Inhabiting her Characters and Writing Directly’ (2021)
“Traits Don’t Change – States of Mind do” – analysis of Olive Kitteridge.
See also: A Companion to the Works of Elizabeth Strout (my review)
Quote
“Had they known at these moments to be quietly joyful? Most likely not. People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it.”
– Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge