The Best Book Might be the One That Makes You Change Your Mind: Olive Kitteridge

I didn't have much time to read over the holidays, but my neighbor loaned me a book she had recently finished and I have been using it for my bedtime reading the last few weeks. What a wonderful book! 5 STARS!!!

Olive Kittredge , by Elizabeth Strout, won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, an award shared with several other of my favorite reads over the years (Gilead, The Hours, Middlesex, A Thousand Acres, Breathing Lessons). The award alone assures you the quality is that of a master- writer. The book is much better than its jacket describes…“A collection of 13 short stories set in small-town Maine that packs a cumulative emotional wallop, bound together by polished prose and by Olive, the title character, blunt, flawed and fascinating“. The book is smart, funny and poignant. At the end, upon reading its closing, it is soul-satisfying, like a perfect meal WITH dessert and coffee. Like rrrreaaal-ly good sex... Or any sex, for that matter! LOL!

I admire almost everything about this little gem of a book, EXCEPT for the first chapter. It was interesting, well-written, a nice hook for a first chapter- I simply did not initially like the book’s namesake, Olive.“What a bee-ach!”, I thought, feeling sorry for her husband and son, as she was so disagreeable about everything. She reminded me of people I know who are so negative they make ME feel negative too! (She reminded me of one of my relatives. One that is the mother of my husband. SSShhhhh……Did I really SAY that???)

As I continued to read the subsequent chapters, which read themselves as little short stories, I began to admire and respect Olive. My opinion of her began to change as she definitely grew on me... Some chapters are about her and her family, while other chapters center around others in her community. ALL of the stories are about relationships and most  center around the disarmingly simple dynamics of two or three people. In some chapters, Olive appears in a role almost like that of a cameo. Like her or not (and she would be the kind of person many would find difficult to “like”), she is one of the strongest, most memorable characters that has leapt off the pages of a book at me in a VERY long time.

Olive is a survivor. She is strong. She is flawed. She is hilarious. She is an original. She would say she is a "realist". She is not afraid to take risks. She is not afraid to reach out. She is not afraid of her PASSION! In her younger days, Olive was a math teacher. One of the statements her students remember her saying is “Don’t be afraid of your hunger. If you do, you’re just another ninny.” A strange statement isn’t it? It was one I had to think about for a while as I read through the book…

Most people aren’t just “afraid of their hunger.” Like anorexics, they don’t even know they are STARVING! Most people are afraid to live life "OUT LOUD"! Olive is not... 

The book is set in a seaside town in Maine. It is the perfect winter book read. It goes great with a rainy day, cup of tea and a scone! Check out the author and the book at:

http://elizabethstrout.com/books/olive-kitteridge

Please- come back to me and let me know what you think!