As I've previously said, I often pick books to read without really knowing what they're about. Because of this, I didn't realize that Olive Kitteridge is essentially a compilation of short stories. Had I known this, it may have fallen down my list a bit.Not to say that it's not a good book. Olive Kitteridge is comprised of thirteen stories that all take place in the small town of Crosby, Maine. Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, is the connective thread. In some stories, she is a primary character; in others, she receives merely a mention.
The stories themselves were engrossing enough, though some left me unsatisfied. If I had to sum up this book in one word, I'd say Death. Most of the stories seem to center on elderly characters, who are either grieving or dying. It's by no means a happy book; even the younger characters are suffering - eating disorders, broken marriages and engagements, depression and thoughts of suicide... The young aren't spared death either.
Olive herself is an interesting character. We first meet her through a story about her charming, likeable husband, Henry. In contrast, she comes off as intensely unlikeable - cold, abrasive, blunt, feisty. As the stories wear on, we learn more about her, seeing different sides of her, as Strout slowly reveals her vulnerability. I'm always intrigued by authors who dare to write about unlikeable protagonists, though I found myself annoyed by her more often than not. By the end, she had certainly grown on me.
I'm still not quite sure how much I enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read and I found myself very into each story. But for me personally, this format is not my preference. It's the complete antithesis of any John Irving novel, so it's odd to read these two back-to-back. Instead of the fully fleshed out, complex character studies of Irving, Olive Kitteridge presents brief glimpses into lives. You scarcely have time to get attached to the character and then the story is over, not to surface again. There are so many characters that when a name from a prior story is occasionally brought up again, I couldn't always remember what their story was or how it was resolved, which frustrated me.
Like I said, it's a quick read and entertaining enough. The story-in-bite-size-pieces was convenient - I could read a story on the train from my house to downtown. But ask me about this book in a month or two and I probably won't remember it.
We're reading this for book club next month. I hadn't realized 'til today that it was short stories, but I'm excited to read them. I love when there's a character who is, as you put it, a connective thread-- maybe because it reassures me that we are all unknowingly connected and our lives are more expansive than they seem. Anyway, I'll make sure I read this on a day I'm okay with delving into death. Thansk for the interesting review!
ReplyDeleteI re-read your review after posting mine, and found myself nodding at everything you said (except not particularly liking short stories-- I love them). I, too, was annoyed by Olive; she is so unlikeable! But, towards the end, when I saw her with her son and new beau ("boyfriend" seems wrong for a woman her age), I saw how HUMAN she is. Angry, bitter, abrasive, yes; but also loving, vulnerable, and desperate. It made me much more sympathetic to her, and even a little afraid that I could be a bit like her.
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