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    Olive Kitteridge
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    Olive Kitteridge
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    Olive Kitteridge
    Audiobook10 hours

    Olive Kitteridge

    Written by Elizabeth Strout

    Narrated by Sandra Burr

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    2009 Pulitzer Prize Winner in the Letters, Drama and Music category
    Now an Emmy-Nominated HBO Miniseries

    At the edge of the continent, Crosby, Maine, may seem like nowhere, but seen through this brilliant writer's eyes, it's in essence the whole world, and the lives that are lived there are filled with all of the grand human drama-desire, despair, jealousy, hope, and love.

    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 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. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition-its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMar 25, 2008
    ISBN9781423350071
    Unavailable
    Olive Kitteridge
    Author

    Elizabeth Strout

    Elizabeth Strout is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Burgess Boys; Olive Kitteridge, for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize; the national bestseller Abide with Me; and Amy and Isabelle, winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in London.

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    Reviews for Olive Kitteridge

    4/5

    2,936 ratings384 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book is a series of independent short stories. The common thread is the title character, Olive Kitteridge, who appears or is at least mentioned in each of the stories. Olive is a complex character. She appears to be emotionless until her relationship with her son is discussed. His unwillingness to embrace her gnaws at her constantly throughout the stories. The writing of this short story novel is worthy of the Pulitzer Prize it won.
    • 3/5
      Strange ending!
    • 4/5
      I saw the movie before I'd read the book, which didn't give me the sense of how it was written. Such a unique format! It's episodic, with each chapter written about completely different people, and only some in Olive Kitteridge's "voice." (those were my favorite chapters) However, all tie together, b/c all of these different and unique characters have had some sort of interaction with Olive.

      All in all, a great read.
    • 2/5
      Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge is a“novel in stories” set in a small community on the coast of Maine, a quintessentially New England town.

      One story takes place at the funeral reception of a man whose wife has just learned that he had been unfaithful to her. Another story describes a hostage-taking in a hospital. Then you have the story of an old lover who surprises a lounge pianist, sending her reeling back into painful memories. An overbearing mother, Olive, visits her estranged son and his pregnant wife. this ends badly. The stories all involving Olive Kítteridge, encompass a wide range of experience.

      Olive is a stern seventh-grade math teacher and the wife of a pharmacist. This strong character link the 13 stories. She is a big woman as pointed out throughout the events. You will not like Olive, but the stories are interesting

      The stories involving her son though the years of his growing up and moving away, you see his mother hurling insults at her son and at times you will feel he is mistreated, but she also loves him, almost more than she can bear. Her husband is a kind man and she loves him too, although she has trouble expressing it. She doesn't treat husband, Henry very nicely either, and he begins to roam. She’s prone to “stormy moods,” as well as “sudden, deep laughter,” and she harbors a sense of compassion, even for strangers.

      In one story, Olive bursts into tears when she meets an anorexic young woman. “I don’t know who you are,” she confesses, “but young lady, you’re breaking my heart.” “I’m starving, too,” Olive tells her. “Why do you think I eat every doughnut in sight?” “You’re not starving,” the girl replies, looking at this large woman, with her thick wrists and hands, her “big lap.” “Sure I am,” Olive says. “We all are.”

      I enjoyed the book but didn't see a Pulitzer and was glad to close the cover at the end.

    • 4/5
      Olive, the stern, contrary, complex school teacher, is the connecting thread through what are essentially a series of short stories. A snapshot of a small Maine town, the people that live there and the events that shape them.
    • 3/5
      Eh? After all the glowing reviews of this book I was quite disappointed. The construction of the book was interesting but I was left wanting to know more about the people whose lives we briefly observed. Did any of them ever get it together? I suspect not, since all the characters, regardless of their age or circumstance, seemed to feel isolated, lonely, and depressed. Except Henry. I would have enjoyed this more if it had been called Henry Strout with him as the lynchpin around which everything revolved.
    • 4/5
      Olive Kitteridge is the retired schoolteacher of Crosby, Maine whose influence has spread not only to her students but to the community at large. Challenging and difficult, aloof and critical, she does have a soft side. Unfortunately not many people see that soft side. Overall, she is an interesting and formidable character
    • 4/5
      A really lovely book - the Midwest Reservoir 13. Every chapter stands alone as a dazzling short story, and they come together to form a charming bundle. I'm excited to see the HBO adaptation - and read the recently-announced sequel.
    • 4/5
      I usually wholeheartedly agree that a book won the Pulitzer Prize or I wholeheartedly disagree. This one I'm on the fence. I don't love it, I don't hate it. And that is quite odd for a Pulitzer winner for me. These are connected stories that somehow mention Olive Kitteridge in them, even if for only a sentence. I can see why the author thought the reader would need breaks from Olive to visit other characters, and I think that was a good choice. The variety of characters is interesting and gave a portrait of a small town in Maine. I was going to say a lovely portrait, but these are some characters who are going through some things. Very miserable things, left and right. I think the book made a tear spring to my eye about four times. Though the book is about the struggles that any human being can and will go through in life, I'm not sure it was enough to win the Pulitzer. Some of the connections to Olive seemed thrown together to make it a running theme in the book. Sometimes the writing is too straightforward for me to consider it award worthy. But this easily could have been a wistful, cheesy sort of book and this certainly isn't that. Maybe it needed a little less misery, but it remains realistic.
    • 5/5
      A lovely looking book, with a matching interior. I loved this book as soon as I started reading it. The tone is so unassuming. The observations are so startlingly astute. I took a perverse pleasure in seeing the sad reality of what relationships can do to people be played out. Each chapter is really a free standing story. Each chapter features Olive Kitteridge whether in passing, or as the main character. She is a fascinating woman- imposing, bolshie, no-nonsense and warm-hearted underneath it all. I liked her. Some will not. She can barely admit to herself her own mistakes, and certainly doesn't to anyone else. A beautifully written book telling a fantastic, real-life story.
    • 4/5
      I have to say that I enjoyed it more than I expected. This is the story about a retired math teacher from a small town in Maine. Each chapter is a story about some of the townspeople and how Olive comes into their lives. I found that to be a bit frustrating because you do not get to have an ending to each of their stories.

      I liked the book and I definitely would recommend it as it seems to be very well written and the characters are well developed. Olive seems to come across as a very mean spirited person, however, she doesn't think that she is. She is very no nonsense and does not consider that other people are not like her. She raised her very senisitive son with an iron hand and doesn't understand why he has to love her from a distance. We do get to see Olive soften throughout the book as life experiences and the aging process start to take over.
    • 3/5
      I would give this book 3.5 stars. I really enjoyed the characters in each of the short stories, and I love how the author connected them all through the lead character of Olive Kitteridge. The author's ability to get inside the minds of each character was impressive, and I found myself reading this book quickly and with enjoyment.

      There are two issues that stopped me from rating this higher. First, while I enjoyed reading about her, I had no love at all for the main character Olive. She was tough to like in any way, but I do give the author great credit for staying true to her character throughout the book. Second, it seemed like almost all of the characters were negative about life. While there were many happy parts, it always seemed to come back to everyone stuck in a boring or difficult existence. Again, I am taking nothing away from the author because I was impressed by her ability to weave stories together in the small town setting, but each time I put the book down after reading for a while, I just felt sad for a lot of the people in the stories.

      I will certainly read more by Elizabeth Strout and would recommend this book because it does make you think about life and the people in your life.
    • 5/5
      This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2009 and I became aware of it at that point. More recently it was made into an HBO mini-series starring Frances McDormand in the title role and I thought I would like to see that but first I wanted to read the book. Now that I've read the book I really want to see what Frances McDormand does with the role. Olive Kitteridge is a Grade 7 math teacher in a small town in Main, married to a pharmacist, and the mother of one son, Christopher. She is crusty and opinionated but has a good heart even if it sometimes is hidden. The book is a series of short stories covering quite a span of time. In some of them Olive is only tangential to the story but, as happens in small towns, she knows all the characters involved. As the stories emerge we uncover quite a lot about Olive and her relationships. I don't know if I would ever really like Olive but I can see having some spirited conversations with her. It takes a great writer to craft a short story that feels complete in itself and I think each story in this book could stand on its own. In fact, a number were published in various magazines starting as early as 1992. It would be interesting to know if Strout conceived of this series of stories that far back. I found this quote on Elizabeth Strout's website "We want to know...what it is like to be another person, because somehow this helps position our own self in the world." That's one of the best explanations of why reading is so important (at least to me) that I have ever read.
    • 5/5
      Oh wow. This book managed to actually be one narrative made up of individual stories. I didn't think that was really possible. Each story stands alone beautifully. The connections between them seep into the reader's consciousness, like water color paints, or old-school film chemicals. The novel as a whole exists as much in my mind as in the text itself.

      I am totally going to be reading more from this author!
    • 5/5
      This book is very thought provoking and I found the author to be very perceptive. It seems that Strout has created a place with a lot of complex characters. I loved the Maine setting with people you could find everywhere. 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 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 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. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition; its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.I will look forward to reading more from Elizabeth Strout and would highly recommend this book to those who love stories that will touch your heart.
    • 1/5
      I started out to read this book with high hopes about reading interesting stories of life in " smalltown" United States.However I was very disappointed and didn't get much more than half-way through these "boring" stories about Olive and her interfering ways. She came across to me as nothing more than an old busybody, who thinks she is doing good but who does not. Her personal life was not at all to be admired and I was appalled at her treatment of her family, Her son and daughter-in-law who are driven away by her spiteful jealousy and her long-suffering husband who turns to another woman, not out of passion but just to receive a little kindness. I would hate to have Olive as a neighbour.
    • 4/5
      Olive Kitteridge is unique among short story collections because the stories are connected by a single character; Olive links everyone together. Except for the fact that each story has its own beginning, middle and end, Olive Kitteridge could just have easily been read as a novel. While the writing is excellent, and the characters well crafted, the pace of the book is rather slow. I think the short story format slowed it down. Rather than one chapter pulling the reader greedily into the next, stories played out individually and made the book easy to set down. On the other hand, each story captivated the reader. So, I enjoyed the read; it just took me awhile to complete it. Though I will say that the clever use of foreshadowing created some suspense and helped to move the book along.Olive Kitteridge is a book for people who enjoy short fiction and character driven stories. The stories are about the people in a small town in Maine and how their lives intersect with Olive. Depending on the point of view, Olive can be seen as judgmental, rude, and bitter while at other times she is sympathetic, honest, observant, almost wise. She is a complex woman, and as such, opinions vary widely about her. Crosby, Maine is also a character shaping the lives of those who live there. The author captures the sounds, the smells, and the essence of this small coastal town.
    • 5/5
      i loved each and every character in this book and could have read an entire novel about each one. As the new yorker says, "strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force." one of the best books i have read in a long time!"She remembered what hope was, and this was it. The inner churning that moves you forward, plows you through life the way the boats below plowed the shiny water, the way the plane was plowing forward to a new place new. "
    • 5/5
      Olive Kitteridge is a delight, I wasn't sure I would like this, I ended up loving it. The way the book was written with each chapter being about a different person was what held me back from reading this. Elizabeth Strout did a wonderful job of putting an entire community together in one book and keeping you wishing for more. Thank you for your story.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this one! It is a Pulitzer-Prize winner, and it's written in several short stories about Olive, her family, and the people that live in her town. She isn't a main character in every story but she is usually mentioned. Also, she is not a very nice person, on the surface at least. It is not a happy book, but somehow, the way it is written is compelling. I know I'm not selling this one very well, but I wasn't ready for it to end.
    • 4/5
      i loved the movie. i loved the stories with olive as a main character. i am very so so about the other stories.
    • 5/5
      Through a series of stories, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout builds a completely rounded presentation of the title character. Set in a small town on the coast of Maine, these stories are loosely connected by the appearance of Olive, and as the author slowly reveals the many layers that make up this complex woman, the reader is drawn into her life and that of the town. Olive is a retired teacher, she is a large, blunt speaking, forthright woman who makes most people nervous and scares many as well. As the book develops we see that she while she is quick to anger, she can also be sympathetic and compassionate toward others. Not one to suffer fools, she can sometimes be rather mean, at others funny and yet again remorseful. Although she plainly sees their faults, she also loves her husband and son a great deal.Although Olive is front and center in many of the stories, there are some where she makes a fleeting appearance or is simply spoken about. The stories all paint a vivid picture of the residents of this small town, but for me, the stories where she was strongly featured were my favorites. I liked Olive, and enjoyed reading about her and her many moods. Throughout her life, Olive appeared to be growing and learning. This book is beautifully written and the authors insights into marriage, relationships and aging resonated with me.This book is an original, not a novel nor yet a set of short stories, it combines the two and the result is a fascinating mix. I started off disliking Olive, but slowly that feeling gave way to many others, from pity, to acceptance to appreciation. The author applies pathos and humor in all the right places to produce a thoroughly perceptive and empathetic portrait of Olive Kitteridge and I was delighted to make her acquaintance.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this book but it wasn't remotely what I thought it would be. Olive Kitteridge is the common thread between all the stories in this novel. Set in a small town in Maine, Olive is a retired school teacher who loves her son (too fiercely perhaps), enjoys in the goings on of others, and tries to make sense of her life as she ages. Some of the stories are from her perspective and many others are from other townsfolk as they view her, sometimes from a far distance. She is a bit prickly and stoic but she is also very relatable and sympathetic. An interesting and complex look at an aging woman and then lens through which she sees the world around her and the way that others perceive her as well.
    • 3/5
      Too depressing and disjointed for my tastes.
    • 4/5
      This is a sensational book about very real, convincingly flawed characters. I found it more of a collection of stories than a novel, because althoug Olive is always in view, she is sometimes just a background passer-by as we train the binoculars onto other characters who are having a moment of high-resolution in the foreground. This works really well, though I confess that I was left wanting to know more about many of these characters who then went out of the visual field and never walked past again. I want to know what happened to them! However, I admit thatw anting to read more about the characters and their situations means that the book has really succeeded, really engaged me.
      Olive is very interesting, and although I often felt for her, I'm not sure that I like her - mind you, I don't think she's as flawed as some of the other characters believe. I liked some of the others better (eg her husband Henry). But I love the way that multiple perspectives are introduced and elegantly dealt with. It's a clever, intriguing novel that provides many satisfactory moments, and much to think about. Highly recommended!
    • 3/5
      Written as short stories but with the connecting arch of Olive and her husband as they grow older and encounter the challenges of life. Some of the vignettes are directly about them, some are about the other people living in their town. Good writing. Truthful looks at life at all mature stages.
    • 5/5
      In a series of thirteen vignettes, author Elizabeth Strout sets out to illuminate a small town in coastal Maine and one of its inhabitants, a retired schoolteacher named Olive Kitteridge.Readers are the voyeurs in Olive Kitteridge. While we peep into the lives of a piano player in a lounge, a troubled teenage girl, and Olive's own husband and son (among others), we see people dealing with all sorts of problems... and we see that Olive is-- for the most part-- considered to be a rather unpleasant and unpredictable force of nature. But as our knowledge of the people of Crosby, Maine increases so does Olive's self-awareness. The lessons she learns are sometimes painful and always ruthlessly honest.I loved how my understanding of the characters deepened with each new chapter. Initially seen in an unflattering light, some characters changed as the light shone upon them from different angles.This is a little gem, although I can see some readers believing that nothing ever happens in it. I found this book to be mesmerizing and to contain one brilliant character study after another. Quiet, unassuming writing can sometimes wield great power and beauty, and this is exactly what I found in the pages of Olive Kitteridge.
    • 3/5
      Over-rated "chick lit"
    • 4/5
      Olive Kitteridge is a book of short stories, each of which relate to Olive, a rather formidable woman living in a coastal town in Maine. Olive is central to some stories, mentioned only briefly in others which feature the lives of her friends, family, neighbours or even minor acquaintances. I really enjoyed this book. It had been on my Amazon.ca Wish List for a while, long enough that I couldn't remember where I had heard about it or why I wanted to read it when I finally ordered it. As the book progressed, I found myself becoming fascinated by Olive. It's interesting that it is a full four chapters before the reader is treated to Olive's perspective on life - we meet her first through the eyes of others and I'm afraid the impression is less than favourable. And yet Olive's struggles with her husband, her child, her co-workers, her neighbours, and her community are all so relatable in their ordinariness. By the end of the book I had an empathy for Olive I would not have expected to develop. Definitely worth picking up, and I plan on reading more of Elizabeth Strout's work.
    • 4/5
      Despite all the praise I went into the collection of 13 stories that comprise this book with some trepidation. I didn't think I could like what sounded like a book about a cranky old lady. Well, there is that in there, but this turned out to be one of the best short story collections that I have read in years. Olive Kitteridge is without a doubt a memorable character, but many of these stories only touch on her briefly - they are about other people in her town who may have brief interactions with Olive. There is some really sad stuff in here, but the stories are so diverse and so well written I am left with a very satisfied feeling and I'm very glad I read this. I do wish we had a bit more of Olive earlier in life. It felt like we fast forwarded a bit too quickly and only see glimpses of earlier Olive via character memories of her (usually pretty unflattering).