The author, Elizabeth Strout, is a self-professed homebody in her late fifties. She reports that she loves cell phones and doesn't mind when people use their cell phone in public! To the contrary, she loves to overhear conversations with the idea of getting a glimpse into other people's lives! She has written stories that were published in literary magazines, as well as in Redbook and Seventeen. In 2009 Strout was honored with a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Olive Kitteridge. The author is married and divides her time between New York and Maine.
Olive Kitteridge is a collection of thirteen short stories, the characters of which are in some way connected to the crotchety title character. The number of characters in these stories was overwhelming for some of us, and a few even took notes in order to keep track of all of them. The magic of technology (Lucia's Kindle) tells us there was a total of eighty characters, so it is no wonder we had trouble remembering each individual. Most of us were hoping that the stories would all come together, revealing the outcomes of some of the cliffhangers, but that never happened, leaving some of us dissatisfied.
Olive came across to many as a mean, unhappy woman, but there were also times when she demonstrated great empathy for those who were struggling in their lives. She was controlling, especially when it came to her son, and showed no affection or vulnerability. Her husband was a dear man who loved and tolerated her despite her frequent bouts of abrasiveness, but when unspoken frustrations between the two surfaced during a particularly stressful situation, things were never quite the same between them. Though Olive continued to be devoted to her husband by visiting him daily in the nursing home, she never fully reconciled with her son, who occasionally reached out, only to retreat in response to her attitude and behavior. Olive was comically unstable at times like when she stole a single shoe and ruined a sweater belonging to her son's bride. We thought Olive was judgmental of others, but oblivious to her own personal shortcomings, and she seemed to have no ability for introspection.
While a few of us liked the way the ending of each story was left to our imaginations, most of us wanted to know what happened next in the lives of the characters. We jokingly said the author had ADD as she could not stick with single story too long before moving on the the next. We noticed that most of the stories were depressing, sad, or even pathetic, and expected the stories to eventually be woven together, so we were surprised and disappointed when that didn't happen. It was an easy, quick read though, and we all enjoyed discussing the complex, interesting characters.
Elizabeth Strout's website: http://www.elizabethstrout.com/
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