olive kitteridge

When a reader sees these words in reviews of a book, she knows it is going to be good: "magnificent, masterful, mesmerizing, compelling, deeply human, heart-wrenching, beautiful." I think that when a book like this wins the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, it is safe to call it: a triumph!

Elizabeth Strout has created a novel of thirteen short stories revolving around a central character, Olive Kitteridge. Set in Maine, Olive is an unforgettable character. She is a bundle of contradictions. She is tyrannical, insensitive, honest, intelligent, flawed, human and lovable. Over the course of the stories, a subtle redemption reveals itself.

The reader's guide at the end of the book (2008) presents a conversation with author and main character. I can't do better justice than Elizabeth Strout in explaining what readers can hope to get out of reading these stories that comprise this excellent novel:

I would hope that my readers feel a sense of awe at the quality of human endurance, at the endurance of love in the face of a variety of difficulties; that the quotidian life is not always easy, and is something worthy of respect. I would also hope that readers receive a larger understanding, or a different understanding, of what it means to be human, than they might have had before. We suffer from being quick to judge, quick to make excuses for ourselves and others, and I would like the reader to feel that we are all, more or less ,in a similar state as we love and disappoint one another, and that we try, most of us, as best we can, and that to fail and succeed is what we do.

I really loved this book. I found I needed to pause after each chapter to absorb all each had to offer. This is the kind of book that leaves one with a sense of disappointment when it is over. I got to know Olive, her town, and some of its people. I was left wanting more, and wanting to know "what happened next." I guess I'll have to use my imagination. I do hope that those of you who enjoy fiction will go right out and get this book. Thanks, as always, to the person who keeps me in the good books, sister-in-law Sue!