Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Has Olive mellowed? She is still irascible, she still speaks her mind with unflinching honesty, but age and the death of her husband, Henry, have worn away some of her edge: I feel like I've become, oh, just a tiny—tiny—bit better as a person, she says at one point. Strout's latest work—like Olive Kitteridge (2008), a collection of stories set in the coastal town of Crosby, Maine—takes Olive from her early seventies into her eighties, through a surprising marriage to Jack Kennison, a second widowhood, a heart attack, a kind of rapprochement with son Christopher, and, finally, a move into Maple Tree Apartments, that place for old people. And also like Olive Kitteridge, in several of the stories, Olive steps aside while other characters, some bussed in from Strout's novels, take center stage and lend their own voices and perspectives. Love, loss, regret, the complexities of marriage, the passing of time, and the astonishing beauty of the natural world are abiding themes, along with the essential loneliness of people and the choices they make to keep themselves from that gaping darkness. Unmissable, especially for readers who loved Olive Kitteridge. HIGH DEMAND BACKSTORY: Strout's first outing with Olive was a Pulitzer Prize-winner, an Emmy-winning HBO series, and a book club favorite; expect much reader curiosity for her return to her most beloved curmudgeon. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
BookPage Reviews
Olive, Again
Elizabeth Strout, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge (2008), says she thought she was done with Olive—until her beloved character "just appeared" to her again. And how grateful Strout's readers will be that she did.
In 13 interlocking stories set in the small coastal town of Crosby, Maine, Olive travels through old age in her own inimitable style. She's called an "old bag" by more than a few townsfolk, but she is loved by those who have, over the years, come to appreciate her honesty and complete lack of pretense.
In one story, Olive shares her fear of dying with Cindy, who cared for Olive's late husband, Henry, and who may be dying of cancer herself. Olive reminds her that Cindy's husband and sons, as well as Olive, will be "just a few steps behind" her if she does die.
A few years after Henry's death, Olive befriends widower Jack Kennison. Each has a child who doesn't really like them, and both are lonely. They marry—to the dismay of Olive's son, Christopher—and go on to enjoy eight years together.
Olive lives through some health scares, first totaling her car after confusing the accelerator with the break, then suffering a heart attack in her hairdresser's driveway. When Olive is assigned round-the-clock nurse's aides—the story "Heart" poignantly portrays Olive's growing dread of being alone—two of the aides are especially kind to her. One is the daughter of a Somali refugee, the other is a Trump supporter, and Olive surprises herself by befriending them both.
Strout possesses an uncanny ability to focus on ordinary moments in her characters' lives, bringing them to life with compassion and humor. Her characters could be our own friends or family, and readers can easily relate to their stories of love, damaged relationships, aging, loss and loneliness. Each phase of Olive's life touches on a memory, real or imagined.
Olive, Again is a remarkable collection on its own but will be especially enjoyed by those who loved Olive Kitteridge. It's a book to immerse oneself in and to share.
Copyright 2019 BookPage Reviews.Kirkus Reviews
The thorny matriarch of Crosby, Maine, makes a welcome return. As in Strout's Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge (2008, etc.), the formidable title character is always a presence but not always onstage in these 13 interconnected tales of loneliness, loss, and love in its many flawed incarnations. Olive has not become any easier to like since her husband, Henry, died two years ago; "stupid" is a favorite adjective, and "phooey to you" a frequent term of dismissal. But over the course of about a decade we see Olive struggling, in her flinty way, to become "oh, just a tiny—tiny—bit better as a person." Her second marriage, to Jack Kennison, helps. "I like you, Olive," he says. "I'm not sure why, really. But I do." Readers will feel the same, as she brusquely comforts a former student with cancer in "Light" and commiserates with the grieving daughter-in-law she has never much liked in "Motherless Child." Yet that story ends with Olive's desolate conclusion that she is largely responsible for her fraught relationship with her son: "She herself had [raised] a motherless child." Parents are estranged from children, husbands from wives, siblings from each other in this keening portrait of a world in which each of us is fundamentally alone and never truly knows even those we love the most. This is not the whole story, Strout demonstrates with her customary empathy and richness of detail. "You must have been a very good mother," Olive's doctor says after observing Christopher in devoted attendance at the hospital after she has a heart attack, and the daughter of an alcoholic mother and dismissive, abusive father finds a nurturing substitute in her parents' lawyer in "Helped." The beauty of the natural world provides a sustaining counterpoint to charged human interactions in which "there were so many things that could not be said." There's no simple truth about human existence, Strout reminds us, only wonderful, painful complexity. "Well, that's life," Olive says. "Nothing you can do about it." Beautifully written and alive with compassion, at times almost unbearably poignant. A thrilling book in every way. Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Reviews
Among a half-dozen award-spangled titles, No. 1
Library Journal Reviews
Olive Kitteridge is back, crustier than ever and just as unapologetic as she was when she first appeared 11 years ago. In this new collection of linked stories about the residents of Crosby, ME, Olive is never far from wielding her influence, even if she's offstage. A retired schoolteacher with very few filters from brain to mouth, Olive once again has opinions about everyone and everything—baby shower games, her husbands, motherhood, adult diapers, the ravages of aging. She drops her cutting observations with matter-of-fact, laser-like precision, sparing no one, then follows up with lovely, whiplash-inducing moments of empathy toward her neighbors, her distant son, and even, endearingly, herself. Caught up in scenes of great hilarity (a backseat childbirth) and bewildering grief, Olive may offer blunt honesty that defies societal norms, but her clarity is refreshing and never cruel.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
As direct, funny, sad, and human as its heroine, Strout's welcome follow-up to