Olive Kitteridge

These short stories, which collectively form a meditation on aging and connection (or disconnection) and love, are linked by shared characters (especially Olive Kittredge, who appears in all of them). They are set in a small town in Maine, and at times you can feel the salt in the air. Some of the characters are more compelling than others, but Olive is the most memorable: complicated and frustrating and ultimately wise and appealing. This is not a novel but rather a "novel in stories," a format that turns out to feel very different from a novel. In some ways it's the best of both worlds: you experience the vignettes, the moments in time, that constitute the modern short story--but also have some sense of the wider context in which these episodes are occurring.

The reading was generally good, though I did feel annoyed by the slow, halting Maine (?) cadence that the narrator used with some characters. I noticed it less over time, fortunately.

If you like modern short stories of the New Yorker type but also like more meaty novels, I'd recommend this book. I don't think I'll be forgetting the character of Olive anytime soon, and I'm grateful to have known her in the (audible) pages of this book.

I absolutely loved being in Olive's world - learning about her husband, students, grown son, and neighbors. She's not necessarily a likeable character all the time, but I really appreciated that she owned her crankiness. She is authentic in her bluntness and exposing her flaws, and Sandra Burr completes the portrait of Olive with a Maine accent that is spot-on.

"Oh, Olive!" I found myself frequently sighing throughout this collection of linked short stories. She isn't the central character in every story, which was good -- sometimes I needed a break from her, but then I'd start to miss her and I would be glad when she returned in the next story. We all know an Olive (a woman, probably a teacher, who terrified us with her hardness and then shocked us with some deep kindness).

I wasn't sure I wanted to listen to short stories, preferring audio books with a single central narrative, but I'm so glad I listened to "Olive Kitteridge." Instead of a strong narrative line, we get powerful characterization and psychological suspense (what happened to this person to make him like this? what did that couple's son do to end up in prison? will Olive learn to forgive? will she learn anything?)

"Olive Kitteridge" is a wise, delicately balanced, and convincingly-narrated collection. The last line made me break down and cry in the middle of the street. Oh, Olive!

I would have given this book more stars on the basis of the book, but the narrator really spoiled this for me. She seemed to have the idea (shared by too many narrators, I think) that characters mean "characters." Time to put on funny voices, silly accents, etc. And this was particularly bad because the lead character, Olive, is an older lady who appears in most of the stories and the narrator would put on what I assume she thinks is an old lady voice - shaky and with a New England accent. It kept her - and subsequently me - from really feeling any of the emotions Olive experienced. Read this one in paper.

I liked this book, even though I usually stay away from anything remotely resembling a short story collection. But I liked the connectedness of these stories, centered around one character, and I found the writing to be refreshingly honest, giving voice to the darker thoughts that we all must have at one time or another. And I thought the author created an appealing inner landscape for an otherwise unappealing character.

I didn't like the abrupt transitions between stories, the endings which were almost surgical in their finality, and it was a challenge to keep on caring about a new group of characters over and over again. I also did not like the "all in a day's routine" quality of the various infidelities, and thought the characters had cavalier attitudes about their episodes of dalliance.

The inclusion of local accents in the narration created an ambiance of provinciality which was out of touch with many of the characters' sophistication. I would have preferred an unaccented narration.

Be careful, though - if you don't pay attention, you'll suddenly find yourself surrounded by a new cast of characters in the time it takes you to nod off.

I recently ordered this audiobook and feel compelled to chime in immediately to warn buyers. What a lot of people are saying about the narration is that it is awful. This is true. I have not finished listening but almost feel like I will have to force myself. The narrator uses voices for the characters, notably Olive and Henry the main characters, that sound like she is immitating an old man or woman from a Mother Goose story. She does this even in the parts of the audio when the characters are not terribly old. The accent she gives them is laughable as well. They sound like a ninety year old, stuffy, British couple. (oddly with a school aged child). You may miss much of the audio as your brain works overtime trying to remind itself of the ages of the characters and what they must appear to be in the authors true vision.

I really enjoyed this book and hated to see it end. Well written and rich characters. I don't write many reviews but had to put in a recommendation for this. If you like well-written fiction, you'll love this book.

Not highly recommended.
A series of short stories which take place in a coastal town in Maine. One character, Olive Kitteridge, has at least a small part in each of the stories. It follows this rather nasty, controlling, opinionated school teacher from middle age through her senescence. She never changes. She approaches most every situation with a negative demeanor.

A Pulitzer Prize winner! I just do not think was worthy of that award. The prose was good and I liked the way Olive was woven into each of the stories but I just did NOT like the main character. The other characters in the book are somewhat interesting but it made me glad I did not live in that town with all those depressing folks. A few of the stories had ambiguous endings that left me scratching my head. I suppose the author wanted us to leave the ending "open" so that we could make our own. It wasn't an effective element for me. That kind of ending (so very french!) is supposed to make a reader think and wonder. I wasn't compelled to 'think' or do any contemplative examination of the ending. It left me frustrated.

This novel was very difficult to "get into" at first. The stories seem to drift back and forth across a small Maine town, involving either Olive herself, or people who she has touched with her life.

The book itself was, on the whole, quite good and the underlying message was extremely poignant. However, there were two things that kept this from being a 5-star entry:

One was the reader. I have listened to Sandra Burr before and liked her fine, but she should stick to books with either very little dialog, or only one or two main characters. The "hokey" New England accent was horrible and the switch from narration to dialog was never smooth. This made the storylines difficult to follow.

Second was the smattering of local references to Maine. They were disjointed, random, disconnected and misplaced. When a writer makes reference to a real place, it needs to BE a real place in the novel. I live near Cooks Corner. But my Cooks Corner is not the one in the book. Neither is my Moody's. Portland and Bangor are far enough apart that someone won't go from one to the other for a job with out a significant move. Rather than bring Maine to the story, it actaully had the opposite affect. It made the story take place nowhere. And that is sad because New England IS populated with people like Olive and Henry. This could have been so much better.

I have read and listened to many books and this one is a real classic. It takes some getting used to Sandra Burr, but once you're into her narration you can't imagine a better listen. The text itself is breathtaking and true to our humanness and life struggles. This book and audio-book are MUST read/listen--without a doubt. Do it. Listen. Now. This is an amazing piece of literature.