Olive, Again (Oprah's Book Club)

A Novel

By: Elizabeth Strout

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times Best Seller

Oprah’s Book Club Pick

Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout continues the life of her beloved Olive Kitteridge, a character who has captured the imaginations of millions.

“Strout managed to make me love this strange woman I’d never met, who I knew nothing about. What a terrific writer she is.” (Zadie Smith, The Guardian)

“Just as wonderful as the original...Olive, Again poignantly reminds us that empathy, a requirement for love, helps make life ‘not unhappy.’” (NPR)

Named one of The Ten Best Books of the Year People and one of The Best Books of the Year by: Time • Vogue • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • Vanity Fair • Entertainment Weekly • BuzzFeed • Esquire • Real Simple • Good Housekeeping • The New York Public Library • The Guardian • Evening Standard • Kirkus Reviews • Publishers Weekly • BookPage

Prickly, wry, resistant to change yet ruthlessly honest and deeply empathetic, Olive Kitteridge is “a compelling life force” (San Francisco Chronicle). The New Yorker has said that Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force”, and she has never done so more clearly than in this book, where the iconic Olive struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the unforgettable Olive will continue to startle us, to move us, and to inspire us - in Strout’s words - “to bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace as we can.”

Praise for Olive, Again:

“Olive is a brilliant creation not only because of her eternal cantankerousness but because she’s as brutally candid with herself about her shortcomings as she is with others. Her honesty makes people strangely willing to confide in her, and the raw power of Ms. Strout’s writing comes from these unvarnished exchanges, in which characters reveal themselves in all of their sadness and badness and confusion.... The great, terrible mess of living is spilled out across the pages of this moving book. Ms. Strout may not have any answers for it, but she isn’t afraid of it either.” (The Wall Street Journal)

©2019 Elizabeth Strout (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Kimberly Farr, who performed Elizabeth Strout's previous Olive Kitteridge novel to fine effect, does it again.... Farr has the plain accents and often abrupt speech down pat. She hints at personality without overplaying, and reads the stories with sympathy. They are full of tragedy and joy and life's flotsam and jetsam. Prepare to savor every word." (AudioFile Magazine)

“In the first chapter of Elizabeth Strout’s Olive, Again...the man who will become Olive’s second husband writes, ‘Dear Olive Kitteridge, I have missed you and if you would see fit to call me or email me or see me, I would like that very much.’ Jack Kennison might be speaking for fans of Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge, which inspired an Emmy-winning HBO mini-series and now this sequel. However, like its iconic heroine, this book is capable of standing alone.... [Olive] is as indelible as the ink on Jack Kennison’s paper. If you know Olive, you know how she would respond to the hoopla: with an eye roll and an ‘Oh Godfrey.’ It’s good to have her back.” (Elisabeth Egan, The New York Times Book Review)

“Strout dwells with uncanny immediacy inside the minds and hearts of a dazzling range of ages: the young (with their confusion, wonder, awakening sexuality), the middle-aged (envy, striving, compromise), the old (failing bodies, societal shunning, late revelations).... I have long and deeply admired all of Strout’s work, but Olive, Again transcends and triumphs. The naked pain, dignity, wit and courage these stories consistently embody fill us with a steady, wrought comfort.” (The Washington Post)

“In thirteen poignant interconnected stories, Strout follows the cantankerous, truth-telling Mainer as she ages, experiencing a joyful second marriage and the evolution of her difficult relationship with her son. In her blunt yet compassionate way, Olive grapples with loneliness, infidelity, mortality and the question of whether we can ever really know someone - ourselves included.” (People (Book of the Week))

Welcome Back, Olive

So glad that testy, persnickety, unsympathetic Olive is back, with all her upcountry honesty intact. And this time she's more introspective and even got a boy friend! Totally enjoying this new group of related stories, and appreciating a narrator who performs the tales well.

Olive, Again

Amazingly insightful book whose characters are fully developed in their perceptions of the aging process and the meaning of life while maintaining a delightful entertaining story

Loved it!

I enjoy Elizabeth Strout's writing style and didn't know this novel existed until recently. I think the performance was very good, although for some reason Olive's "voice" sounds like Mrs. Olson from Little House on the Prairie, so I kept picturing Olive as being dressed in 19th century garb and looking like Katherine MacGregor. Not a complaint, just an observation. I like Olive's self-reflection in this story.

and end to Olive...amidst a changing culture

the learning she does at the end of life brings her self-knowledge into the Hurley Burley of postmodern manners and the lack of them

I fell in like for Olive in this follow up!

I fell in love with Olive in this second novel although I do not know if I could have lived with her in this life. This story made me laugh out loud, and the story line fit well with what it is like for some people to grow old in America. I will probably listen to it again!
It also woke me up-there are a few things I need to do soon🙂go visit my stepmom-I’m just so afraid she won’t know me.

Surprised to love Olive

Like Henry, Jack and Christopher, I loved Olive for all of her flaws. I can’t really put my finger on it, but she really got under my skin. And, Godfrey, Kimberly Farr did such a superb job bringing her and all of the characters around Crosby, Maine, to life!

Wonderful story

Absolutely loved all the stories in this book and how the author brought it all together. You will laugh,feel sad, and hopefully think about some of the many paths our lives take.

Another great story with Olive.

Excellent read. Olive is a complex character full of flaws, hilarious, and captivating. The story has lots of quirky surprises.

Political reference was not necessary,

Why add demeaning remarks about the president? I don’t read to be politically influenced by the author. Makes me feel highjacked.

Cantankerous Olive again, but I love her

This book merges several short stories into one cohesive story. Somehow all the diverse characters that you get to know throughout the book cross paths which is totally relatable in small rural communities. Elizabeth Strout has a wonderful ability to make you love a cantankerous, opinionated, straight-shooting woman that in real life I would probably not want to be around for any length of time and in turn, I would miss out on her true warmth and realism. Don't give up halfway through this book; it is very much worth finishing.