Book Review: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

By Sarah Benjamin

After reading the back cover of Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout, I excitedly began what I believed to be a novel. It wasn’t until the first three “chapters” had finished, that I discovered it was a collection short stories about the residents of a little town called Crosby, Maine. From the very first story, I was hooked on Strout’s prose, and remained captivated by each and every individual character’s voice. It was easy to understand why there was a Pulitzer Prize sticker on the cover of this book.

Crosby is a small town brimming with all the necessary down-home dramatic material - gossip, secrets, unrequited love and devastating loss. At the center of a quiet chaos is the strong, stubborn, Olive Kitteridge. She is not your typical heroine—she’s old, grumpy and hard to please. The townspeople think Olive is as solid-as-rock. Yet, her husband and only child see her as moody and critical. She’s both, and a lot more – Strout’s Olive is a beautifully sophisticated character. She does indeed have a gift for grating on the nerves of both the townsfolk and the reader, but the more I read, the more I identified with Olive. I saw through her tricks and understood her reasons for her seemingly critical and remote feelings.

Two stories in particular struck a chord with me: in one Henry, Olive’s lovable, cheery, ever-naïve husband, strikes a friendship with recently widowed woman. In many ways, Henry and Olive couldn’t be more different. But they complete each other, and their forty-year marriage is a testimony to the strength of their relationship. The other story is about Nina, a confused, young woman who is starving herself to death. Her situation is so dire that we see the hardened Olive moved to tears as she begs Nina to eat a donut. It is these small encapsulated moments in time when meaning is in the simplest gesture. Strout incorporates them with clarity and honesty.

There are no great mysteries or sweeping social changes in Crosby; only little stories of ordinary people who pass through Strout’s pages quietly and with dignity. It is through this portrayal of the mundane that Strout drives home her point: Life and love are never what they seem.

To quote Olive: “What young people didn’t know…they did not know that lumpy, aged, and wrinkled bodies were as needy as their own young, firm ones, that love was not to be tossed away carelessly…”

Life happens, albeit sometimes messily. Love can come at 15 or even at 70, and sometimes both. Olive takes us through these moments in life with a firm hand in our own. Strout has created a character that seems stronger than most of us, but identifiable and charming in her weaknesses. The Pulitzer Prize for this book is well understood, not only for the prose and structure, but for the incredible message it sends.