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Olive Kitteridge: The Beloved Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel by [ELIZABETH STROUT]

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Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge: The Beloved Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel Kindle Edition

by ELIZABETH STROUT (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Olive Kitteridge – the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novel

This beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, turned into an Emmy Award-winning HBO mini-series, is an extraordinary story about an ordinary woman’s life, and a vibrant exploration of all that connects us. The story of Olive Kitteridge will make you laugh, nod in recognition, wince in pain, and shed a tear or two.
'As perfect a novel as you will ever read… So astonishingly good that I shall be reading it once a year for the foreseeable future and very probably for the rest of my life.'Evening Standard

Olive Kitteridge is a complex woman. Described by some as indomitable and by others as compassionate, she herself has always been certain that she is absolutely right about everything. A retired schoolteacher in a small coastal town in Maine, as she grows older she struggles to make sense of the changes in her life.

Through different narratives, telling the triumphs and tragedies of those around her, and spanning years, Olive’s story emerges. We meet her stoic husband, bound to her in a marriage both broken and strong, and a young man pained by loss – whom Olive comforts by her mere presence, while her own son feels overwhelmed by her sensitivities.

Praise for Elizabeth Strout
‘Strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force.’ The New Yorker
'A terrific writer.' Zadie Smith
'So good it gave me goosebumps.’Sunday Times
'A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own.' Hilary Mantel

Print length

277 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster UK
Publication date

12 April 2013
File size

1787 KB
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Review

"Perceptive, deeply empathetic . . . Olive is the axis around which these thirteen complex, relentlessly human narratives spin themselves into Elizabeth Strout's unforgettable novel in stories."--O: The Oprah Magazine

"Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge. . . . You'll never forget her. . . . [Elizabeth Strout] constructs her stories with rich irony and moments of genuine surprise and intense emotion. . . . Glorious, powerful stuff."--USA Today

"Funny, wicked and remorseful, Mrs. Kitteridge is a compelling life force, a red-blooded original. When she's not onstage, we look forward to her return. The book is a page-turner because of her."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Olive Kitteridge still lingers in memory like a treasured photograph."--Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Rarely does a story collection pack such a gutsy emotional punch."--Entertainment Weekly

"Strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force. . . . [She] makes us experience not only the terrors of change but also the terrifying hope that change can bring: she plunges us into these churning waters and we come up gasping for air."--The New Yorker

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Elizabeth Strout is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge, as well as The Burgess Boys, a New York Times bestseller; Abide with Me, a national bestseller; and Amy and Isabelle, which won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in England. Her short stories have been published in a number of magazines, including The New Yorker and O: The Oprah Magazine. Elizabeth Strout lives in New York City. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00B73MU7A
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster UK; UK ed. edition (12 April 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1787 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 277 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0743467728

Best Sellers Rank: 4,298 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 117 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- 476 in Contemporary Fiction (Kindle Store)
- 1,932 in Genre Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
9,535 ratings

About the author

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Elizabeth Strout

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Elizabeth Strout is the author of the New York Times bestseller Olive Kitteridge, for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize; the national bestseller Abide with Me; and Amy and Isabelle, winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in London. She lives in Maine and New York City.

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Customer reviews

5 star		42%
4 star		30%
3 star		19%
2 star		7%
1 star		3%

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Anne Whight

Loved it! Fascinating glimpse into small town lives.

Reviewed in Australia on 1 November 2018

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My first book by Elizabeth Strout, and it won't be my last. It's full of fascinating glimpses into the small everyday lives of a small town's inhabitants, their hopes, dreams, secrets and disappointments. All so very real. In the same breath you snigger at Olive Ketteridge, then you pity her, then you realise how alike we all are. Ultimately I came to care for her. Although it at first seems like the characters are disconnected, Olive floats through reminding us that this is a small town, where people know all about each other, and try to hide their secrets. I loved it.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Enjoyable book

Reviewed in Australia on 30 January 2021

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It was easy to get involved with the life’s of the many people in this book. It showed a realistic and truthful version of people’s trajectory in life with its many struggles and insecurities.
A good read.

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Sorry, I fail to see how this book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

Reviewed in Australia on 22 November 2017

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A disappointing read. There were just so many characters and it seemed to be a description of all the people she came in contact during her time in Maine. She was a character very stuck in the old ways and seemed unwilling to move on, although I am sure she was a very good Math teacher.

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Anne Leadbeatter

Good book with real characters

Reviewed in Australia on 25 November 2015

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I liked this book very much. It was recommended to me as being fantastic but didn't really reach those dizzy heights.
It was refreshing to read about people who were far from perfect and I felt the main character was quite unlikable at times.
The book is made up of events in Olive's life rather than a story with a beginning and end.

3 people found this helpful

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Josephine Rushby

An interesting novel

Reviewed in Australia on 12 January 2015

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This novel tells about a lady called Olive Ketteridge who seems to live an ordinary life with her husband Henry. They have a son called Christopher who seems to always be distant with them.
She talks about her neighbours and old friends she has over the years. Each chapter tells a story of people in her life. It is set on a small seaside town in America.
This is a thought provoking novel.
I would recommend this to anybody to read. The descriptions of people has you seeing this person and nodding when she describes people's mannerisms.
This is a good read.

3 people found this helpful

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Leanne K

Poignant

Reviewed in Australia on 30 January 2020

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Original method of weaving a character into many, separate lives. The author succinctly captured loneliness and all other emotions of life in the many and varied stories of the characters within this book. Highly recommend this book.

One person found this helpful

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Alessa Greyson

Not the book I expected from other reviews!

Reviewed in Australia on 15 October 2017

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Not sure what all the fuss is about this book! I didn't like it and only gave it a 2-star review because I seem to be in a very small minority - which makes me think I missed something important.
Don't NOT read it just because I didn't enjoy it - give it a try - you might find the star quality that I missed!

2 people found this helpful

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soomoo

One of fictions great characters

Reviewed in Australia on 13 February 2021

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I loved this book. It was so unexpected. A wonderful character and great stories. It

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Peter - The Reading Desk

13 episodic stories that are breath-taking in their beauty and eloquence

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 September 2019

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Olive Kitteridge is a Pulitzer Prize Winner for fiction, which is breath-taking in its beauty and eloquence. The structure of the novel is 13 episodic stories, which provide a candid and searching insight into a small community in the coastal town of Crosby in Maine. It would be unfortunate to race through the pages without savouring the atmosphere, the wonderful sense of time, and the rich array of fascinating characters that enhance the human relationships on display. It takes the little breaks between stories to reflect on the mastery of prose and the observational expression of Elizabeth Strout.

Olive Kitteridge is the indomitable presence throughout the book. Some stories have the faintest mention of Olive while in others she impacts with the overbearing resolve of a woman that is determined to get what she wants. Olive is rarely the focal point, but she acts as a magnet drawing each story to exist in her presence.

Olive is an ex-school teacher, a tall and often clumsy woman, but as the years progress she becomes big,

“… her ankles puffed out, her shoulders rolled up behind her neck, and her wrists and hands seemed to become the size of a man’s. Olive minds – of course she does; sometimes, privately, she minds very much. But at this stage of the game, she is not about to abandon the comfort of food, and that means right now she probably looks like a fat dozing seal wrapped in some kind of gauze bandage.”

Olive has a formidable presence and a complexity that is intriguing and undefinable. While she offers very little filter in her comments and consideration of others and thinks it ludicrous to cry at weddings, she cries when she sees a young anorexic girl, Nina.

“Olive shook her head again, blew her nose. She looked at Nina and said quietly, ‘I don’t know who you are, but young lady, you’re breaking my heart.’
‘I’m not trying to,’ said Nina, defensively. ‘It’s not like I can help it.’
‘Oh, I know that. I know.’ Olive nodded.”

The first story is a touching story of her husband, Harry, who is a pharmacist, and his relationship with a young married assistant who tragically loses her husband. The relationship is subtly transformed from a platonic friendship to the delicate suggestion of deeper feelings as he allows himself to imagine what life would be like with this young woman. The emotional conflict burdens him until he finally asks Olive if she would ever leave him. “Oh, for God’s sake Henry. You could make a woman sick.” she responds.

Most of the following stories reverberate with a sense of betrayal. You can feel the connection with the characters, laugh through incidents, be astounded by some events, nod in recognition with many, and shed a tear or two at others. The writing is emotionally stimulating and reveals such vivid moments that give breath to sentiments you may not have been expecting.

This is a wonderful reading experience, infused with beautiful prose, images and feelings that we all encounter or witness throughout our lives. I would highly recommend this book. The reason why I jumped to read this book after it sitting on my bookshelf for so long, was that the sequel, Olive, Again, is due for release on 31st October this year.

80 people found this helpful

BigBob

Not exactly a laugh a minute...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 May 2018

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Read by our small, friendly Book Group and found it split opinions down the middle - which is great for lively discussion!
Some did not like the format of 13 short stories about people in the community - 2 of which Olive was not even apparently relevant to.
Not a cheerful book - OK it is showing a community and how people's lives intertwine but surely some people could be happy too...

50 people found this helpful

bopa

dont waste your money

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 January 2019

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Probably the least enjoyable book I've ever read. Had read My name is Lucy Barton for a book group and although I found it an odd story thought I would give the author another try as there have been so many wonderful reviews about her and she had won the Pulitzer prize.
Thought it a thoroughly miserable read. Olive is not a pleasant woman who values no one but herself. Very disjointed book Few connections between one chapter and the next. The most positive thing I can say is that the characters in some chapters were interesting.
My advice is don't bother with this book.

37 people found this helpful

Alison S

Confusion

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 April 2019

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I found this book very confusing. Right up to the last chapter I was waiting for the stories to link up. It was a total surprise when I reached the end of the book. The chapters in themselves were interesting snippets and as such were very true to life. However when I read a book I am looking for a satisfying story. Perhaps I missed the links, if I did they were not obvious.

29 people found this helpful

Books R Best

VERY DEPRESSING.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 July 2018

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I know this book is highly regarded, but I found it a bit depressing. It picked the scabs over the things we all fear, growing old, feeling stupid in front of our children, being alone, helplessness and death. While the book was easy to read I felt quite disturbed by the time I’d finished it, like a wrung-out dish cloth. Why oh, why did she start a short story about a new character and then not tell us the outcome? Half the narratives had no ending at all and left you up in the air. Chosen by our book club it was not something I would ordinarily choose to read and now I know why.

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Olive Kitteridge: The Beloved Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel Kindle Edition

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