Olive, Again

Olive Kitteridge is "a compelling life force" because she is sharp, witty, reluctant to change, brutally honest, and very sympathetic (San Francisco Chronicle).Elizabeth Strout, as noted by The New Yorker, "animates the ordinary with an astonishing force," and nowhere is this more evident than in these pages, where the eponymous Olive finds it difficult to comprehend not only her own life but also the lives of those around her in the Maine town of Crosby. The unforgettable Olive will never cease to astound us, to move us, and to inspire us, as Strout put it, "to bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace as we can." Her stories may revolve around a young woman about to give birth at a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse confessing a secret high school crush, or a lawyer struggling with an inheritance she does not want to accept.