Elizabeth Strout 2008
Olive Kitteridge, retired teacher of 7th grade math, is cantankerous, fearful, and quick to anger – but she does have the occasional flash of insight and compassion.
This Pulitzer Prize winner is not a casual read, and you won’t want to take it to the beach, but you’ll enjoy it as you wind down in the cool of an autumn evening. The book requires your full attention; best to avoid chatty companions who don’t understand what an open book means.
Because it’s thirteen stories in thirteen chapters (all either featuring Olive or tangentially tied to her), this would make a good choice for an interesting year-long book club discussion.
This book has a sequel called Olive, Again. The fact that I am not compelled to read it is the reason I awarded this perfectably readable and enjoyable book four stars instead of five.
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