Initial concerns vs reality
The presenter worried the book might be too whimsical or upbeat based on the back cover, but discovered a powerful study of life's compromises and disappointments.
Reviewed
Updated
Read Time
7 min read
Our age bandAdult
Reader rating
4.2 · 37,114 Amazon ratings
reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks scoreShare This Review
Our review
Olive Kitteridge
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout Review: A Pulitzer-Winning Portrait in Stories
Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cycle of thirteen linked stories set in Crosby, Maine, centred on a prickly retired schoolteacher. Reviewers prize its vivid central character, though some find the story-by-story form disjointed.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who enjoy a prickly, unsentimental central figure and are content with a linked-story form where Olive recedes into the margins of some chapters.
Worth it if
Worth reading if you enjoy quiet, observant fiction about ordinary lives and uncomfortable truths, and can let a story cycle build its portrait of a town and a difficult woman through the eyes of others.
Skip if
Skip it if you want one continuous, plot-forward arc or a warming read, since several readers found the episodic structure disjointed and the tone less heartwarming than its reputation suggests.
What readers & critics say
Kirkus Reviews, reviewing it on release, called it a perfectly balanced portrait of the human condition, with luminous prose that affirms life's pleasures amid anger, cruelty and loss. The book blogger at Books on the 747 grew to care about Olive despite not warming to her at once, while the blogger at Book Lover Book Reviews was underwhelmed by its lack of cohesion.
“A perfectly balanced portrait of the human condition, encompassing plenty of anger, cruelty and loss without ever losing sight of the equally powerful presences of tenderness”
— Kirkus Reviews4.2from 37,114 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
Victoria's Book Reviews reviews Olive Kitteridge
A review of Elizabeth Strout's novel Olive Kitteridge exploring its interconnected storytelling and emotional depth.
A BookTube review by Victoria's Book Reviews, 2017 · 6.9K views · 2.5K subscribers · Watch on YouTube ·
Their views, not ours. The points are our AI summary of what they say, each playing from where they say it.
Another view · mixed feelings
The presenter thought the book was well-crafted, appreciating its believable characters and quiet, unassuming prose that complemented the coastal Maine setting. However, the themes of older characters lamenting how their lives turned out did not appeal to them personally, and they found the structure functioned much better as disconnected short stories than as an integrated novel. While they recommend it to readers interested in slice-of-life portrayals and its central themes, it was ultimately not a favorite for them. John-Alan Pascoe on YouTube
A prickly protagonist
Olive is not framed as a sympathetic heroine; she is blunt and abrasive, with hints of mental illness that make her a complex presence in town.
Interlinked short story structure
Rather than a standard linear narrative, the book functions as a series of short stories from varying perspectives where Olive features prominently or only tangentially.
Themes of loneliness and secrets
The stories delve deeply into personal isolation, the emotional baggage brought from childhood, and the secret struggles hidden beneath ordinary town life.
Ask LuvemBooks
Was this helpful?
Olive Kitteridge is Elizabeth Strout's 2008 cycle of thirteen linked stories about the fictional town of Crosby, Maine, with a blunt retired schoolteacher as its connecting thread. It is a quiet, character-first book that rewards patient readers and is less comforting than its reputation suggests; those wanting a single plot-driven arc may find it fragmentary.
- Is it worth reading?
- For readers who like contemplative fiction, yes. Several reviewers prize Olive as a character: one blogger at Books on the 747 found her someone you grow to care about, and the book won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Book Lover Book Reviews found the linked pieces lacked cohesion, and the emotional tone is more austere than people expect.
- Similar books
- If you want more of Strout's Crosby-style small-town attention, start with Tell Me Everything. For linked, quietly observed lives, Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth is a natural companion, while Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose offers a broader, more sweeping take on family and marriage. Ann Patchett's Tom Lake suits readers who like reflective, character-led fiction, and Richard Russo's Empire Falls and Shelby Van Pelt's Remarkably Bright Creatures offer other small-town ensembles, though we do not carry them.
- Who should read this?
- It suits readers who are comfortable with indirect, sometimes unresolved narratives and a central figure who is not easy to like. People who enjoy short-story cycles, or who want a portrait of a town built from many viewpoints, are the best fit. Readers who want one continuous, plot-forward arc may side with those who found the structure fragmented.
- About Elizabeth Strout
- Elizabeth Strout is an American novelist and author. She wrote Olive Kitteridge, which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and its sequel Olive, Again, which Penguin Random House lists as an Oprah's Book Club pick.
- Tell me about the adaptation
- The book inspired an Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries starring Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins, according to Penguin Random House. The miniseries and the book are separate experiences; the book's linked, discontinuous structure is its own distinct form.
- What are the main themes?
- The book examines marriage and loyalty, the strain between parent and adult child, depression, ageing and regret. Whisperinggums singled out its uncomfortable truths. Some reviewers call it often painful for its insistence on life's sharper realities.
- Is it a novel or a story collection?
- It is described as either, and the retrieved reviews do not settle it. The thirteen stories are linked by Olive. Six of them had run in periodicals before the book appeared, a detail that left Book Lover Book Reviews wanting more cohesion.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
About Elizabeth Strout
Tell me about the adaptation
What are the main themes?
Is it a novel or a story collection?
Summarize this book
Set in the coastal town of Crosby, Maine, the book follows Olive Kitteridge through thirteen interrelated but narratively discontinuous stories. In some she is the main figure; in others she appears only briefly while the focus falls on neighbours, among them a lounge musician haunted by a past romance and a former student who has lost the will to live. Her husband Henry, a pharmacist, and her adult son help show how she is seen by those closest to her.
Follow up
Is Olive in every story?
Where is it set?
Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review
Ask LuvemBooks
What would you like to know about Olive Kitteridge?
Answers come from our editorial notes on this book. If we haven't covered something, we'll say so.
Readers often ask
Our Review
We review the evidence: published critics, reader verdicts and BookTube reviews, gathered and weighed with AI assistance and edited by LuvemBooks, rather than one reader's first-hand take.
A quiet, interior, Pulitzer-winning portrait of a prickly Maine schoolteacher and her town, told in thirteen linked stories that most reviewers prize and a few find disjointed.
What the book is
Olive Kitteridge is a 2008 book by Elizabeth Strout, described as a novel or a short story cycle, set in the fictional coastal town of Crosby, Maine. Its thirteen stories are interrelated but narratively discontinuous, per Wikipedia.
Olive is a main character in some and a cameo in others.
The publisher's synopsis introduces Olive as a retired schoolteacher who deplores the changes in her town and in the world. She doesn't always recognise the changes in the people around her, among them her husband Henry, a pharmacist who finds his loyalty to the marriage both a blessing and a curse.
Her adult son feels tyrannised by her irrational sensitivities.
Olive is the thread; the stories otherwise wander among a lounge musician haunted by a past romance, a former student who has lost the will to live, and neighbours coping with problems mild and dire. Penguin Random House notes the book inspired the Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries starring Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins.
Standing and recognition
The book won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, according to Wikipedia.
Strout's site also lists it among the best books of 2008 for People, USA Today, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, Entertainment Weekly, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune, among others. Penguin Random House adds that it appears on the New York Times list of the 100 best books of the 21st century.
Those lists come from the author's and publisher's own pages, so they are best read as record rather than independent assessment.
What reviewers praise
Penguin Random House's page carries USA Today's line, "Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge," and a reviewer's, "Strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force." Both are publisher-selected blurbs.
The Guardian's review of the sequel, Olive, Again, looks back on the first book: Strout created a character "so vivid and humorous" that Olive seems to take on a life independent of the stories around her. The same piece credits Strout with careful attention to the humdrum, quotidian experience that gradually accretes grandeur.
It is a verdict on the sequel, but it describes the character both books share.
The book blogger behind Books on the 747 admired Strout's economy and called Olive a title character "you grow to care about so much" despite not warming to her at once. Elaine Mead, writing at Aniko Press, likened Olive to a sun that the other characters orbit, and found the structure gives an overview of how people understand, or fail to understand, each other and themselves.
She struggled at first with the pace before becoming engrossed.
Some reviewers gather critical excerpts calling it "often-painful" for its insistence on life's sharper realities, and describing a cranky, sarcastic Olive whose compassion can still surprise. One excerpt there cautions that this is "no crusty heroine with a heart of gold."
Where readers divide
The form is the main point of difference. The book blogger at Whisperinggums reported that some in her reading group found the episodic structure disconcerting at first, yet she loved the book, and she singled out its uncomfortable truths.
The blogger at Book Lover Book Reviews was underwhelmed, praising Strout's short-story craft and clarity but finding the pieces lacked cohesion once she learned several had been published separately.
Temperament matters too. Some reviewers found it a powerful book in quieter ways than most novels, noting it is not a female version of A Man Called Ove and is less heartwarming than people expect.
One reader's report on BookBrowse described her book club, which she had chosen it for, disliking it for the short-story format and the jumping around.
What the sources do not weigh
The praise above comes from a mix of publishers, trade pages and individual book bloggers, so the weight of independent critical opinion is stronger on character than on the novel-versus-collection question. Kirkus Reviews reviewed the book on release.
It covers the sad, angry and tender material in a single sentence and recommends it.
None of the retrieved reviews settles whether it is best read as a novel or as a story cycle; that is left to the reader.
Who it suits
It suits readers who enjoy character-driven, literary fiction about ordinary lives and are content with indirect, sometimes unresolved narratives. Those who want a single, plot-forward arc may side with the readers who found the structure fragmented.
The edition under review is a reprint.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
en.wikipedia.org
- Further reading
- 2
Elizabeth Strout, LuvemBooks
- 3
- 4
elizabethstrout.com
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
whisperinggums.com
- 9
- 10
booksonthe747.com
- 11
penguinrandomhouse.com
- 12
en.wikipedia.org
- 13
Kirkus Reviews
- 14
Book Lover Book Reviews
Age & Reading Level
Our age band
Adult
Our age band groups books for browsing; it isn't an age a review gave.
3 content notes · who it suits
Content to know about
depression and suicidal despair
strained marriage and family conflict
ageing and loss
Skip if you want a warming, plot-driven read with a single continuous arc
From our readers
Reader reviews
Be one of the first readers to answer.
Read it? Was it right for you?
Books like Olive Kitteridge
Curated picks for readers who enjoyed Olive Kitteridge, with our reasoning for each match.
If you liked Olive Kitteridge
