Olive, Again, by Elizabeth Strout

Prickly, wry, resistant to change yet ruthlessly honest and deeply empathetic, Olive Kitteridge is “a compelling life force” (San Francisco Chronicle). The New Yorker has said that Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,” and she has never done so more clearly than in these pages, where the iconic Olive struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the unforgettable Olive will continue to startle us, to move us, and to inspire moments of transcendent grace.

“There’s no simple truth about human existence, Strout reminds us, only wonderful, painful complexity. ‘Well, that’s life,’ Olive says. ‘Nothing you can do about it.’ Beautifully written and alive with compassion, at times almost unbearably poignant. A thrilling book in every way.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Strout’s stories form a cohesive novel, both sequel and culmination, that captures, with humor, compassion, and embarrassing detail, aging, loss, loneliness, and love. Strout again demonstrates her gift for zeroing in on ordinary moments in the lives of ordinary people to highlight their extraordinary resilience.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The lovable, irascible Olive Kitteridge is back in this sequel to the charming (but also casually devastating) 2008 novel that won a Pulitzer Prize and spawned an HBO miniseries. Strout sticks to her winning formula: interrelated short stories linked by the presence of familiar faces. . . . In this novel—set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Maine, ravaged by opioid addiction and economic neglect—Strout wields great pathos out of life and all its attendant tragedies.”—BuzzFeed 
 
“Maybe you read the wonderful Olive Kitteridge—or saw the HBO series—and thought you’d had enough of Strout’s dour, prickly heroine? Guess again: Her return is a stunner.”—People
 
“Fans of Olive Kitteridge will devour Strout’s sequel.”—New York
 
“After a No. 1 spot on the bestseller list, the Pulitzer Prize and a TV miniseries starring Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge is surely the most beloved unlikable character in recent literary history. . . . This new collection of stories about Olive’s friends and family hits it out of the park.”—Newsday
 
“Strout aims the spotlight on her wry heroine and the characters of Crosby, Maine, in another book that’s sure to have you flipping pages long into the night.”—Bustle
 
“Olive, Again returns to Olive and the town of Crosby to do what Strout does best: find meaning in the tiniest and most mundane details of everyday life.”—Vox
 
“Olive Kitteridge is back, crustier than ever and just as unapologetic as she was when she first appeared 11 years ago. . . . Caught up in scenes of great hilarity . . . and bewildering grief, Olive may offer blunt honesty that defies societal norms, but her clarity is refreshing and never cruel. . . . Strout, who won the Pulitzer for Olive Kitteridge, wrote that Olive forced her way back into Strout’s consciousness long after the author thought she was done with her. Olive demanded Strout write these new stories. Of course Olive did that. It’s so . . . Olive. Thank goodness Olive prevailed. Exquisite.”—Library Journal (starred review)

October 15, 2019