Buy now on Amazon: Olive Kitteridge

No doubt Elizabeth Strout is a talented insightful author who is able to use her main character, as well as well as those that are part of her  life or cross paths with her, to mine a potpourri of human emotions more often on the bitter side. In each of her 13 chapters she deals mostly with a retired school teacher’s trials and tribulations whether it be with Henry her husband and long time pharmacist of their small town in Maine, Christopher her only son who doesn’t deliver her expectations as far their mother-child adult relationships or others whom she has encountered. Each story dealt with an original slice of life with unflinchingly honest depiction of the inner thoughts of Olive and the other characters. However, I have to admit, I had no problem putting down ( or shutting off my Kindle ) and never was in a rush to fire it up. I must be in the minority here as this is a Pulitzer winning book. Perhaps I am looking for a more refreshing uplifting or challenging reading experience that offers a new twist on the usual conflicts of life. I could easily understand why her son while dutiful was not anxious to be steeped in his mother’s needy wish for payback. This even made me reflect of how I hope that I would not put that expectation on my own kids (although I suppose I could), which allowed me to give some credit and value to this reading assignment. The concluding experience of Olive in her older age which allowed her to appreciate her need to love and be loved was another well done literary accomplishment of this book. However when I weigh all, I still have to give a thumbs down to this book