Have you ever been to Crosby, Maine with the very special Olive Kitteridge? 


Olive is back once more in Olive, Again by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout. 
Olive still has all her quirks, directness, and often failed attempts at meaningful social interaction.

Olive Kitteridge, as many know, is not a new character on the literary scene. She is a well known quantity often described as the queen of the curmudgeons with a heart of gold. Her empathetic personality is as famous as her obtuseness. 


Olive is older now and retired from teaching. She still lives in the same house that she shared with her now deceased husband. Olive spends a lot of time on her own, but still managing to make impact on those lucky enough to be in her orbit. 
Olive finds companionship in the form of a retired professor, Jack Kennison. I think Strout wants to keep Olive from loneliness as the march to old age goes on. These feelings of love are scary for Olive:


“It was as though waves swung her up and then down, tossing her high—high—and then the darkness came from below and she felt terror and struggled. Because she saw that her life—her life, what a silly foolish notion, her life—that her life was different, might possibly be very different or might not be different at all, and both ideas were unspeakably awful to her, except for when the waves took her high and she felt such gladness, but it did not last long, and she was down again, deep under the waves, and it was like that—back and forth, up and down, she was exhausted and could not sleep”.

.
I wonder if creating a character for an author is much like giving life to a human. As a mother, I work hard to give my child what she needs: food, water, shelter, cute shoes. 
I also work had to help develop her character with admirable traits. I want her not only to achieve her full potential, but to be fulfilled, be happy, and find a place in this life that fits her well.
That feeling of developing, refining and ultimately finding a place of peace and fulfillment for your child, in every way reminds me of Olive, Again.


This feels like the story, where Strout (like any good parent) is making sure Olive is settled. Loose ends are tied up (as much as they can be in the dazzling messiness that is life).


Olive has lived a life. It wasn't always a life that made her proud or even happy. But it was a life of impact, for better or for worse.


With Olive, Again Strout maintains her beautiful writing style. She understands people, and we understand ourselves a little bit more by reading Strout.
I was delighted to meet some characters from previous novels in this sequel. At same time, each chapter felt a bit like a short story of its own and not as interconnected as the first Olive. 


It's a fast read and you take away something very special from each chapter. If you only ever read one random chapter from this book, you will still be better for it. 


I don't think we will be seeing Olive again after this. But, it's okay because she has given us an awful lot.



Thank you Random House and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Olive, Again. I want to read this book over and over. I give this book 5 stars. I read this novel in one Sunday afternoon. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. How the characters were connected together in this town and their lives. The wanting to know keeps you reading and turning the page until you are on the last page. Trust me, you want to turn to page one and read it all again
I highly recommend this novel, you won't be sorry.

Godfrey, it was good to spend time with Olive again! She is married to Jack Dennison and has mellowed a bit, but is still very Olive - honest, brash, judgemental of people and situations with a good heart showing itself unexpectedly! This is a book of short stories of people in Olive’s town of Crosby, Maine and in most of the stories Olive makes an appearance. You learn of their challenges past and present, affairs, and family relationships. The chapters focusing on Olive are priceless as she ages and reflects on her relationship with Henry (her first husband), son Christopher and Jack. After Jack dies, she reflects on the day he asked her to marry him. “Olive, you are a difficult woman. You are such a goddam difficult woman and I love you. If you don’t mind, maybe you could be a little less Olive with me even if it means being a little more Olive with others. Because I love you, and we don’t have much time.”

Probably my favorite chapter is the last one. She has sold her home and is in Maple Tree Apartments wearing Depends and having some difficulty making friends. She meets Isabelle and considers her rather mousy. She discovers her initial judgements were very wrong. They actually have a lot in common and form a beautiful friendship. Oh Olive, there is hope for you even though as you write your memoir, you admit “ I do not have a clue who I have been. Truthfully, I do not understand a thing.”

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read this advance copy in exchange for an honest review! I highly recommend this book!

I was so excited to see that there was a sequel to <i>Olive Kitteridge</i> in the works, but also nervous because I loved the first book so much, and sometimes sequels don't hit the mark that the first book did. I should have known better than to doubt Elizabeth Strout because Olive is back in all of her snarky glory.

In <i> Olive, Again</i> we meet Olive 11 years after the first book--she's a bit older, a bit lonelier but still as judgmental and wry as ever. Through her observations we see life in Crosby, Maine as Olive and other characters in the town deal with aging, family and death.

Strout is so good at making characters that seem unlikable likable. Even when Olive is at her worst, she's still endearing.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Hurray! Olive is back! In this follow up to Olive Kitteridge, we meet up again four years after the last novel finished. This novel is ore of the same, each chapter is a beautiful vignette of the (fictional) people living in Crosby, Maine and their interactions with Olive. I didn't want this book to end... I am holding out hope that Elizabeth Strout may find a way to write a third...

I must say reading a book that is a sequel is rather confusing. for most who have read the first book had a better understanding of the characters.

With that, I enjoyed the book it packs a powerful punch about aging and the end of life. I think it should be required reading for all of us!

In a way I get Olive. and now that I know her I will be reading the first installment of this book. series

When you want to learn about human nature, read Elizabeth Strout. Her characters are nuanced and she focuses on everyday human interactions rather than big dramatic plots to carry the story forward. In OLIVE, AGAIN Strout continues the life of Olive Kitteredge and also gives us her hallmark vignettes about other inhabitants of Crosby, Maine as revives other characters we have met before in some of Strout's other books. Yum!

olive kitteridge is back again as my one of my favorite characters. powerful, wise, and vulnerable, she’s the voice i need in my life. elizabeth strout has done it again.

Olive is such a fantastic character. The way the book was constructed around her interactions with various people in her life and her town gave such a rounded and full look at who she was. Her humor and the grouchiness made her only more real. It was also great to see characters from previous books show up and have their stories continued. Strout's writing is just sparse enough, memorable and perfectly worded. I loved this book.

Olive Kitteridge is one of those characters in a novel that you never forget. At times both quirky, loveable and annoying busybody, she remains in your heart for a long time. This novel brings us back to Olive as she grows older. She buries a husband and marries another, contemplated her relationship with her son and butts into a lot of people’s lives! She’s tolerant and wonderfully frank, it’s difficult to read and not want to be a part of her life. There are many rich characters in this book, some to love, some to like, some to strongly dislike. But Ms. Strout makes them all real. She’s done it again

For readers like me who were enthralled with Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge," you are in for a wonderfully moving treat: "Olive, Again." As with the "prequel," this novel is similarly designed as stand-alone chapters that are delicately connected to one another. The prose is spare yet intricately depicts the characters and their respective plights. Many of the chapters will move readers to tears of sadness and alternatively, to joy. I highly recommend Olive, Again.

Hard to say anything about Elizabeth Strout's OLIVE, AGAIN without gushing.. Her writing is impeccable, her characters so very interesting, and it was so nice to visit with Olive again! Don't miss it!

This book is the sequel to Olive Kitteridge. 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 or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept. Olive continues to startle us !
I loved this book. I loved how the author captures with humor, compassion and embarrassing detail, aging, loss loneliness and love.
I look forward to read more from this author!

I read and very much enjoyed Olive Kittredge, and I was excited to read the sequel. I love the town, the people, and the interwoven vignettes. The anchor in the stories is Olive herself; sometimes she is the main character, and sometimes just peripheral. You do not have to have read the first book to appreciate this one, although you are really missing out if you haven’t read the first. Ms. Strout has written an absolute gem. This book is brilliantly written and is extraordinarily good.

Strout conjures the same magic here as with Olive Kitteridge and offers an unflinching look at the experiences of older women, who are rarely truly seen in literature. The stories reveal the difficulties of human communication, the misunderstandings, assumptions, near misses that make connecting such a challenge. At the same time moments of rare connection are highlighted in ways that left a lasting impression. Olive articulates the beauty. loneliness and confusion of being human and it is impossible to look away. I value this book for its willingness to speak what is left unspoken and to take on the complexity of what in means to live in our own skin and be a part of a community.

What a sequel should be, to continue the story and further the development of the characters while still being fresh in tone and approach. Olive is aging and that resonates with aging readers in a way that seems tailor-made for a movie version. But the cinematic nature of the New England setting throughout the seasons and the years of this book is written as poetry. I think back to ON GOLDEN POND for imagery akin to to this book. Remarkable storytelling, remarkable Olive Kitteridge.

I found that the story was like a garden with each character a different flower, and each character developed at their own pace and everyone was connect to Olive in some form. The story lines I found fascinating and emotional because it made me think about my life and how people came and went and how all stories seem ordinary but are full of wonder and are tragic at the same time. The story made me think about how all the people that you meet you only know the surface and never the whole person and how at the end of life and you wonder what it is about.

When I started the book I had no idea what was coming next but at the end you find out how we are all connected and how weird life is.

Definitely worth reading.

I thought I might be growing weary of Olive and her world, but I was wrong. If anything, Olive Again gave me more emotional satisfaction than ever. Outstanding writing, a deep, abiding love for people and all their problems, a clear-eyed view of Middle America--all these and more await you as you settle in for Olive, Again. Loved it!

Olive, Again is a book that deals with some important and, at times, uncomfortable subjects. Aging, loneliness, marriage/remarriage, parenting, infidelity, and disappointment are some of the recurring topics or themes. Through the character Olive Kitteridge and her opinionated commentary, I was made to feel a myriad of emotions while reading this book. I didn’t always like what I was feeling, but that’s okay.

Side note: I wish Olive would stop saying “Aye-yuh” so much, because I can’t figure out how to pronounce it or what exactly it means.

8/4/2019 – Olive, Again – by Elizabeth Strout – Penguin Random House

4 stars. I did enjoy this book as I have been an Elizabeth Strout fan for quite a while. Olive Kitteridge is back, years after husband Henry passed away and she is in her early 70s now. She gets together with Jack Kennison, a retired Harvard professor whose wife just died seven months prior to the beginning of this story. Their “coming together” is typical Olive behavior and quite humorously written.

I was relieved to see that Olive’s relationship with her son Christopher was somewhat less icy than I remember from “Olive Kitteridge.” Still not the warmest, but a daughter-in-law who brought with her two children, each with a different father, to the marriage with her son would be a hard nut for most parents to deal with, even if they had A+ social skills, which Olive does not. The relationships among all of them do evolve throughout “Olive, Again.”

Olive and Jack do marry and have a more or less amicable time together until Jack dies. Eventually, Olive moves into an independent wing of an assisted living facility after recovering from a heart attack. She realizes Jack’s home is just too big for her to take care of and that she does not feel “at home” there anyway. It is quite an adjustment for 80-something Olive in the assisted living center as she does not make friends easily and has interests not reciprocated by most of the other residents. She does manage to make a niche for herself and Strout writes those chapters particularly well, I think.

The only negative criticism I have of “Olive, Again” are two. First is that I think the author stuffed too many characters into it. I didn’t think the chapters on some of peripheral characters including the Burgess boys and their wives, were pertinent to Olive’s story. They were certainly interesting, though. Second is that the author could not resist spouting political snarkiness through Olive. I understand that it is her privilege as the author, but I would have hoped she could have resisted the urge to use her book as a political podium. Not so. Yes, I know, Olive is snarky, but still.

I rated it a 4 because the writing itself, character development, and story advancement are superb, as is usual for Strout. But I did feel that it was unnecessarily stuffed with peripheral characters and that about 12 chapters could have been eliminated without diminishing Olive’s story. This book can be enjoyed by any reader. It is not necessary to have read “Olive Kitteridge” or any Strout book to enjoy “Olive, Again.”

I was given an unproofed galley of this title by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.