Oh Godfrey! What to say about #Olive,Again by #ElizabethStout. What a phenomenal read. There are so many characters to this book that sometimes you need to take a deep breath and calculate all of the "little" stories that are crossing paths with the " bigger" story. I adore Olive and frankly wish I knew someone like her. She was brutally honest. I lived being in her head or reading her thoughts. She had no shame in her game, but once you're of a certain age it's just "freeing". This is definitely a book to snuggle up with and get lost in. Thanks #netgalley for my #arc.

I have not met a Strout novel I didn’t love. This is a marvelous read that explores humanity through the everyday details of life. I loved Olive before and I love Olive, again.

Olive, Again is a lot more Olive, once again with her thoughts and feelings and prejudices and her doings as she encounters more people and old age. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one. I did.

"Olive, Again" (2019) is the fourth book of Elizabeth Strout that I have read. The first book that introduced her to me was "My Name is Lucy Barton" (2016) as it was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. I fell in love with her skills of capturing human emotions and desire with some humour. Lucy's mother is telling the stories (gossip) about people in Amgash, Illinois, a fictional town which Strout's next book "Anything is Possible" (2017) explores more deeply in a collection of short stories.

"Olive, Again" is revisiting "Olive Kitteridge" (2008), bringing us back ever cynical and judgemental Olive who exclaims "Hell's Bells" and "Phooey to you." Never losing the format of short stories with each chapter having its own complete story, Strout tells the next phase of Olive's life while continuously showing vignettes of people struggling with their relationships and emotions.

This book is darker than her other books that I read, as death is prevalent in this book. Human relationship is still difficult for Olive and many other characters in this book as emotions and prejudices get in the way and understanding the others is a tough task for many of them. However, Olive (Oh, Olive) is powering through the difficult times with her own “strong passions and prejudices of a peasant,” which makes her still one of the most interesting characters in fiction.

Olive is back! She is fierce and a little powerhouse.. The stories are an absolute treat as they are all relatable on different levels for most of us. She is a bit peculiar and particular in her own way. This book made me think about aging and situations and feelings that come with it. It is very enjoyable and is a relaxing read. Thank you to NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read and review it.

Olive Kitteridge is back and fiercer then ever in Elizabeth Strout’s new novel “Olive, Again.”
I was initially skeptical that this follow up would be as funny, heartfelt, and poignant as her Pulitzer Prize winning “Olive Kitteridge,” but once again Strout nails it.
The structure of the novel is the same: interconnecting tales of Olive and the town folk of Crosby, Maine going about their ordinary lives in an extraordinary way.
I highly recommend this fantastic novel.
Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for this ARC.

Godfrey! It's been a good while since we have heard from my favorite curmudgeon, Olive Kitteridge and I was thrilled to receive an ARC of Elizabeth Strout’s latest release, Olive, Again. Olive is crusty. She is irritating. She has no filter, few friends and a strained relationship with her only son and his family, but by golly, she is an unforgettable character. We catch up with the retired schoolteacher as she is navigating the choppy waters of widowhood, old age and a changing, confusing world around her. No spoilers but I do feel Olive has softened a tiny bit and she, along with the reader gain some insight as to why she is the way she is, and my heart broke a little for her. Along the way we meet other townspeople that have crossed paths with Olive that add color to the narrative. There is a hidden treat late in the book when a character from one of Ms Strout’s earlier novels makes an appearance, though being unfamiliar with that book in no way detracts from the reader’s enjoyment of this story. Godfrey! Did I ever enjoy spending time with Olive again.
Thank you, thank you NetGalley and Random House for this ARC.
5 stars.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was very excited to get this opportunity to preview Olive, Again, by Elizabeth Strout and would like to thank Netgalley and Random House Publishing, I thoroughly enjoyed Olive Kitteredge and found Olive, Again to be just as good. This book's style is interesting as it is a collection of stories about people in the town of Crosby, Maine. Once again, Olive is either the main character in the story, or she pops up as someone that once taught the main character, and in some stories, she is not included at all. Ms. Strout has an understanding of human nature and relationships as well as personality types that makes her writing fascinating to me. She has knowledge of the aging process, which we experience along with Olive in this book. Olive maintains her cantankerous personality, but does exhibit some insights about various people around her and is even able to bend her thinking about her own son to some extent. I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone that enjoyed the original Olive book.

Olive is back! She is older but still is quirky and direct. She still tries to be socially acceptable but fails. This book made me sad at times because as Olive gets older she tries to reconnect with her son and his family. As she ages and things are changing, I started to understand her better. Aging is hard with the losses, loneliness and sorrow. We all age and it is difficult to go through. Elizabeth Strout does a great job portraying Olive in her advancing years!

Quiet and quirky. Strout caught the essence of each character - and managed to make us feel Olive growing old.

Olive Kitteridge is back and her attitude has not improved. She is still crotchety, opinionated, doesn't mind sticking her nose in other people's business. A retired teacher who still lives in the same community she taught in, she is not shy about marching right up to people and listening to their problems. The problems of aging, small towns, death, dying, racism, prejudices, infidelities - nothing gets past Olive.

While the chapters focusing on Olive were compelling, those about the peripheral characters felt forced and uninteresting. It felt as if someone convinced Elizabeth Strout to write a follow-up to her wonderful first book about Olive and she ran out of material.

If you loved Olive Kittridge, you will love being reunited with her again. She is older and wiser, but still trying to understand herself and the people around her. While not the most likeable character, judgemental and at times rude, she is believable and authentic. I was appalled by her one minute and admired her the next.

Elizabeth Strout is an incredible story teller and such a keen observer of human nature. In the same quiet and slow prose as her other novels, she weaves stories of realistic characters who are dealing with parenting, aging, death, and other struggles of daily life.

This book will break your heart a little, but will also put a smile on your face. It is compassionate and poignant and there is such humanity in the writing.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read Still Olive. And yes she is. Olive takes us back not only through her life, but many of the students and people she has known in Crosby and Shirley Falls. Her husband has passed and she misses him. Her current relationships are few and difficult, but she remarries and this man takes her for better and worse. Her son maintains his distance and Olive is certainly not the grandmother of anyone’s dreams. Despite her seeming short sightedness, her numerous blind spots, her nearly cruel observations, Olive is a student of human behavior. Just when you want to slap her and yell what is wrong with you, she astounds with an on target and meaningful thought or realization.

Olive is getting older. The days are longer and her world is shrinking. Thus, we spend quite a bit of time with other residents of Crosby, both current and former. She takes us back to interactions she had with students and meets some of these students again decades later. Other couples contemplating what has been, what might have been and the very real this is now are brought to us in depth. A dialogue between Bobby and Helen made me close the book for awhile and just think. Still Olive might be one of the saddest books I have read if it wasn’t for Olive’s sometimes crass, often inappropriate, but on target view of what she sees.

First impressions mean so much, and so little.  This book of intertwining short stories, vignettes of daily life - highs, lows, laughs, cries are very real glimpses and I think will touch almost everyone in some way.  Highly recommended even if you didn't read Olive Kitteridge.

Wow! A powerful and strong look into human nature. This novel pulled me in the instant I started page one. I have not read the first book in this series and I will be getting it this week.
Such a different style and I find myself wanting more. Thank you NetGalley!

I didn't realize how much I missed Olive until I read this book.
Following Olive's life as she ages, the good, the bad and the ugly makes me appreciate the aging process. I feel a certain affinity to Olive as I see myself..the good , the bad and the ugly. Loved the book.

I’ve missed blunt Olive Kitteridge and she is back in full force coping with loss and the indignities of old age, which await us all, if we live that long. Elizabeth Strout has created one of the most formidable and engaging characters to ever grace the printed page. If you haven’t read Strout, you are missing out on one of the great literary voices. I loved this book and plain - spoken Olive will forever remain one of my favorites.

This is one of the best books I have read recently. I devoured this book! I loved Olive the first time around, and I think I fell in love with her even more this time. The way the author was able to weave the stories of Olive’s life around the characters of her other novels was very unique. Even before I finished Olive Again, I was buying the other novels of Ms. Strout that I had not read.
Olive is one of the most distinctive characters in today’s fiction. She is indeed eccentric but her honesty and forthrightness is very refreshing. If you know someone like Olive, you are a very lucky and blessed individual. All I can say is if you have not read anything by Elizabeth Strout you are missing out.

Classic Elizabeth Strout--what more needs to be said? Olive, Again revisits Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning character, Olive Kitteridge, as she confronts old age. Per usual, Olive’s life reveals itself through a series of vignettes--some focused on her and some on other residents of Crosby, Maine. (And yes, some characters return from her other books.) Strout continues to achieve a remarkable level of character development that feels truly believable through intricate details and intimate musings instead of plot. Readers who enjoyed her earlier books will not be disappointed, but it must be said that Strout addresses some potentially troubling sexual situations, and the novel is quite short.