Olive Kitteridge is back but if you haven’t read the first novel stop reading this and find a copy, you’ll enjoy this much more if you get to know her and the people whose lives intersect with hers from the beginning. Still crotchety and socially awkward Olive somehow manages to touch the lives of so many people she meets, bringing forth little snippets of their stories in a series of seemingly unconnected episodes. I’m not quite sure why I enjoyed it so much, like other books by Elizabeth Strout there is very little happiness and the overwhelming sensation was one that life has more bad things than good, especially when you get old. And yet I wanted to keep reading to the end because, although none of the characters and events were particularly likeable, especially the story about the young cleaner, Strout has such a keen eye that I almost felt I was there watching them.

Meeting Olive again is like meeting an old friend, someone who can be grumpy but who is ultimately very likeable. Olive is now elderly, and Strout once again creates a series of stories that deal with a range of human situations and emotions, set in the one town in Maine. It is well-written with a good deal of poignancy as well as hope and some joy.

I was really looking forward to this book and it did not disappoint. Poignant stories about people facing life's challenges in a small town in Maine.

A new Elizabeth Strout novel is always welcome in my hands, and a revisiting of her forthright heroine, Olive Kitteridge, is even more welcome! She really reminds me of my Great Aunt, who was a retired teacher, albeit one who lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne rather than Crosby, Maine - a stickler for tradition, doing things 'the right way' and someone with a terrifying bark that was way worse than her bite, with a warm heart under the prickly exterior.
Olive Again, revisits smalltown life in Maine, with Olive not getting any younger. As with the first installment in the series, Olive features in every story, but isn't always the focal point - sometimes she plays a very minor bit part, sometimes she's front and center.
Olive Again sees her continuing to navigate her rocky relationship with her son and most of the town of Crosby for that matter! It also sees romance, loss, unlikely friendships and the inevitable passage of time. I won't share any spoilers, suffice it to say this is a hugely welcome return to the world of Olive, a world I want to keep visiting for years to come.

Olive Again. Hurray!! This book is fantastic, I just never wanted it to end. Elizabeth Strout is a master of observational writing that makes me laugh and sometimes shed a tear and it was great to spend time in Olive's company again. The book revists Olive where we left her in Olive KItteridge, Henry has died and Olive may have a nascent relationship with Jack Kerrison, a curmudgeonly ex Harvard lecturer. The narrative follows Olive as she negotiates the last decades of her life and we meet lots of her fellow Crosby town residents, each with a heartbreaking, poignant or hopeful story to be revealed. Characters from other Strout novels are revisited such as Isabelle (from Amy and Isabelle) and the family from the Burgess boys. and we also find out how Christopher, Olive's son is faring.. It's really great to see how things are panning out for them all.
Oh Godfrey! as Olive would say, I was so pleased to read this book, just so well written and observed. Fabulous.

I didn’t realise that this was a sequel so the first few chapters were quite difficult to get into. However, after that the book flowed so much more. Elizabeth Strout’s writing is so powerfully visceral, so full of feeling without sickly sentimentality, that every character’s story hit me hard and offered some kind of wisdom. Olive, Again is a beautiful novel, and, as Olive says about her son, many times the writing and characters felt like a needle in my heart, and I will carry Olive with me for a long time.

If, like me, you loved Olive Kitteridge, you will not be disappointed in this sequel, Olive, Again. All the stars for this one! In this novel we meet an older aging Olive and an array of characters in Crosby, Maine. Characters from Strouts other novels also make an appearance. Extremely sad at times, the stories are enormously entertaining in a quiet, tender and emotional way. The writing is superb and Strout yet again does not waste a word. A truly skilful author and a perfect follow up to Olive Kitteridge. Loved it! Highly recommend.

My thanks to NetGalley & Penguing Books (UK)

How to describe this sequel to ‘Olive Kitteridge’? If you’ve read and loved the first book, you’ll love this one too. If you haven’t, this second book would stand alone but you’ll miss out on the pleasure of catching up with established characters - Elizabeth Strout gives a little of their back stories here (thankfully not overly much). It also features characters from her other novels - the Burgess boys, Amy and Isabelle - all considerably older now. I would say that the two Olive books are similar, certainly in structure - a series of short stories really, in some of which Olive is centre stage and in others she is a peripheral player, just as before.

The tone is darker, though. Olive is in her 70s now, friends and family are falling away, she is conscious of her own decline and she can’t help wondering what she has been doing with her life, regretting much but remaining hopeful of learning to do better, to understand herself and others better. She is hard on herself but in my opinion and to quote Jerry Skyler, ‘she’s doin’ excellent’. She is not as active as she once was, but that doesn’t prevent her having a profound effect on many of those around her, in her forthright, ‘Olive’ way. I found the stories poignant in all different ways - people facing challenges, struggling with poverty, abuse and, most of all, loneliness.

The writing is sublime, as ever. One passage that struck me particularly:

‘The truth is that Olive did not understand why age had brought with it a kind of hard-heartedness toward her husband. But it was something she had seemed unable to help, as though the stone wall that had rambled along between them during the course of their long marriage - a stone wall that separated them but also provided unexpected dips of moss-covered warm spots where sunshine would flicker between them in a sudden laugh of understanding - had become tall and unyielding, and not providing flowers in its crannies but some ice storm frozen along it instead. In other words, something had come between them that seemed insurmountable.’

Elizabeth Strout writes the most gorgeous, densely populated stories and can convey so much in often tiny gestures or brief exchanges. I became completely immersed in the little town of Crosby, Maine and its people. I could read any amount of them and still want more.

The long awaited follow up to Strout's bestselling Olive Kitteridge, Olive, Again chronicles another decade of Olive's life and those around her in the fictional town of Crosby, Maine, and it does not disappoint.

As one may expect given Olive's advancing age, Olive, Again sees our stubborn and headstrong protagonist confront the realities of ageing - partners and friends dying and the deterioration of one's health, along with the restriction of freedom and lifestyle change which comes with the latter of those. All of this is very well done and in no way saccharine (as these things often can be), but it's the nuanced observations of people and relationships that won me over in the end... not that I needed much winning over. I especially loved Olive's friendship with Isabelle who she meets in the assisted living facility and the tender moments that arose between them.