Olive Kitteridge, Book Club 28th October 2024
Hosted by, and notes by, Bookseller Louisa Whittaker
Our cozy gathering discussed this month’s book club choice, Olive Kitteridge, a Pulitzer Prize winning collection of short stories published in 2008. The book, by Elizabeth Strout which sold more than 3 million worldwide copies, garnered praise for its unusual format, that of a novel across short stories. Olive Kitteridge doesn’t adopt a linear plot but centres on a fictional town in Maine with the school teacher Olive dipping in and out of the stories of its inhabitants. In Strout’s words, “No one leads a small life” and themes of loss through death, divorce, suicide and alienation demonstrate this.
The character of Olive was discussed. Despite being a gruff, socially awkward and dominating woman, several people thought she was an interesting character. Olive’s appearances are woven through the stories, taking centre stage in some, yet appearing as a tiny cameo in others. Each character has their share of tragedy and loss and Olive darts in and out of the lives of each, sometimes causing irritation and hurt, yet often, meaning well. She attempts to help others having little or no insight as to where she is going wrong in her relationships. The character of Olive was commented on as a person that the reader might initially feel irritated with, yet over time grow to accept and understand her flaws. Jan found these stories hard to put down, and Marie felt quite an emotional response to the fragility of Olive. The way in which Olive responded to the “gentle touch” of her dentist spoke volumes about how she both craved and repelled love.
Olive appears as a secondary character in the first story, frustrated at the relationship her husband is having with his dopey assistant Denise. Henry is placid and often passive, and some book club attendees thought that Olive loved him, yet couldn’t express her feelings towards him. Indeed, one group member commented that Henry’s infatuation with Denise actually has a positive impact on the couple’s love life in some ways as Olive benefits from Henry’s passions being reignited. Later we see Olive’s bombastic approach affecting her deteriorating relationship with her son as he marries a woman Olive can’t stand, and we see a series of losses, both for Olive and the surrounding characters.
Maggie said she found the short story format hard to navigate at times. Short stories can be frustrating for some readers, as the hard work of getting to know new characters carries less reward. Others agreed with this. Maggie described picking up a book as like “putting on a pair of slippers” once you have got into it. This was sometimes an issue when trying to get back into a whole new story, with different characters taking centre stage. The strengths of this kind of format were that you don’t need to read each one sequentially, and you can dip in and out of it.
Do we all know an Olive? A character who speaks her mind, puts her foot in it and is sometimes the architect of her own downfall? I recalled a family member deliberately putting balloons in the garden for a child’s birthday party because she “didn’t believe” in the latex allergy of one of the unfortunate children. Attendees felt Olive was a complex character who could be deeply unlikeable yet compelled the reader to want more. The way she jeopardises her reconnection with her estranged son by obsessing over a trivial matter of her spilling sauce down her top was discussed. This might symbolise Olive’s fear of ageing.
Again and again however Olive crops up to help others, once by forcing herself into the car of a man and, possibly unwittingly preventing his suicide, or enquiring of an elderly man lying on the ground whom she stumbles upon whilst on a solitary walk, “are you dead?” Suicidal Kevin is frustrated by Olive interrupting him, and attendees wondered if she knew he was suicidal or had just blundered into the car to make awkward small talk. The consensus was that she knew as she discusses the suicide of her own father. When Olive cries over the death of a girl with an eating disorder, we see that Olive lacks the perspective to deal with her own relationships, particularly with her son, yet her heart breaks for strangers. Strout comments that this pattern is one we all suffer from to a degree, lacking perspective on our own lives.
Chris said the stories were interwoven well and well-crafted and Clare said the description was evocative. Overall, reviews were positive. We discussed the TV mini-series made in honour of the book, although none of the group had seen it.
The group cited different stories as their favourites, including the first one, Pharmacy, where Henry is infatuated with his young assistant, the story where Olive intervenes in preventing a suicide and the final story, River, where Olive might meet her match after the loss of her husband, and despite her defensive approach, rescues a man having a funny turn on a walk. Will this relationship develop further? Readers will need to get hold of the sequel, “Olive Again” to find out.
Next month’s book club choice is “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir, a science fiction novel where our hero uses science to unravel the mystery of a new ice age, hurling the earth into destruction.
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