Olive Kitteridge: Fiction | 
 enlarge | Author: Elizabeth Strout
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy Used: $6.88
You Save: $18.12 (72%)
New (36) Used (31) Collectible (2) from $6.88
Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 15245
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 140006208X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781400062089
ASIN: 140006208X
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: very clean copy in very good condition. no rips or writing. ships in bubblewrap.
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In a voice more powerful and compassionate than ever before, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Strout binds together thirteen rich, luminous narratives into a book with the heft of a novel, through the presence of one larger-than-life, unforgettable character: Olive Kitteridge.
At the edge of the continent, Crosby, Maine, may seem like nowhere, but seen through this brilliant writer’s eyes, it’s in essence the whole world, and the lives that are lived there are filled with all of the grand human drama–desire, despair, jealousy, hope, and love.
At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance: a former student who has lost the will to live: Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.
As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition–its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 sentences October 12, 2008
cynthia newberry martin (Columbus, Georgia)
"Her father turned around. `Pancakes?' he asked her.
Winnie didn't want pancakes. `Sure,' she said."
You will find these simple sentences, which take you to the heart of Winnie, at the end of the story "Ship in a Bottle," which, with twelve other linked stories creates the book, Olive Kitteridge, new this year by Elizabeth Strout. I had loved Amy and Isabelle, but Abide with Me, not as much. Olive Kitteridge is beautifully written. The second story, "Incoming Tide," will make you pause-in an attempt to hold onto the moment. OK takes off from there.
A Wonderful Audiobook September 12, 2008
Ecclectic Booklover (Any Town, USA)
OLIVE KITTERIDGE was an audio book I picked up on a whim, as I generally do not like short stories. I am so happy I listened to this one. It was such a treat.
In this book of short stories we are introduced to Olive Kitteridge, a retired math teacher in Maine. She's married to Henry, a sweet pharmacist and they have one son. Olive, is something else, quite a character to say the least. She is large, stubborn, highly opinionated, and enjoys speaking her mind. The thirteen stories concern her relationship with all the people in her life: husband, son, neighbors and her former students. Olive is such a complex and feeling individual, more that it may seem on the surface; she struggles with the changes in her life.
What I loved most about this book was that the characters were everyday people with issues you as a reader/listener could relate to. Olive was so memorable; at the end of the book I wanted more of Olive.
A Beautiful Sorrow September 11, 2008
Lost in a Book (Cleveland, OH)
Elizabeth Strout amazes readers not just with her ability to make words dance across the page but also with her efforts to grasp the reader's heart within her gentle hand.
These stories, unified by setting and characters like Olive, are filled with much sorrow. We cry as the characters cry in private. Strout's words have the ability to break one's heart. But within these New Englanders' pain, we recognize our own agonies, our own disappointments, our own regrets.
Though the characters' sorrow weighs us down, it is only because the writer can touch us so deeply. I cried. I laughed. I shuttered. But only because I was moved. And, in the book's final chapter, I smiled at Olive's hope. I saw a new beginning for her and for us all.
This piece is the first of Strout's works I have read, and I crave more of her writing.
one of the best books ever August 26, 2008
picky reader (NYC)
I can't remember the last time I read a book I loved so much. I couldn't stop reading--even though I wanted to, to slow down to notice how incredible the writing is (so incredible you don't notice it) and to make it last. My only consolation as I came to the end was that I could start it again--which is what I did.
Grateful to be literate August 11, 2008
MW (Portland, ME)
This lovely book makes me grateful I can read. Each beautifully written story works as a set piece, but what impressed me so deeply about the collection is how each new story builds on the previous one, until the accumulated power nearly takes you off your feet. What an accomplishment. Olive is blunt in appearance and character; she is unlovely and often mean; and yet we cannot help but want to understand her, owing to the shimmering force of Elizabeth Strout's empathy. --Monica Wood
|
|
|
