Ugh! A complex individual to say the least. Imagine a modern-day Maude: grumpy, opinionated and cantankerous. And yet there is a piece of her that is charming, witty, and dare I say loveable! Meet Mrs. Olive Kitteridge, the axis around whom the novel revolves. One would deduce since the novel is a Pulitzer Prize winner, it would be a no-brainer. Hands down, a fabulous read. Well, our club almost unanimously gave the book a hearty endorsement until I crashed the party ... “Olive” just drained the life out of me!

Funny, though, another reader saw it from an opposite perspective; she found humor looking at life from Olive’s point of view. In one chapter, Olive and her dear husband, Henry, are attending a concert and run into old friends. Olive recounts the eeriness of looking into the eyes of a 13-year-old girl. Clearly, the woman had gone under the knife! Chuckles ensue!

Set in Crosby, Maine, Olive is a retired seventh-grade math teacher connected to nearly everyone in the small town. Thirteen chapters of compelling and complicated stories all share a similar factor, and that’s Olive. She’s the common thread woven among the stories.

Author Elizabeth Strout carefully crafts her characters who are everyday folks dealing with everyday issues. There is brokenness. There is disappointment. There is heartbreak. And yet even the seemingly least significant detail is produced in dozens of characters. Our club did agree that each chapter could stand alone with the characters beginning their own individual novel! Meeting a new character every chapter is daunting to one, yet exhilarating to another. It gives credence to the author’s skillful style. And remember in every chapter, there is Olive, which is why our host so cleverly had olives on the serving table at our meeting!

At the age of 70, it is improbable that Olive will change her ways. However, there are glimpses of her softening as she shares her own struggles in order to encourage someone else. “Incoming Tide” takes place mostly in the front seat of a pickup truck as Olive recounts her father’s suicide. She shares the painful memory with a former student whose mother had taken her own life. Unknown to Olive, the young man is considering the same path.
Near the beginning of the book, we meet Olive’s husband, Henry. Most of his satisfaction comes from the local thriving pharmacy he’s built. It is there where he experiences pleasant conversations with customers. He is treated with respect and finds great joy in his work. An unexpected thing happens though when his pharmacy assistant, Denise, begins to draw Henry’s attention in ways that even surprise him. While young enough to be his daughter, the two have an emotional affair of the heart. Denise is dealing with tragic circumstances in her own life, and Henry offers a shoulder on which to cry. The chapter, entitled “Pharmacy,” shows Henry’s pure need to be needed. For years it seems Olive only nagged but seldom nestled.

A recurring theme in these short stories is the raw, desperate, basic need to give and receive love. Christopher, the only son of Olive and Henry Kitteridge, provides an analytical perspective as he recalls his formative years. After Christopher moves away from Maine, Olive and Henry offer to visit their son. He politely declines. Even the tough exterior of Olive is penetrated. She tells of feeling “a lump in her whole body, a persistent ache that seemed to be holding back enough tears to fill the bay seen through the front window. She was flooded with images of Christopher: As a toddler, he had reached to touch a geranium on the windowsill, and she had slapped his hand. But she had loved him!” One review states that Olive’s gift of love may have been lost in translation.

If you’re exhausted by the depressive circumstances in this book, know there is clever humor as well. You really should read the book and let Olive tell you about being held hostage in a hospital restroom by a man wearing a pig-faced mask. As our book club discussion closed, I was hooked. I’m persuaded that “Olive Kitteridge” is more than worth the read. It’s a necessity to meet Olive this summer! Take her to the beach. Pack her in your pool bag. She is one character sure to leave a lasting impression.

SIDE NOTE: Please let me hear your comments if you read this book or any others reviewed here. Next month’s book is “Still Alice” by Lisa Genova. If you want to read it now and send your thoughts to www.womensinc.net, I just might include them! Thanks for reading!