[203] Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout

“—then Olive felt something she had not expected to feel again: a sudden surging greediness for life. She leaned forward, peering out the window: sweet pale clouds, the sky as blue as your hat, the new green of the fields, the broad expanse of water . . .” [202]

Olive Kitteridge is an unforgettable character. Heightened is the anticipation of when and how this tall, big-frame, brawny retired 7th grade math teacher, whom many revere and fear, makes her regal entrance in each of the episodes stitch together the novel. Although not an ambassador, nor is she a magnet of gossips, Olive Kitteridge seems to be savvy of of the town’s happenings. While she deplores the vicissitudes in Crosby, Maine, acquaintances, former colleagues, and students alike, all talk about her in an eye-rolling manner. She is like an axis around which these townfolks’ lives revolve, abiding her orbital without a chance to be rid of her stern scrutiny.

The heart of the novel is Olive’s family, which she presides over with a peremptory air. Her husband Henry, a retired pharmacist, finds his loyalty to the marriage both a blessing and a curse. Her son Christopher, an adult child, feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities, which she only believes as an expression of love, for she doesn’t like to be lonely.

She didn’t like to be alone. Even more, she didn’t like being with people (other than her family).” [146]

The fear of death, its inescapable and indiscriminate consequence, hangs over everyone throughout the book. These episodes, unified by Olive Kitteridge’s presence and influence, ruminate on sickness, aging, and the different level of sadness children create for their parents and spouses implement on one another. As these town people grapple their problem from domestic issue, bitter regret, unresolved loss of loved ones, love affairs, anorexia, to mental illness, Olive Kitteridge comes to terms with of shortcomings—that she has been clueless of her bluntness, which has offended people. A night of contingency allows her husband to confide in her his true feelings, which have forever altered their relationship and the way they see one another.

And while Olive Kitteridge had never in anyone’s memory felt inclined to be affable, or even polite, she seemed less so now as this particular June rolled around. [104]

What her son says are like splinters of wood shoved into her heart:

You kind of behave like a paranoid, Mom . . . And I never see you taking any responsibility for it. One minute you’re one way, the next—you’re furious. It’s tiring, very wearing for those around you. [229]

The episodic form Strout adopts not only allows readers to see Olive Kitteridge from different set of eyes, it also accentuates her power of influence on the community. Her complexities—at times in denial, at times thoughtful, at times patient, at times perceptive, and at times capricious—are fully realized in many permutations. She does not physically appear in some of these scenes but her allure resonates far more intensely than in person. For these people stand in awe of even the thought of her.

Olive had a way about her that was absolutely without apology, and Jane had kept her distance. [130]

The episodes mandate a constant effort of renewal in perceiving the relationship between a wide of cast of characters on the readers’ part, because their association is not immediately established during the first half of the book. Through the conflicts and tragedies, which are rendered very ordinary, the novel reminds us that even sad moments in life are gifts and which make life worth living. Natural landscapes are often metaphoric. They deliver a subtle message of hope, that a happier, more fulling life might only require a different perspective and change of attitude, like leaning forward, and peering out the window to the blue sky and broad expanse of water as I quoted at the beginning of this review.

286 pp. [Read/Skim/Toss] Oliver Kitteridge is the winner of Pulitzer Prize in 2009.