Olive, Again

A Novel

By: Elizabeth Strout

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout continues the life of her beloved Olive Kitteridge, a character who has captured the imaginations of millions.

“Strout managed to make me love this strange woman I’d never met, who I knew nothing about. What a terrific writer she is.”—Zadie Smith, The Guardian

“Just as wonderful as the original . . . Olive, Again poignantly reminds us that empathy, a requirement for love, helps make life ‘not unhappy.’”—NPR

ONE OF PEOPLE’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Prickly, wry, resistant to change yet ruthlessly honest and deeply empathetic, Olive Kitteridge is “a compelling life force” (San Francisco Chronicle). The New Yorker has said that Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,” and she has never done so more clearly than in these pages, where the iconic Olive struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the unforgettable Olive will continue to startle us, to move us, and to inspire us—in Strout’s words—“to bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace as we can.”

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, Vogue, NPR, The Washington Post,Chicago Tribune, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, BuzzFeed, Esquire, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, The New York Public Library, The Guardian, Evening Standard, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, BookPage

She leaves me with a heart that feels tender

Elizabeth Strout has an amazing way of painting a character so that you feel completely bound up with her - as if you have always known her.

Mishmash

I really purchased this because the reviews were wonderful. I don’t share their enthusiasm. I found this book to be a series of fragments of a group of people and a small town. I tried, I really tried to keep going hoping it would get better, but, in my opinion it did not. After several tries I got half way through but just couldn’t continue. It was very hard for me to follow yet alone find entertainment in this book. Totally fragmented. More like a gossip show. Back it goes. The narration was very good, but, I do not recommend this book.

Expect tears to flow

Heartwarming, heartbreaking…Olive makes quite an impression in her later life. Elizabeth Strout has shown how her character can grow and adjust…searching for the meaning of it all. I wonder whether Ms. Strout knew my grandmother, because Olive reminds me of her.

Thank you.

Wonderful!

This is the first time that I’ve ever used Audible and stayed for the entire book (I’ve tried once before). The narrator was amazing and the book really resonated with me and made me think about some changes that maybe I should make in my own life. Thank you so much! Now I think I’ll go back and read the first Olive book. Love that character!

Olive...quite a character!

Elizabeth Strout has made Olive come to life again, & she’s still a pip! There are many things I liked about Olive, Again. Above all, it’s the skill the author displays in developing Olive’s character, & the evolution she undergoes as she ages, that unfolds to the reader in such a believable way. Strout has wonderfully captured the revelations & feelings many elderly people reflect upon at the end of their lives. Although my mother is not like Olive in any way, she often talks about her memories: her parents, my dad, my brother & I as children, & important life events in most conversations we have now. It’s her reflection & summation of the joys & hardships at the end of a long life. Olive voices these very same thoughts through Strout’s talented writing skills. She realizes she was lucky in many ways . She also is able to gain insights into her faulty thinking & poor behavior, acknowledging that she may have actually been wrong!
Olive, Again is one of those rare, special books that comes along once in great while. It’s a five star read!