Olive Kitteridge

Fiction

By: Elizabeth Strout

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • The beloved first novel featuring Olive Kitteridge, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of My Name is Lucy Barton and the Oprah’s Book Club pick Olive, Again

“Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge. . . . You’ll never forget her.”—USA Today

“Strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force.”—The New Yorker

One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post Book World, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, People, Entertainment Weekly, The Christian Science Monitor, The Plain Dealer, The Atlantic, Rocky Mountain News, Library Journal

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 of Crosby, Maine, 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 her husband, 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.

The inspiration for the Emmy Award–winning HBO miniseries starring Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins, and Bill Murray

Critic reviews

“Perceptive, deeply empathetic . . . Olive is the axis around which these thirteen complex, relentlessly human narratives spin themselves into Elizabeth Strout’s unforgettable novel in stories.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

“Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge. . . . You’ll never forget her. . . . [Elizabeth Strout] constructs her stories with rich irony and moments of genuine surprise and intense emotion. . . . Glorious, powerful stuff.”—USA Today

“Funny, wicked and remorseful, Mrs. Kitteridge is a compelling life force, a red-blooded original. When she’s not onstage, we look forward to her return. The book is a page-turner because of her.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Olive Kitteridge still lingers in memory like a treasured photograph.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Rarely does a story collection pack such a gutsy emotional punch.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force. . . . [She] makes us experience not only the terrors of change but also the terrifying hope that change can bring: she plunges us into these churning waters and we come up gasping for air.”—The New Yorker

Great book

Really good book. Thought provoking and worth your time. Loved Olive and hated her at the same time.

Disjointed book

I Struggled to stick with it. I would not recommend it to someone who wants to keep interested.

Olive Kitteridge may be the best book I’ll read all year!

I cannot imagine liking another book more than I liked this one. It is wonderful written. The stories are perfection. Fantastic!

Reader with vocal fry, or glottalization

The story was good and captivating but I am from Maine and have never met people who talk with such a slow vibrating, vocal fry. All the characters seem to be holding their breath. The reader's voice was fine as it is and she shouldn't have made everyone in town sound like they all had creaky vocal chords. It really put me off.

Interesting story of many people

Worth reading BEFORE reading "Olive, Again". See review of the 2nd book "Olive, again" for more details