I wish I lived in Crosby, Maine! Perhaps then I’d personally know Olive Kitteridge. In, fact, I probably would – it’s that kind of small town. I think I’d like Olive. I hope she’d like me. We’re two older women who speak our minds; we’d probably be like stone on stone, flashing and sparking – and sharpening each other.

 
Olive, Again—which by now you know is a follow-up to Elizabeth Strout’s phenomenally successful Olive Kitteridge and is similar in structure to that first book—is a series of connected short stories about the people of one small town in Maine. Also, as in the first book, not all of the stories focus on Olive, although the very best are the ones that do.
 

I was particularly moved by Motherless Child, in which Olive’s son and his family pay her a visit at what is (at least as implied to the reader) her invitation, to try to mend relationships. But Olive goes about things awkwardly, as you would expect from Olive. Although both Olive and her daughter-in-law attempt to be pleasant, there are uncomfortable moments; the connection between Olive and her son has its up and downs, and is a decidedly bumpy ride; her relationship with her grandchildren is uncomfortable from both sides. Strout draws all of these people so adroitly that my heart cried for all of them.

As Olive ages in this new book, the years pass far too quickly, and Olive shows her vulnerability more than she did in her first outing with us. In so doing, she makes it far easier to like her –even to love her. Anyway I know that—by the time I finished Olive, Again—I loved Olive and was sorry to know that I won’t be visiting her again.

I received my ecopy of Olive, Again by request through NetGalley. This did not affect my review. Olive, Again was published October 12th and if you live on either American coast, or in Illinois, Missouri or Michigan, you may be able to catch the author on tour up until December 3rd. You can find a list of upcoming events at https://www.elizabethstrout.com/appearances

P.S. The links are affiliate links so I will receive a small percentage of any purchase you make after clicking through from this blog.