Staff Pick
Set on the coast of Maine, this fantastic 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner is a terrific character study. Olive is an irascible, crabby old lady who is difficult to like. Yet, as her life, marriage, and story play out, her character changes in ways that are wholly believable. This novel runs the gamut of human emotion and delicately exposes the secret inner workings of the human condition. Beautifully written, Olive Kitteridge is a book I didn't much expect to like, but how wrong I was. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
2009 Pulitzer Prize Winner in the Letters, Drama and Music category
Now an Emmy-Nominated HBO Miniseries
At the edge of the continent, Crosby, Maine, may seem like nowhere, but seen through this brilliant writer s eyes, it s in essence the whole world, and the lives that are lived there are filled with all of the grand human drama desire, despair, jealousy, hope, and love.
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 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.
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