Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

A novel in short stories, Olive Kitteridge is a skilled weaving of tales to show the way lives intersect with one another in a small coastal village in Maine, and in doing so, teach us about community everywhere.

The stories are raw and real, and the protagonist, if she can be called such, is rude, overbearing and larger than life. To know Olive is to be flummoxed by her, and yet, like Henry readers find themselves undeniably smitten with her.

Loneliness, depression, longing and pain are all vivid parts of the lives of those documented, and sometimes things don’t end up the way you’d want them to be, but the book wasn’t without hope. Somehow, the weaving of these stories together mirrored the weaving of all of our stories to me, and gave me a glimpse of something beautiful.

Virtue is also apparent in the lives of these Crosby residents. Loyalty, faithfulness, kindness… in their small connections community is born and grows. And community sustains them through many hardships. It’s a lovely book, and is even able to talk about difficult things with grace and beauty, and I’d recommend it to almost anyone. (9/10)