I am Olive, hear me roar

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Olive Kitteridge 

Elizabeth Strout 

320 pages, Paperback First published March 25, 2008 

I had no idea what t was about to read. Going by the title I figured it would all about Olive, but I was ever so wrong. Oilive Kitteridge is a series of vignettes, studies of ordinary people who come into her world. At times Olive is the star of the narrative but on other occasions she is in the background either a positive or negative influence.  

Olive is a character that leaps off the page and she is far from perfect. There are times when you are cheering Olive's straight up, take no nonsense approach but then there are the moments when she makes absolute howlers. The people who circle in and out of Olive's world are so well crafted. Her husband and son are also flawed and their relationships waiver as time passes.  

Look this book won a Pulitzer and for good reason, as Strout has put on the page just a wonderful collection of people and situations who are trying to do the best they can.  

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