Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout


I’m not sure what I expected from this, but after a strong start, I gradually lost interest until it became a chore to finish.

A lot of the stories follow a similar template — dropped into a scene with unfamiliar characters, shortly after something important has happened. It seemed to take some effort each time to figure out what the event is or was. Olive was a great character, but the short story approach took away from the character development — it forces the reader to spend a lot of time learning about new characters, or piecing together the big event.

Maybe I read it too quickly, maybe it just wasn’t for me. Maybe I’ll try the HBO series, because I liked the character.