Sunday, April 12, 2020

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

My Rating: 3.0

Olive struggles to understand not only herself, but the lives of those around her in her own frank and abrupt way in 13 interconnected vignettes. Olive lost her husband several years ago and she is now being wooed by retired Harvard professor, Jack Kennison, 74. Jack reflected that kissing Olive, 73, was like kissing a barnacle-covered whale. He doesn’t know why he loves Olive, but he just does.


I enjoyed this but not near as much as the first book. With Olive Kittridge her quirkiness was endearing and your heart went out to her. With Oliva, Again she was so sad and unlikeable. There were also a lot offensive stereotypes that the book would have been better off without. Rather than feeling connected with Olive, the book went on far too long and felt tedious. 

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for reviewing, I have read reviews saying this as good or better than the first book. I won't be reading. I attempted to read Olive Kittridge years ago and while the writing was very good, I could never connect with the book and DNF. Hope you are well during these crazy times.
    Jeana

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