Week Six - Book Six: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

This book was my suggestion for my book club. It was met with mixed reviews anywhere from "I LOVED it!" to "It was so depressing." While I did LOVE it, I can easily see why others would find it a real downer.

Once again, I was delighted by the style and layout of the book. Each chapter was a short story in itself from the perspective a various residents of the Maine town in which Olive Kitteridge lives. As you read each chapter and become engrossed in that person's life, POP! all of a sudden, Olive Kitteridge appears on the scene. The reader learns to love and hate (and everything in between) Olive from the various glimpses one gets of her as she connects with each individual life. It is a very unique writing style that reminds me of several movies and television dramas that also depart from the classical linear story telling structure. Movies such as Crash and Babel and mini series such as Lost. Just when one begins to wonder what this person's story has to do with the main character of the book, Olive appears. Some times she interacts with the character. Other times, she does not but is only observed and critiqued.

There are specific chapters that are purely Olive's perspective, and it is delightful to get inside this woman's life and thoughts as you see the other characters through her eyes. The author has done a wonderful job reenforcing the fact that in real life, there are no stock "black hat/white hat" people. People are people, and one must learn to accept the whole person - warts and all.