I was beyond excited to see another Olive book and hear her continuing story. Elizabeth Strout writes such believable, relate-able, flawed characters. Sometimes Olive just makes you cringe but you keep reading and loving her, at least I do!

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. Another wonderful novel from Elizabeth Strout! If you have not experienced her work, I'd encourage you to do so. Ms. Strout has an uncanny knack for weaving tales about people and relationships - her insight and the candor with which she presents her characters is engrossing. This sequel is very readable even if you haven't read the first book in the series. This was a solid 4.5 stars.

Olive is terse, stoic, blunt, crass, sometimes obtuse. She is, by turns, cold and taciturn and then overcome by feelings of love (which, granted, she doesn't always act upon when she should). Olive is a multi-layered, complicated induvidual who is often hard to love, but people manage to love her despite her faults. Olive us who she is and her story is a lesson for us all in acceptance, of both others and ourselves. The complexity of Olive Kittredge, the confusing and difficult trajectory of her life, reminds us all of precisely what Olive herself grapples with--do any of us REALLY know who we are.
The novel reads quickly, which is rather sad--I miss her.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I loved re-entering Crosby, Maine and the world of Olive Kitterridge. I have read the previous volume of books interlocking stories about Olive and the people she meets, but it has been years and I didn’t really remember too many specifics. I think this could be read alone.

Let me start by saying that I have also read Olive Kitteridge which is a prequel to Olive, Again. I didn't hate this book and I didn't LOVE it either. Olive is a hard person to like. If you like short stories, this book is for you. The author writes stores about several people who have come and gone from Olive's life and Olive has been weaved throughout. I am not a short story person hence my problem with the book. It still held my interest and was not a bad book.

The book touches on aging, losing spouses and bowel control. As I am aging, I find myself dealing with some of the issues that Olive is dealing with and I totally get her. Hmm am I hard to like? Maybe so. I understand her? Yikes!

If you read Olive Kitteridge, you will want to pick yourself up a copy of Olive, Again.

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout is an excellent novel that follows the life of Olive Kitteridge. Olive encounters all types of people in Crosby Maine and the surrounding communities . She appears to be “too honest” and slightly cantankerous. As the novel progresses it is easy to see past her ways and to realize that she is helping many as they are confronted with life’ challenges. Just a few of life’s dilemmas that are touched upon are birth, feat, cancer,nursing home issues, friendship, sexual preferences , marriage, and infedelity. All different characters work through some of these many issues. Olive also has to deal with self esteem issues and the fear of loneliness and death. Although it would appear to be a somber tale I did not find that to be the case at all. Olive interacts with these characters in honest and in some cases uplifting ways. This novel will surely make you think about life and the character of Olive Kitteridge long after you have finished reading it

If you enjoyed Olive Kitterage you don't want to miss out on Olive, Again. I was a little uncertain if a sequel could hold up to the quality of the first, but it did not disappoint.

Elizabeth Strout is one of my favorite authors and Olive, Again reminds me why. This is a worthy follow up to Olive Kitteridge--and that's really saying something! It can be so difficult for hugely successful authors to maintain such a high standard of excellence. I'm pleased to say Strout accomplishes this feat.
I do recommend reading Olive Kitteridge first -- or perhaps re-reading it if it's been a while -- before dipping into this one. I firmly believe this will provide you with the richest reading experience, although it's certainly not necessary. Either way, you are in for a treat with Olive, Again, which I found to be a heartfelt, beautifully written, touching book with hints of wry humor and populated by characters so real you'd swear you know them. Is this a fast-paced summer thriller? Admittedly no. But if you like character driven stories, run don't walk... join us in Crosby, Maine for a reunion with Olive and loved ones.

Quirky, sensitive, funny, sad, just like 1st book, "Olive Kitteridge". I enjoyed this one as much as the 1st, really well written.

Highly recommend, but better if read Olive Kitteridge 1st, I went back and did a reread 1st.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Welcome back, Olive. I have spent many hours wondering how you were, what you were doing and whose business you were getting into ...and now we discover that you have been busy. Older, wiser, more determined. Oh how I love you Olive and I can read about you again and again. Astonishing, outstanding and wonderful beyond words.

This is the book I didn’t know I was waiting for. It’s like a high school class reunion where you catch up with folks you once knew well and discover what has happened to them over the past decade. Olive, Again is a sequel to Strout’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Olive Kitteridge, published in 2008. But in addition to Olive, characters from other Strout novels make an appearance—the Burgess boys, Isabelle Goodrow—as well as the residents of Crosby, Maine introduced in the first Olive book.

Olive marries former Harvard professor, Jack Kennison (their relationship is reminiscent of Kent Haruf’s Our Souls at Night), delivers a baby in the back seat of her car, and suffers a heart attack. Others may disagree, but I feel as though Olive experienced actual personal growth in this book.

The book is structured like Olive Kitteridge, namely chapters which are linked short stories about residents of a rural town in Maine and all involving Olive in a major or peripheral way. (My favorite story was “Helped” concerning Suzanne Larkin.) The vignettes are filled with humor, pathos and astute observations of the human condition – all told with exquisite writing. I set aside the NYT bestseller I was reading to devote my full attention to Olive. You don’t need to have read Olive Kitteridge first, but it will greatly enhance your enjoyment of Olive, Again. I found myself pulling the first book off the shelf to re-read favorite passages. Thank you, Elizabeth Strout, for another satisfying visit with Olive in Crosby, Maine.

Olive is back. Although she has new friends and a new husband her personality has not mellowed with age. She is still her saucy self.

I enjoyed following Olive again. I think she gives everyone hope for a long life no matter what comes your way.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this excellent book. Boy, can Elizabeth Strout bring characters to life! Her writing is worth five+ stars. I'm sticking with a four star rating here because I wanted more Olive in this book. The sections focusing on her are so great, I felt sad/frustrated when Strout skipped over long periods of time in her story arc and turned her attention to other characters. I intended to reread Olive Kitteridge before starting this, but I didn't get around to it. The new book stands on its own, but I kept trying to remember what I should have known about the other characters as I read. I'll go back now and reread both in order, as I want to spend some more time savoring Strout's writing!

Olive is such a wonderful and real character. I loved her all over again. Life is complicated and we aren't all sunshine and rainbows. Olive faces aging as we all do, perhaps a bit less grace but still I felt what she was going through. The author is very talented at making small pieces of daily life sing. I felt like i was there in the best way.
Perfection.

I really loved this latest book by Elizabeth Strout. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I went on an Elizabeth Strout bender and read everything by the author I could get my hands on. “Olive,Again” is a beautifully written narrative of the lives of folks in Crosby, Maine. Although the character Olive Kitteridge , weaves largely in and out of the pages, each chapter also presents complex new characters with lives that barely Intersect with Olive’s. The novel reads like a collection of short stories with the unifying theme being just plain humanity. No judgements, no heroes or villains, just people doing what people do, right, wrong, good, bad. But wonderfully and sensitively voiced. This book really touched me on a very personal level and I’m sure it will become one of my “Read Again and Again” books. Thank you NetGalley for this reading opportunity, I appreciate it and highly recommend “Olive, Again”.

If you were like me, the book titled Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout left me wanting to read more and more about Olive & her friends (or foes, as the case may be). Well our prayers have been answered, with Strout's new book Olive, Again. It is just as compelling as the first book, if not more so!

Oh, Olive, as unlovable as you appear to be, how I adore you! In this follow-up to Olive Kitteridge, we find in Olive, Again that grumpy, often rude, sometimes tender and increasingly introspective character of the book’s title. She has grown in life experiences and continues to grow older in this new volume of interwoven stories set in the tiny town of Crosby, Maine.

The book brings back some individuals from the first novel and introduces us to others who, in small or large ways, have crossed paths with Olive, as folks from a small town tend to do with each other. We laugh at their eccentricities and mourn with them in their losses. We relate all too well to their issues with aging and how others perceive their sometimes secretive and growing list of quirks.

There were two noticeable parts of Olive, Again that I was taken with. The first is that, as Olive ages, she mostly stays set in her thinking, but carefully opens the door to understanding that her way hasn’t always been the nicest or the best. She tries poignantly to remedy her gruffness, and succeeds when she allows her heart to soften. Other times, she stays stuck in her usual amusing state of “Phooey!”

The second image that struck me may have also been present in the first novel of Olive. I’m not sure if it was there and I missed it, or if it is just more obvious in this second book. It’s the mention of sunlight in almost, if not all, of the chapters. It’s a subtle mention, but always shone for me, and I can’t help but think that it’s a metaphor for Olive, or even the town of Crosby, Maine, where depression and darkness obscure so much, but gorgeous hints of sunlight slant across and brighten everyone and everything at certain moments. I certainly think it describes Olive and her penchant for gloominess and her outer lack of warmth, yet who is still someone who loves the light and occasionally allows it to brighten her life.

This is a lovely, although seldom pretty, novel of pain, heartache, death, love, hope and hindsight vision. It’s funny in some parts, but primarily it’s about life and how we all live and die, with all the bumps and bruises we encounter on our way. I would love more stories of Crosby, Maine from this exceptional writer, Elizabeth Strout.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

5 stars

if there is one new book that I have been anticipating and been dying to read, it is this one. I am happy to report that it lived up to my expectations and more.
We return back to Crosby, Maine and to one of my favorite literary characters, Olive Kitteridge. She's just so Olive- snarky, judgmental , blunt, but underneath there is a total soft spot. She often sees what others need and totally follows through. We especially see this in the story "Light". Cindy is battling cancer. Olive sees her struggling while out shopping and helps her out. She then starts visiting her. Cindy's husband can't figure out why she would want to talk to that "battle axe" . It's because Olive is not afraid to talk about what everyone else is avoiding- talking about death.
In this book, Olive is getting older and she is doing a lot of self reflection. She realizes she has not been the best wife to Henry, nor the best mother to Christopher. How can you not love someone who is ready to acknowledge their faults. Yes, she has mellowed (somewhat), but she is still the deadpan Olive; who either cracked me up or brought me to tears.
Elizabeth Strout is a phenomenal writer. She really understands human nature- the people we meet are so authentic. I loved this book! It is a wonderful follow up to the first book. Long live Olive Kitteridge!

Yes, Olive is back as feisty and quirky as ever. She remains brutally honest and fiercely independent, but age and time have mellowed her somewhat. It’s not easy being Olive, nor is it easy to be anyone else.

Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: October 15, 2019

I read Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “Olive Kitteridge,” when it was published in 2008. I have been reading the author’s work ever since. Needless to say, I was delighted when I received an Advance Review Copy (ARC) of “Olive, Again.” As in the original novel, the sequel’s chapters read as interlinked short stories with recurring local characters in the same small town of Maine. Once again, in some way or another, Olive’s presence is always felt, even if she is not in the scene. In this follow up-book, Strout proves that she still is a powerful storyteller, especially when concentrating on the subtle complexities of human relationships. In “Again,” Olive is still an ornery and yet a loveable character. Now we follow her as she grows old, navigating the changes in her life.

The novel begins with “Arrested,” which takes place right after the first novel ends. The 74-year-old widower, Jack, is courting 73-year-old Olive. Strout captures the surprise and depression one feels when they realize that they are now part of the invisible population of the elderly—alone and unseen. Strout captures the embarrassing details of the aging body as well. She writes this so well, you might find yourself looking down at the size of your own stomach. You will feel the delight of when a widow and widower find each other and, realize that they are no longer alone. You will also laugh out loud when reading how the couple comes to wonder that if maybe loneliness has its advantages.

“Motherless Child” is a story about Olive and her son, Christopher, who was getting married in one of the stories in “Kitteridge.” Here he is married and has children and stepchildren of his own. We follow his family when they come to visit. Olive is excited to see her son and grandchildren. She is proud of herself when she thinks to make the kids peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The problem is that now Christopher and his family live in NYC and are accustomed to NYC living. They have become more sophisticated, or as Olive feels downright uppity. They are appalled with the measly sandwiches. Christopher and his wife whisper to each other, not aware that Olive can hear them, why didn’t she think of finer foods for their visit. Why did she just knit a scarf and not buy the grandkids proper gifts? Olive feels like a failure. The visit goes from bad to worse when she informs her son that his father, Henry, has been gone for years now and that she plans to get married again to Jack. The author shows us how class and stubbornness can change family dynamics, leaving the reader feeling very sad for the protagonist.

“Labor” is wickedly funny. Olive goes to a baby shower. Never known for her patience, she keeps wondering how long she'll have to sit there. The reader can feel what she must be thinking: In her day, no one had such events. When having a baby, you received your family and friends’ hand-me-downs. Period. She is bored out of her mind. (Admit it, if you have ever been to a baby shower it can get tedious fast). In her typical quirky, direct manner she says all the wrong things. But when another guest, who is pregnant herself, goes into labor, it is Olive who delivers the baby. She is no longer bored. It may not be the most believable tale. Still, it is one of my favorites in the book. Stout ensures that her readers remember that bad can go to good in a heartbeat.

All of the chapters/tales in the novel are written with humor and compassion. The author has a gift for zooming in on ordinary moments in the lives of ordinary people, which make you think about your own ordinary life. But, like Olive, your life is not ordinary simply because it is your own. Stout has never failed to make me reflect on how my own years—good and bad—have played out. Nor, has she ever failed to entertain me.