Olive, Again is structured
like its predecessor Olive Kitteridge: there are 13 interwoven stories. As before, Olive does not appear in all of
the stories, but in each she makes a brief appearance or is at least mentioned. Some new characters are introduced, but some
reappear and have their stories continued.
Strout excels at showing the lives of ordinary people struggling with
some aspect of the human condition.
Olive is trying to understand herself and her life; in particular, she
struggles with the realities of aging and loneliness.
Olive remains opinionated and brutally honest. Her second husband tells her, “’God, Olive,
you’re a difficult woman. You are such a goddamn difficult woman, and
fuck all, I love you.’” I loved one
woman’s description of her as “’That pickle person’” and a man’s summary of her: “’Olive thinks everything is crap . . . That’s
just who she is.’”
Though she remains cantankerous, she has also become more
self-reflective. She acknowledges her
flaws and faults. She admits that she
does not have all the answers: “She, who
always thought that she knew everything that others did not. It just wasn’t true.” She realizes that she was not the perfect
parent and bears responsibility for the tension with Christopher whom she now
understands she raised as “a motherless child.”
It is ironic that as a teacher she told her students, “’”You all know
who you are. If you just look at
yourself and listen to yourself, you know exactly who you are. And don’t forget it.”’” It is only as an old woman that she seems to
understand who she is. She recognizes
that others may know her better than she knows herself; a former student who
has become a poet sees Olive’s loneliness in a way Olive herself has not
acknowledged.
Olive growth is also shown in her attitude towards others. Because
Olive is socially awkward, having no patience for small talk, she has
difficulty making friends. However, when
she sees another woman who is obviously tentative in a social situation, Olive
speaks to her. When that woman
introduces herself as Isabelle Daignault, Olive’s prejudice against
French-Canadians appears. Olive has also always disliked people who are “mousy”
and Isabelle’s appearance is such that Olive even nicknames her “Mousy Pants“. Nevertheless, despite these biases, Olive
gives Isabelle a chance, and the two develop a wonderful friendship.
Olive does become a better person.
She has regrets (“It was herself, she realized, that did not please her”),
but she tells a friend, “’At times these days – rarely, very rarely, but at
times – I feel like I’ve become, oh, just a tiny – tiny – bit better as a
person.’” I think she is so much more
self-aware though she claims, “I do not
have a clue who I have been. Truthfully,
I do not understand a thing.”
Perhaps that is the clearest indication of her change.
The theme is that, like the ants that show up in the first story, people
must “Just [do] what they were meant to do, live until they died.” In the middle of the book, another character
states that our duty is “’To bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace
as we can.’” Olive says, “’Well, that’s
life. Nothing you can do about it.’” We must, like Olive, pick ourselves up and do
what we must do, even if that is just to “go get Isabelle for supper.”
Though there are certainly touches of humour, the book is very
poignant. Nonetheless, I can only
describe the book as a gem. Sequels
often disappoint, but that is not the case here. The book can be read as a standalone, but why
not read or re-read Olive Kitteridge
for an even richer experience reading Olive,
Again. Both books are magnificent.
Note: I received a digital
galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
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