In terms of format, Olive
Kitteridge consists of 13 interrelated short stories. This is not my favourite narrative structure,
but Elizabeth Strout makes it work. The eponymous character is a retired school teacher living in Crosby,
Maine. Olive does not appear in all of
the stories, but in each she makes a brief appearance or is at least
mentioned. Over the course of the book,
Olive’s personality is revealed in depth.
The initial impression one has of Olive is not positive. In the first story, which focuses on Henry,
Olive’s gentle and kind husband, she comes across as callous and uncaring. Her first words are about Denise, the young
woman Henry hires to work in his drug store:
“’Mousy . . . Looks just like a mouse. . . . No one’s cute who can’t
stand up straight.’” Though she is “’Not
keen on it,’” Henry invites Denise and her husband to dinner. During that meal Olive scolds her husband for
accidentally spilling ketchup and makes no effort to be gracious: “For dessert they were each handed a blue
bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream sliding in its center.” Later, we learn that she never apologizes for
her comments; Henry tells her, “’In all the years we’ve been married, all the
years, I don’t believe you’ve ever once apologized. For anything.’”
This impression of Olive gradually changes. Though she can be rude, selfish, and
judgmental, she is also capable of compassion and understanding. For example, when she meets a girl who has an
eating disorder, she cries and says, “’I don’t know who you are, but young
lady, you’re breaking my heart.’” In
some of the stories, we see the impact she has had on her former students; one
girl remembers Mrs. Kitteridge saying, “’Don’t be scared of your hunger. If you’re scared of your hunger, you’ll just
be one more ninny like everyone else.’”
Henry speaks of his wife as having “sharp opinions . . . stormy moods” and
“a darkness that seemed to stand beside her like an acquaintance that would not
go away.” Olive herself admits, “deep
down there is a thing inside me, and sometimes it swells up like the head of a
squid and shoots blackness through me. I
haven’t wanted to be this way.” Her
father committed suicide because of depression, and there is more than a hint
suggesting that she herself is prone to periods of depression. In fact, in the very first reference to Olive
in the novel, there is mention of Henry’s uneasiness when “his wife often left
their bed to wander through their home in the night’s dark hours.”
Olive also proves to be a dynamic character. She learns about herself. She realizes that “the extreme capriciousness
of [her] moods” and her bad temper and her trying to control her son’s life make
her at least partially responsible for the tension between them. She comes to accept that she has little
control over people: “Who in the world,
this strange and incomprehensible world, did she think she was?” She realizes that the reason she hates scared
people, like the woman she describes as an “asseverating mouse,” is that “she
hated the scared part of herself.”
What Olive and others in the novel come to understand is that “life was
a thing to celebrate” and we need to appreciate what we have when we have it. It is only late in the book that Olive
acknowledges “She’d never had a friend as loyal, as kind, as her husband.” Henry always sees more than her “outer
Olive-ness,” but she often sees only his timidity and that to her is a terrible
flaw. She realizes love should not be
squandered: “Love was not to be tossed
away carelessly.” In the end, she understands
her flaws and so is less judgmental and more accepting of others.
Though, Olive is the focus of the novel, the individual stories focus
on other people living in the community.
These stories can be read as standalone stories; each one shows have various
people deal with what life brings them.
Everyone has “their basket of trips,” their hopes, and everyone has their
burdens; it’s our approach to life that is important.
I understand why Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitizer Prize for this
book. It portrays a complicated, flawed,
and often contradictory individual in whom we cannot but recognize some aspects
of ourselves.
Olive, Again will be released
in five days. Check back on October 15
for my review!
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