Présentation de l'éditeur
Olive Kitteridge might be described by some as a battle axe or as brilliantly pushy, by others as the kindest person they had ever met. Olive herself has always been certain that she is 100% correct about everything - although, lately, her certitude has been shaken.
This indomitable character appears at the centre of these narratives that comprise Olive Kitteridge. In each of them, we watch Olive, a retired schoolteacher, as she struggles to make sense of the changes in her life and the lives of those around her - always with brutal honesty, if sometimes painfully. Olive will make you laugh, nod in recognition, as well as wince in pain or shed a tear or two. We meet her stoic husband, bound to her in a marriage both broken and strong, and her own son, tyrannised by Olive's overbearing sensitivities. The reader comes away, amazed by this author's ability to conjure this formidable heroine and her deep humanity that infiltrates every page.
Revue de presse
“Superb…at once poignant and hopeful.”
—The Atlantic
“A unified cycle of finely observed tales focusing on characters inhabiting a single town… [a] brilliant evocation of emotion…a gratifying stunner…in language we understand with the heart.”
—The Boston Globe
“Masterful…exquisite.”
—Newark Star-Ledger
“Delightful.”
—Dayton (Ohio) Daily News
“One of the year’s best…a piece of multitextured music -- [and] a great piece of writing about life in small town America…a fascinating collection…Strout’s writing here is deep and masterful. If you’re going to read one book of short fiction this year, make it this one.”
—Buffalo News
“Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge…You’ll never forget her. Kudos to Elizabeth Strout…who not only has created a sui generis character in Olive but has done so in brilliantly revealing way…By the end…you’ll be madly in love…There is so much to admire here. Strout’s craftsmanship – the way she constructs her stories with rich irony and moments of genuine surprise and intense emotion – is first rate…Glorious, powerful stuff.”
—USA Today
“You will find yourself thinking about this touching, prickly character long after you have finished [reading].”
—Newsweek
“The characters are plagued by such profound regrets, resentments and frustrations it's difficult to not empathize with their staggering levels of loneliness and disillusionment…Love and acceptance are the underlying themes Strout carefully buries between the lines of unhappiness throughout the novel, making Olive Kitteridge and her family, friends and foes tangible, set in a story just as real.”
—Rocky Mountain News
“Strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force.”
—The New Yorker
“Mesmerizing.”
—Tampa Tribune
“Strout has a wonderful ability to turn a phrase…[these] pages hold what life puts in: experience, joy, grief, and the sometimes-painful journey to love.”
—Charlotte Observer
“[Abide with Me and Amy and Isabelle] were good; this one is better… it illuminates both what people understand about others and what they understand about themselves… The pleasure in reading Olive Kitteridge comes from an intense identification with complication, not always admirable characters… There’s nothing cheap or mawkish here.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Perceptive, deeply empathetic, and even more deeply flawed, Olive is the axis around which these 13 complex, relentlessly human narratives spin themselves into Elizabeth Strout’s unforgettable novel in stories.”
—O Magazine
“[Elizabeth Strout’s] themes are how incompletely we know one another, how ‘desperately hard every person in the world [is] working to get what they need,’ and the redemptive power in little things—a shared memory, a shock of tulips. Her lovely book is one of those.”
—People
“Rarely does a story collection pack such a gusty punch.”
—Entertainment Weekly (A rating)
“These are nervous times for writers and publishers. In the face of dwindling readerships and shortened book lists, no wonder que
