Olive Strikes Again...A Kitteridge Sequel

Thank you for the publisher for providing me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.


Olive Kitteridge has become an iconic figure in American literature, her vituperative, downer personality reverberating to a Pulitzer Prize some ten years ago and several Emmy awards when Strout's first book with her as its star was made into a fantastic (and fantastically cast) HBO miniseries. Despite being the most unlikable of characters, someone who verbally abuses those who love her and sees little joys in a life impacted by tragedy and likely mental health issues, Kitteridge still manages to engender sympathy.

In the follow up to the classic, Strout once again structures it as many interlaced stories, some with Olive at the centre and others at the periphery, but even more than the first she is the centre. As life as a widow takes hold and the unwinnable trek toward death take hold, Olive begins to consider her life and her attitudes, her treatment of others, her now dead husband Henry and her somewhat estranged son, and she begins to self-reflect and take responsibility for her bitterness and what it must have done to others. Despite those she has crossed continue to be skeptical about her, she manages to grow, find love, and try to find meaning in old and new friendships. As we approach the twilight of her life, Olive remains cantankerous but also more rounded, a better person, and we are happy to have journeyed with her as she has grown.

Strout remains a remarkable conveyor of the intimate meanings of life, taking the small moments in life and uncovering them for their profundity. Her writing is economical, no wasted word, but also takes its time to slowly reveal the secrets below the surface of the ordinary life, how difficult ordinariness can be, with its suffering, its loneliness, but also how wonderful and rewarding even the smallest joy can bring to the mundane. Strout hits it out of the park again and hopefully this one will not disappoint the loyal followers of Olive Kitteridge.

Olive, Again comes out on October 19th.

My Booker Shortlist Thoughts

Today, the Booker Prize announced its shortlist, winnowing down its Booker dozen 13 longlisted titles to 6 finalists, which are:

Margaret Atwood (Canada), "The Testaments"
Lucy Ellmann (USA/UK), "Ducks, Newburyport"
Bernardine Evaristo (UK), "Girl, Woman, Other"
Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria), "An Orchestra of Minorities"
Salman Rushdie (UK/India), "Quichotte"
Elif Shafak (UK/Turkey), "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World"

I managed to guess 4 of the 6 (even though I have only read 2 of them, although 6.5 of the longlist). That said, despite being relatively accurate I read the list and my heart sank as the strongest book from the longlist, Valeria Luiselli's Lost Children Archive, did not make it. A remarkable and technically brilliant look at the migration crises of the Americas, Luiselli's book is an accomplishment that soars both in its meticulous plotting but also how profound and originally she tackles a topic filled with political meaning and whose significance at the present time is immense. I really hoped that it would make the shortlist and possibly win, because it is a book so many more need to read. It is a book that needed the attention that winning the Booker would bring.

On the other end, however, are two books that needed no recognition to garner attention. Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, The Testaments, is already garnering enormous buzz leading up to its release next week. Bolstered by the award winning television series, Atwood's book is going to be a massive best seller, no award needed to get it in people's hands. Similarly, Salman Rushdie's Quichotte will sell briskly, especially with some praising it as his return to form. Unfortunately, as one of the two I have read, I can't see this as any return to form. Rushdie is a solid writer, but after reading about a third of this retelling of Don Quixote, it felt like a formulaic redoing of his past novels, a bit too cute, too meta, pretension oozing from every sentence. This is not Rushdie "at the top of his game" as the chair of the Booker jury suggests it is.

I was also a bit surprised that Chigozie Obioma's An Orchestra of Minorities made it. His debut novel, The Fisherman, was a wonderful tale of innocent youth being destroyed by fate and was rightfully shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2015. However, Orchestra was a much more tedious reading experience, using narrative devices that became grating if not pointless. At times beautiful prose almost saves it but it was too much of a slog to be saved by a few elegant passages.

Of the three others, Lucy Ellman's Ducks, Newportbury sounds the most exciting. A 1000 page, 8 sentence stream of consciousness that delves into the mind of a Midwestern housewife's thoughts about a contemporary American falling apart into chaos and division. I am also eager to pick up Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other, which delves into the diverseness of the black experience in the UK. The one I am least likely to pick up, however, despite it sounding vaguely alluring is 10 Minutes 38 Seconds.

So in many ways this is a good list. Ducks and Girl seem like the most likely to win. They are accomplished writers who may have hit their stride. It is unlikely that Rushdie or Atwood win their second Booker but I would not be totally shocked if Atwood somehow managed to win. That said, some of the reviews that just leaked today (embargo over I guess) suggest it is more literary thriller than the kind of experimentation with form and style that Booker juries look to award. But who knows.

That said, I feel sadness that Lost Children Archive is not part of the conversation moving forward. It's the prize's and the reading public's loss but hopefully Luiselli will get her due eventually.