This is a very unique book - we learn about Olive’s life after he husband’s death through to when she is living in a retirement home at the end. Her perspective on life is what makes the book interesting. She is not always kind or understanding and she only has rare moments of reflection about herself and her life, normally sad ones. Alongside her stories we learn about other people, too. In some of these other stories, Olive is a key player; in others she is barely mentioned. Each story is really about unusual relationships - a teenager who bares her breasts for an old man, families that don’t like each other and the memory of a beautiful girl who later committed suicide. None of these stories are overflowing with joy and Olive often talks of her own feelings of loneliness or anxiety. This is a gentle book that observes life acutely but I did have a break in the middle to cheer myself up with a different book.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Olive is a well known, if not well loved part of Crosby, Maine, which is a small coastal town full of her past pupils, and also full of stories of disappointment and regrets. The people she touches have their stories, and we get to see into these vignettes of families in flux, children unconnected to parents, and broken relationships. This is approached with great humanity and humour. Olive is plain speaking and honest, sometimes too honest. Her husband says he loves her , but could she save some of her Oliveness for others please.
I loved this book. Although Olive is described as a big woman, I think it is her big hearted ness which is here, and the wonderful Frances Mcdormand who played Olive in the tv adaptation really is her in my mind.

Elizabeth Strout you are a genius! Many years ago I read Olive Ketteridge and never in a million years thought you could top it, but you have. Brilliantly written with a superb use of words. I loved the way the story unfolded bringing many different characters and stories into it so fluently and effortlessly. A truly amazing read and didn’t put it down.

It’s only fairly recently that I read Elizabeth Strout, and I have all the fervour of a fresh convert. Strout beautifully intertwines the profound and the quotidian, telling stories with kindness and generosity to her characters. Her books are about ordinary people living their lives in unremarkable ways, and through them she portrays our capacity both for decency and for extreme ugliness. Olive Kitteridge, slightly mellowed by age in this sequel, tackles the joys, pains, and banalities of later life - she falls in love, makes a new best friend, learns and relearns life. It is wonderful and beautiful, and makes me excited to be old.

Fine writing, sensitivity, observation and a feel for the human all combine in this book which returns to Olive Kitteridge, now older, still cantankerous at times. These interconnected stories can feel bleak at times as they're more about endurance, a kind of dogged urge to keep living rather than joy. But there's an honesty, a wisdom and a respect for the small and ordinary that gives this book a kind of luminosity: a relevant antidote to books that are all about melodrama and excessive plot. And gentle, sharp, precise prose to savour.

I first discovered Olive (Kitteridge) in my library shortly after it as published in the UK and was mesmerised by this almost unlikeable, but fascinating character. Olive, Again is every bit as good.

Once again Olive's story is told in a series of short stories. Her husband has died and she is estranged from her son, but somehow Olive continues her abrasive way through life in a small town in Maine, gaining a new husband, in her later years.

As ever Elizabeth Strout illustrates with empathy how life can be for women of a certain age and how they face their tribulations. I hope Olive, Again wins as many fans as her earlier work and I recommend it highly.

Many thanks to NetGalley and PenguinUK for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Well Olive, it was lovely to meet you and you have certainly made me think!
I really enjoyed reading this beautifully written book and now want to read its predecessor, Olive Kitteridge, then re-read Olive Again.
In this novel, Olive, a retired maths teacher, has been recently widowed. Olive does not have a great deal of self-belief and does not have a warm relationship with her only child, Christopher and his family. In the relatively small town of Crosby, Maine, nearly everyone knows Olive or knows of her. The book is a series of vignettes of the small lives of small people in small town Crosby. Nothing of global significance happens to any of the characters but their lives are all impacted in greater or lesser ways by their encounters with Olive.
All the characters, major and minor were very well crafted by the author, Elizabeth Strout. Family issues and relationships were explored in great detail and the ways in which misunderstandings can create almost unbreachable chasms. From the outset I empathised with Olive whose words and thoughts reminded me very much of my similar aged mother-in-law (also a retired teacher) with whom I have a strong relationship.
Particular episodes which stand out for me are Olive's encounter with an ex-pupil who is now a prize-winning poet; her developing relationship with another ex-pupil who is receiving chemotherapy and her defence of a Somali nurse's aide in the face of covert racism from a Trump supporter.
This is a book to re-read and consider how minor words and actions impact on others.
My thanks to the publisher via Net Galley for a complimentary ARC of this title in return for an honest review.

Olive Kitteridge must be one of the most memorable characters to ever have been written about in literature. This is marketed as a novel (as indeed the original was) but it would be more accurate to describe it as a series of short stories all of which have Olive as a character . Most of them are from her point of view but a few are from other characters' viewpoints and allow us to see Olive from the exterior.

In this volume, Olive is ageing. Her husband Henry is dead and she marries for a second time. Her relationship with her only child, Christopher is distant - one of the most poignant stories is one where she meets up with him and his family after a break of over three years - and she reflects that she has not been either a good wife or mother. In short she has a poor view of herself and wonders who, in fact she is. Yet when we see her in others' eyes we do not get such a bleak view. Yes, she is a difficult woman but there is love there for her and respect. There is so much truthfulness and understanding in the depiction of Olive that it almost hurts to read about her.

I love Elizabeth Strout's writing and it is lovely to meet characters from her other books such as Amy and Isabelle and the Burgess 'boys' again.

I can't recommend this highly enough. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I absolutely loved this book. Olive is not a cuddly character but I would love to have met her! The book is almost a collection of linked short stories, with Olive as the link. The book tells stories of older people, their relationships with their spouse and children, their failures. It is sensitively written, and very moving at times. It gives great insight into growing old, and should help younger people to be more empathetic.

Olive is back again and as wonderful as she was before. Olive, Again is another remarkable creation from Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout. I loved this just like I’ve loved her other works. It begins beautifully, tugging on heart strings, with light, relatable comedy. Olive is older now and observant of all around her. She’s critical and harsh and no one is safe. She is well know but not always we’ll liked. Strout’s style of writing, quick wit and clever turn of phrase has let to another remarkable work. It’s excellent just like her other. I’d recommend to all!!

I absolutely adored this book. It is rather surreal at times, whilst remaining firmly rooted in reality. Olive is a brilliant character whose singular take on the world gives it a newness and peculiarity I love. It’s episodic without being fragmented. I found the meditations on ageing and dying rather hopeful than bleak. It was funny and heartbreaking and an absolute joy to read.

Absolutely loved the first book and was so pleased that another had been written. I was worried it’d be a bit of a damp squib but thankfully I was wrong- this is fantastic. The way the author captures human emotion is not only believable but it’s touching and will leave you with many emotions.
100% recommended.

I had watched the serialisation of Olive Kitteridge on Sky with Frances Mcdormand playing Olive. I really enjoyed it and was pleased to be given the opportunity to read the follow up novel. Olive is still feisty and quirky into her later years and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her. This book is so well written and touches on the complexity and ups and downs of human nature and families. Olive is contrary and kind and awkward all rolled into one. Just loved it.

I read Olive Kitteridge on the recommendation of this group (on librarything), and this sequel was for me as wonderful as sitting down with an old friend and finding that you can have the same easy conversations you did the last time you got together. If you haven't already read OK, go and do that now. Then come back, and delight in Olive remaining herself, even as she gets older, more fragile, and more dependant on others.
Highly recommended.

Olive Kitteridge is back but if you haven’t read the first novel stop reading this and find a copy, you’ll enjoy this much more if you get to know her and the people whose lives intersect with hers from the beginning. Still crotchety and socially awkward Olive somehow manages to touch the lives of so many people she meets, bringing forth little snippets of their stories in a series of seemingly unconnected episodes. I’m not quite sure why I enjoyed it so much, like other books by Elizabeth Strout there is very little happiness and the overwhelming sensation was one that life has more bad things than good, especially when you get old. And yet I wanted to keep reading to the end because, although none of the characters and events were particularly likeable, especially the story about the young cleaner, Strout has such a keen eye that I almost felt I was there watching them.

Meeting Olive again is like meeting an old friend, someone who can be grumpy but who is ultimately very likeable. Olive is now elderly, and Strout once again creates a series of stories that deal with a range of human situations and emotions, set in the one town in Maine. It is well-written with a good deal of poignancy as well as hope and some joy.

I was really looking forward to this book and it did not disappoint. Poignant stories about people facing life's challenges in a small town in Maine.

A new Elizabeth Strout novel is always welcome in my hands, and a revisiting of her forthright heroine, Olive Kitteridge, is even more welcome! She really reminds me of my Great Aunt, who was a retired teacher, albeit one who lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne rather than Crosby, Maine - a stickler for tradition, doing things 'the right way' and someone with a terrifying bark that was way worse than her bite, with a warm heart under the prickly exterior.
Olive Again, revisits smalltown life in Maine, with Olive not getting any younger. As with the first installment in the series, Olive features in every story, but isn't always the focal point - sometimes she plays a very minor bit part, sometimes she's front and center.
Olive Again sees her continuing to navigate her rocky relationship with her son and most of the town of Crosby for that matter! It also sees romance, loss, unlikely friendships and the inevitable passage of time. I won't share any spoilers, suffice it to say this is a hugely welcome return to the world of Olive, a world I want to keep visiting for years to come.

Olive Again. Hurray!! This book is fantastic, I just never wanted it to end. Elizabeth Strout is a master of observational writing that makes me laugh and sometimes shed a tear and it was great to spend time in Olive's company again. The book revists Olive where we left her in Olive KItteridge, Henry has died and Olive may have a nascent relationship with Jack Kerrison, a curmudgeonly ex Harvard lecturer. The narrative follows Olive as she negotiates the last decades of her life and we meet lots of her fellow Crosby town residents, each with a heartbreaking, poignant or hopeful story to be revealed. Characters from other Strout novels are revisited such as Isabelle (from Amy and Isabelle) and the family from the Burgess boys. and we also find out how Christopher, Olive's son is faring.. It's really great to see how things are panning out for them all.
Oh Godfrey! as Olive would say, I was so pleased to read this book, just so well written and observed. Fabulous.

I didn’t realise that this was a sequel so the first few chapters were quite difficult to get into. However, after that the book flowed so much more. Elizabeth Strout’s writing is so powerfully visceral, so full of feeling without sickly sentimentality, that every character’s story hit me hard and offered some kind of wisdom. Olive, Again is a beautiful novel, and, as Olive says about her son, many times the writing and characters felt like a needle in my heart, and I will carry Olive with me for a long time.