Rating: 5/5
Review:
Involving and insightful
I thought Olive, Again was very good indeed. For me, it is that rare
thing: a sequel that is better than its predecessor.
Olive, Again has a
similar structure to Olive Kitteridge (which I strongly recommend
that you read first). It is a sequence of linked short stories about
the various people of the small town of Crosby, Maine, in all of
which Olive features to a greater or lesser extent. Elizabeth Strout
again shows her remarkable insight into character and human
motivations and writes beautifully about all of them. The real
strength of this book, though, is that it has a more linear structure
and – crucially for me – it is far more concerned with the
development of Olive’s own life, with most of the other characters
as a part of it. There are exceptions which work very well, but the
increased focus here made it more compelling for me.
Olive is still that
beautifully painted human mixture of social awkwardness and
directness bordering on rudeness with compassion, a refusal to
pretend that things are not as they are, and the rare, precious
ability genuinely to listen to someone with empathy. I found it
wholly engrossing for much of its length and some stories, most
notably February Light and Friend, quite outstandingly involving and
insightful.
This is Elizabeth
Strout at her best, which is probably all that really need be said.
Very warmly recommended.
(My thanks to
Penguin Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)
No comments:
Post a Comment