Happy Thursday, which means happy book review day!
Last month I read Elizabeth Stout's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Olive Kitteridge.
Wow, did I like this book.
The entire thing is a series of thirteen interrelated, but discontinuous, short stories, all working together to portray Olive, a retired teacher, and her little town in Maine.
This book is a slow burn. I read it in one afternoon, absolutely devouring it, but I see how it would be nice to take it in pieces. The characters in the story are rich and nuanced, and that is the reason the book is so damn good.
It's just... it's just life. There isn't anything incredibly profound here. The author takes a walk through different characters' lives, all which are touched somehow or in some way by brassy, formidable Olive Kitteridge. We see snippets, days, weeks, moments, all of those crazy turning point times that maybe don't matter until these characters look back. No one is perfect. No one is irredeemable.
It's eloquent and haunting.
I can't even really put my finger on WHY it is so good. It's the characters, the setting, the subtlety, the storytelling. It's just good.
And it's stayed with me for a few weeks, between me reading it and now you, reading this.
This is the epitome of what good realistic fiction can be; a whispered haunting that echoes through pages, that causes you to pay attention to life and the people around us and ourselves.
Did I mention I highly recommend it? Because I do.
I'm curious to track down the miniseries they made of this, because I understand Frances McDormand is in it, and she just seems perfect for it, and I love her. It's now on my to-watch list.
Have you ever read a book that was so good, but you couldn't explain just why it was so good? Comment below!