Tom's Two Cents : Olive Kitteridge and Olive, Again, by Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout has just published a splendid sequel to her Pulitzer Prize winning OLIVE KITTERIDGE, titled, appropriately, OLIVE, AGAIN.  Neither book is a novel in the strict sense, rather both are collections of small town stories, thirteen to be exact, mostly set in the fictional(?) village of Crosby, Maine, overlooking the Atlantic.  The principal character, Olive Kitteridge, flits in and out of these stories, sometimes centrally, but often peripherally, as a minor character would.  Flowing around her is a mass of multi-cultural humanity: fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, widows, widowers, old people, young people, babies, crazies, “dopey-dopes.”  Olive dominates them all by sheer force of personality and bluntness.  She says what she thinks, she does what she wishes, and it’s pretty much “to hell” with the consequences.  As such a character, she is not always easy to identify with, but the person she becomes by the end of the sequel is quite human and even sympathetic.

I started reading the first book only last weekend and read straight through till Monday on my Kindle, then switched to hard copy, efficiently supplied by our great Library, in the middle of this past week.  Today, Saturday, I finished the sequel, having read some 500-600 pages in all, in story segments of some 15-25 pages.  It’s kind of nice to finish a chapter, especially when you are old and losing your power of recall, and not have to worry about the characters and their problems anymore, though there are exceptions, of course, mostly those members of Olive’s family, who put up with her and love her, despite everything.  But don’t get the notion that Olive is just an old sourpuss—far from it.  She is at times very funny, and her caustic humor spills out on herself as well.

You probably won’t like it all—I didn’t, because at times I found it too frank and tasteless and choppy, but the books, and observations, are terribly, at times brutally, honest, and reflective of the current uncivilized times we live in.  Strout is a very straightforward writer, at times seemingly simplistic, but highly insightful in her observations of human nature, and very readable in the best sense of the word.  If I were to sum up for you the multiple themes of these two books, it would be in one masterful sentence by Henry David Thoreau: “The mass of men [and women] lead lives of quiet desperation.”  Strout indubitably has her finger on the pulse of modern humanity!

Julie's Journal : Bookish Unpopular Opinions

Again inspired by another blog, here are some of my bookish opinions that may not be shared by the reading majority.

E-books are just as good as physical books. - Many, many people come in the library and tell me that they prefer a paper book to an e-book.  I just don't agree.  I don't really know why, but I will almost always read the books on my device before I read the physical books that I check out from the library.  I will wait in line for a book to become available on Overdrive even when the physical book is available in the library and I have even purchased an e-copy of a book I already own just so that I could read it on my device.

There's nothing wrong with reading the end of the book first. - I know this is a huge no no, but I usually read a chapter or two of a story and then skip to the end to read the last few pages.  Only occasionally does this ruin anything for me in the reading of the story.  I guess I'm trying to figure out if the resolution is worth my reading the entire book.  It usually is!

I have read this many, many times!

Re-reading a book is one of the joys of life. - My father hates to re-read a book.  His memory is impressive and he says that since he remembers the plot in the first few pages, he gets no enjoyment from re-reading a book.  Many of our library patrons agree.  For me however, re-reading a story I enjoy is comforting, like a visit with an old friend.  I have a few favorites that I have read dozens of times! 

Short stories are awesome! - We rarely buy short story collections for the library because they just don't get checked out.  I, however, really enjoy them.  The quick development and resolution of a story is satisfying when I don't have the time or attention span for a longer work. 

I HATE stories that revolve around one character lying or misrepresenting a situation to another character. - In the same vein, I don't like books that revolve around a misunderstanding.  I guess this eliminates a lot of books from my favorites list, but this plot device is so annoying to me.  I don't like a story where the entire time I'm thinking that just one good conversation between characters could resolve everything.  This preference bleeds over into the TV shows I like, as well as in real life.  I'm not a good practical joker because I get very uncomfortable misleading someone!

Do you agree with me?  What are some of your bookish opinions that may not be shared by the reading majority?