Olive Again centres around the concepts of love, loss and regret. Olive Kitteridge is honest to a fault which means people either love her or hate her. Following the death of her husband she finds love again with Jack Kennison, also alone after the death of his wife. As we learn more about the people who live around Olive and Jack, we realise that everyone is dealing with some form of loss. Whether it be loss of self, loss of a loved one, or simply loss of purpose. Olive reflects on what it means to grow older, the sense of becoming invisible is also somehow freeing. As the book comes to an end, Olive is once more alone and while she may have learnt a lot of lessons along the way she comes to realise that we never really stop questioning our own existence - 'I do not have a clue who I have been. Truthfully, I do not understand a thing'.

Having only just finished this book, I am feeling a little low as the ending was quite depressing, however, overall, the book was very enjoyable and engaging. I really enjoyed meeting the different characters and working out how they connected with Olive (some, I felt, more convincingly than others). The stories felt very real in a 'truth is stranger than fiction' sort of way. I read the book very quickly and will go on to read more by this author.

Without a doubt “Olive, Again” is one of the books I’ve been most anticipating this year. Elizabeth Strout is a favourite author of mine not only because she writes so beautifully and movingly about the lives of ordinary people, but I often feel a special personal connection to her fiction which is so often set in Maine - where I also grew up. This means her characters and their culture feel so immediately recognizable and familiar to me. However, such inside knowledge isn’t needed to appreciate the drama, comedy and astute insight found in Strout’s enthralling fiction. Certainly one of the author’s most beloved characters is Olive Kitteridge who first appeared in the 2008 “novel in stories” named after her. Olive is loveable in spite of or maybe because of being such an irascible, strong-willed individual. She’s the sort of character I love to read about but would be terrified to meet in real life.

Strout’s new novel picks up with Olive later in her later years when she takes a new husband, makes an uneasy reconciliation with her son and transitions into old age. But, as is typical in Strout’s books and because this is another novel which also functions as a series of interconnected short stories, certain sections focus on other characters in Olive’s community as well. As I talked about in a video earlier this year, I love how this form of novel gives a more rounded picture of a group of characters since you get a series of individual perspectives but also better see their relationships and perspectives on each other. Later parts of this new novel bring certain characters together and you discover what happened to them after their individual sections conclude. In some sections Olive only makes a brief appearance or is referred to glancingly, but essentially this novel revolves around her.

One of the interesting recurrences in this novel are moments where characters are so shocked and unsettled by unexpected incidents that they remember them throughout their lives. It’s remarked how they can’t believe something happens and this disbelief makes it such a haunting experience for them that they don’t entirely trust their memory that it even occurred. This is such a true mark of individual experience in how certain occurrences like this will doggedly and inexplicably stick with us. We’ll obsessively think over them again and again like a puzzle we can never solve. It’s really moving how Strout captures this trait of human experience and how this creates an open-ended sense of life where there are no firm conclusions but only a series of unsettling mysteries which remain from our interactions with others.

A wonderful trait the author gives to Olive is a phrase where she’ll dismiss someone who disagrees with or ignores her by remarking “phooey to you.” While it’s a funny rejoinder, it also takes on a poignancy over the course of the novel in how it shows Olive’s essential alienation from other people and how rather than trying to find a more dynamic way to engage with them she’ll simply emotionally cut herself off. This leads to a relatable sense of loneliness she experiences and feels much more keenly as she grows older and must depend on other people more because she can’t remain as physically independent. What’s so clever about this recurring phrase of Olive’s is that it serves as a verbal tic the character possesses like Scarlett O’Hara dismissing objections people make about her actions by blithely stating “Fiddle dee dee” rather than seriously engaging with them. It’s an idiosyncrasy Olive possesses and something she must learn to mitigate if she is going to form meaningful connections with others.

While it’s often poignant how the novel shows her making this journey, there are moments when the message becomes too overt – such as when Olive finds a way to communicate with a Trump supporter she initially cuts herself off from. In instances like this it’s like the author is intruding upon the narrative too much to make a statement about how we need to form a dialogue between politically opposed individuals in the US. I’m not saying I disagree with this sentiment but in a novel it comes across as overtly didactic. Nevertheless, it shows a consistency of character since Olive is someone who always identified as a liberal democrat who angrily lashes out against republicans like the final section of the first novel “Olive Kitteridge” where Olive is outraged to discover Jack Kennison voted for George W. Bush.

I appreciated how the novel uses different stories to trace the transforming moral values of the culture over many years and different generations. One section concerns a daughter who returns home to inform her parents she works as a dominatrix and that a documentary has been made about her. Meanwhile, her father participates in Civil War re-enactments to physically inhabit an idea of the past. This contrast of activities creatively shows how we test the limits of our identities by inhabiting different modes of being. It also shows how there have been so many changes to what’s deemed permissible in society over time such as an elderly woman who recounts how she was stigmatized when she was a teenager for producing a child out of wedlock, a wife who has an affair with her therapist and a daughter who is estranged from her father after coming out as a lesbian. I’m glad the novel delves into these very different experiences by using this form of a “novel in stories” because it gives a more panoramic picture than if we were only limited to Olive’s point of view.

There’s been a lot of cynicism expressed recently regarding literary novels such as “The Testaments” and “Find Me” that are sequels to previous books. But I’ve enjoyed how each of these books creatively carries their stories forward. It’s like visiting past friends and catching up with them. It also allows for a more expansive portrait of these complex characters and the communities they inhabit – just as Strout has done previously with her character Lucy Barton who she picks up with again in the sequel “Anything is Possible”. Reading “Olive, Again” also speaks to my experience as a person who has changed and grown since first reading about Olive Kitteridge over a decade ago. Like Olive, I’ve had a lot of new experiences since then but I’m not sure I’m particularly any wiser; life just goes on. I loved having this chance to fictionally meet Olive again. More than that, this is a novel filled with so much humanity and exhibits a rare honesty about our relationships and individual foibles.

Well I have to start by saying I really loved Olive Kitteridge, Strouts first novel about Olive. Essentially a collection of short stories each giving a different persons view of Olive, Olive again leaps forward in time, and again we meet the people around Olive. I’m not one for short stories but the connection here is Olive, and it makes it a fascinating read. Not the most likeable yet somehow she gets under your skin. A great read and I hope there will be another.

Olive Kitteridge is back again, and has not changed much. As she ages, she is a little kinder, but she is still basically the same old Olive - straight talking, blunt, rude, irascible but somehow likeable. Each chapter stands alone as a short story, but they are all linked in some way to Olive. Elizabeth Strout writes a seemingly simple collection of stories, yet they are so readable. I felt as if I got to know all the characters, and I wanted to know what happened to all of them. Poignant, thought-provoking, sometimes shocking and sometimes funny, this novel is well worth reading.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc, which I have enjoyed reading.
I have never read any books by Elizabeth Strout before and I found Olive, Again, a very refreshing, interesting read. At times Olive just blunders her way through life, as depicted in her son and daughter in law’s visit with their four children. She had no idea how to feed or communicate with the adults or the children.
It was refreshing the insight into other people’s lives that you would find yourself reading about, people who lived in the same place or were known to Olive. How Olive managed to be married to two men throughout her life, so she must have been able to communicate and live with both of them for many years. It is also significant that towards the end of her life after her heart attack, how Chris, her son, and Olive managed to communicate better.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, which I highly recommend.

Having grown up in a city where you could be on fire in the street and no one would look up from their phone, I have always romanticised the idea of small town life. To me, there is something comforting about the concept of everyone knowing everyone (though many have scoffed at my naivety) and I am often drawn to TV shows and books that embody this sense of community. Olive, Again like Olive Kitteridge, is a ‘novel in stories’ about the residents of the fictional coastal town of Crosby, Maine. Strout conjures an incredible sense of place, having grown up in a similar town herself. Each story is linked by the presence of our brilliantly unlikeable protagonist Olive, who certainly represents the spying eyes in close communities. In this sequel, we experience Olive, on several occasions, really trying to alter her behaviour for the better, and despite her frequent failings and unchanging cantankerous nature, this is somehow endearing. While I’m not sure I’d want Olive for a neighbour, I was eagerly anticipating Olive, Again, feeling the excitement of seeing an old friend, or at least a tolerable aunt again. And Strout certainly delivered!

Picking up Olive, Again was like visiting an old friend, one that you might not want to see every day, but when times are tough you know she'll be there, steady and practical as always. Curmudgeonly and stubborn, Olive is a wonderful character and I was delighted to be given a chance to revisit her. Once again the reader is given a series of seemingly unrelated stories, with Olive as the lynch pin that holds the narrative together.. The book opens two years after the death of her husband , with Olive at a baby shower, of all things, where she may feel deeply out of place but is still able to offer support and practical assistance to the mother to be. We see her embark on a relationship with her old friend Jack Kennison, and as this relationship matures, she reflects on her past, and how she behaved in her relationships with her previous husband and her son and his growing family, leading her to some disturbing conclusions about her own flaws. In turn , Strout invites us as readers to recognise aspects of ourselves and our own lives in the stories she tells, and the people who populate them. So many emotions and facets of human nature are touched upon- love, loss, fear, greed and of course a hint of black humor. If you enjoyed Olive Kitteridge, you will certainly enjoy this new book. where the author once again demonstrates how even the most ordinary people have extraordinary stories , and uses her immeasurable skill to bring them to life on the page.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher ,all opinons are my own.

Acid-tongued and grumpy, Olive Kitteridge is back in all her hilarious and poignant glory. A sequel to 'Olive Kitteridge', 'Olive Again' is a series of short stories sewn up into a novel. This novel is every bit as thoughtful as that first one, furnished with characters that are astutely observed — the carer with the badge of the orange-haired president on her van particularly stood out for me, for example. There are characters dealing with death, with dementia, with children’s revelations, and Olive often makes an appearance in their stories. Often though, I have to admit I was desperate to get back to the main event - our ever-magnetic Olive.

This novel charts her second marriage to the kind yet flawed Jack and we experience our heroine trying and sometimes failing to adjust her behaviour just a little. She continues to be cantankerous, and while some people can't stand her - one character refers to her as an 'old bag' - others are drawn to her sometimes hurtful, sometimes funny honesty. Watch out for her encounter with a poet laureate - a moment to behold with unexpected consequences.

Strout reaches into the human condition and sets it out before us with moving simplicity. This is a portrait of a woman in her December years, but where you might expect to see grey, there is only colour. A heart-achingly wonderful, must-read.

I found this a very disjointed story. Although Olive Kettering is relevant to each section it is really short stories of the people in the village or related to Olive herself. The essence of showing how life is when one ages was lovely and at times very poignant. The author has covered many topics that are difficult to write about - immigrants, death, family relationships, problem children, lesbanism as well as other sexual devient behaviours and these were covered in a humorous but understanding way. Olive herself is portrayed as daring, outspoken and lonely.
I did not enjoy the book but could appreciate the window on the lives of such a well described group of village characters.

I love Olive and I’m so happy she's back.
I was glad that the new book took the same format as the original and is written as a collection of short stories each linked by the titular character. Olive mostly appears as the main character in these stories but sometimes is only mentioned in passing. This format gives the reader so many different viewpoints of Olive who everyone in the town has an opinion on.
Olive Again is so much darker than its predecessor with sexual abuse featuring in many stories, but I also found it funnier than the first book. Perhaps because I understood the character better, but I found Olive’s abrasive manner more amusing than I did in the first book or perhaps the reason for this is because she seems to be more aware of her manner.
I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of characters from Strout’s other novels. Although I haven’t read The Burgess Boys, I understood the references to it and enjoyed the story anyway. However, I have read Amy and Isabelle and was thrilled to see those characters referenced. Despite this being a sequel and referencing older characters, the book holds up as a standalone.
Stout creates such relatable characters and such relatable emotions in them yet the stories always take unexpected turns. I love the subtle observations made and nuanced characters created. Strout is truly an exquisite storyteller with an exceptional understanding of the world.

I struggled with this to start with but that's mainly because I haven't read the prequel.
However I grew to love Olive and her cantankerous ways and the story she told.
Lovely book!

Wonderful to revisit Olive and find that age doesn't soften her. The structure is the same
as Olive Kitteridge, with vignettes into lives of other people in the town. Not to give away spoilers but the encounter with the poet was one of my favourite parts

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, it was very enjoyable. I found the plot line engaging and the characters believable. I have not read anything by this author before but will do in the future! I will be recommending this book to friends and family.

This book takes us on the journey of Olive Kitteridge in her later years. The story is told from multiple points of view, with different characters whose lives are all connected in some way to their relationship with Olive. I haven’t read the first book, so this was the first time I’d met Olive. Like many of the characters in the book, I found her quirky, interesting, dislikable, yet wonderful. There are people who found Olive difficult, as she waves them off in her customary way, yet many whose lives Olive touched.

I thought Olive’s character was best summed up by her second husband, Jack. “You are such a goddam difficult woman… So if you don’t mind, Olive, maybe you could be a bit less Olive with me, even if it means being a little more Olive with others. Because I love you, and we don’t have much time.”

The book deals with many big life themes which in many ways I found life affirming. There is relationships, families, love, loss, death, illness, addictions, ageing, dementia, abuse. The characters experience a range of emotions, they’re flawed, they mess up, they say things that are inappropriate. They show the worst and the best of people. Elizabeth Strout is a hugely talented writer who really captures the depth and fallibility of human experience in a relatable and compassionate way.

A highly enjoyable read about the life of a character I grew to love.

I made sure I read the first book about Olive, before reading this, and I found it interesting, but disjointed.
This brought me to Olive, Again with a little trepidation.
It was another mish-mash of different character stories, with Olive as a connection, and also a real eye-opener into Olive's journey through her twilight years.
I'd say this was a lighter book, than the first, which I found quite dark in places. I felt that Olive had softened with age, and it was interesting to read her thoughts as she grew older,
It definitely gave me an insight into how someone who is at the tail end of life might be feeling.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, so I was really looking forward to reading this. Unfortunately, it fell flat with me. I could not connect with the characters and I found it boring in places. I think it might suit some people, but it was not for me.

A quick and easy read, Elizabeth Strout”s novel examines the experience of connectivity, mundanity and mortality of everyday life through the personal relationships of the characters in the book. Seeking solace and company following the death of his wife, Jack’s relationship with opinionated retired teacher, Olive Kitteridge, widely referred to as a nuisance, gives her the strength of character to dare to open her mind to the differences between herself and others. Strout draws on Olive”s growing knowledge of her supporting characters in shaping Olive’s emerging acceptance of all that life has to offer.

I loved the first Olive Kitterage and I loved this follow up too. I like how Olive speaks her mind and doesn't care about the consequences. To her, things get said that need to be said but only to those who are not close to her. It pulls at your heart strings when Olive finds closer relationships difficult. This is particularly seen in her relationship with her son Christopher, his wife Ann and her grandchildren. This book is also about how as we get older, we do change and perhaps do things that ordinarily we wouldn't. I love that she feels she has a second chance in her relationship with Jack and there is the unspoken thread that we only get one life so enjoy it. It's also about how we recognise our past mistakes and want to make amends as we reach the latter part of our lives. I loved reading this and was sorry to reach the end. Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.
This is the second book about Olive Kitteridge. Having loved the first volume I was cautious about this volume, because I thought it could not equal the first. It did, and then some!
It takes the form of stories involving various family, friends and acquaintances of Olive’s. The stories are very varied, sometimes sad, sometimes funny, but always reflecting aspects of life that we all at sometime encounter. Difficult relationships, problem children, health issues, etc, are all covered along with Olive’s brutally honest personality.
This is a book to be read time and again, always revealing something new.
I recommend this book to everyone without reserve.