Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

9 reviews

alpetersen24's review against another edition

sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia

lindsayvale's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Murder

tctimlin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Short stories set mostly in the small town of Crosby Maine, where Olive Kitteredge is aging.  Sometimes she is the focus of the story, sometimes she just plays a bit role in a story about others in the town.  There are stories about marriage and friendship and small town mores, and parent-child relationships (which I found most gut wrenching as the mother of an only child son who is now an adult living almost on the other side of the continent).  Strout is a beautiful writer and conveys sparingly the deep love Olive has for her students, her husband and son and her struggles to express that love.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

raybudbury's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

MinecraftOOF.mp3

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

kaylynfergusonstone's review against another edition

I’ll probably pick it back up at some point because it’s objectively good, but the sadness of life is too real rn lol

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Abortion, and Death of parent

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Terminal illness, Islamophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia

miss_fish's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

deedireads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

I’m late to the game with both Elizabeth Strout and Olive Kitteridge, but I’m so glad I finally arrived! What beautifully rendered characters. I loved it.

For you if: You like linked short stories.

FULL REVIEW:

“Had they known at these moments to be quietly joyful? Most likely not. People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it.”

I’d been meaning to read Olive Kitteridgefor a good long time, because I love linked short stories and of course it’s a modern classic. Finally, my friend Bernie forced it to the top of my TBR, and I’m so glad! This book is full of really beautifully rendered characters, tender moments, hope and heartbreak.

The stories could almost be chapters, as they move more or less linearly in time and give us a progressive amount of information about Olive (a strong-willed, brusque, no-holds-barred kind of woman) and her life. But they’re not quite chapters, because they hop and bop between main characters; they’re not all about Olive herself.

Elizabeth Strout’s magic is in creating her characters very quickly and efficiently; the dialogue, details — everything — come together into sharp, lifelike relief and BOOM there goes your poor little heart, fallen for another one of them. Olive isn’t really even a nice person, and you still love her, quickly and fiercely.

Strangely as I read, this book reminded me of The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo. They don’t have a ton in common at first glance — linked stories vs a 500-page family saga — but they both look closely (and heartbreakingly) at what happens to marriage in old age and navigating tricky adult child/parent relationships. (Also the patriarch is named Henry in both books, lol.)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship