Book 34 - Baffled

Title: Olive Kitteridge

Author: Elizabeth Strout

Genre: woven-together domestic fiction

Unfortunately, I'm a bit baffled about how this book has won any prizes, let alone a Pulitzer. I guess I was expecting something more akin to A Man Called Ove - the story of a grumpus whose heart of gold is tenderly and beautifully unearthed through an array of equally interesting characters.

Instead, I spent most of this novel confused and frustrated. The various stories are barely connected through the titular character at all, and there are just so many people to keep track of, all with very similarly-sounding (i.e. white) names, and all in situations that mayyybe could have been interesting if they weren't so hard to locate in relation to the other characters and within the timeline of the novel, of which there are limited indicators.

All this might have been forgivable if Olive herself was lovable in any way...but alas, she is not. She's a sour old woman who's horrible to her husband, judgmental of everyone, and overall boring to read.

Rating: 🍓🍓