On September 19th a large froup met at Chili's to discuss "Olive Kitteridge"
which won Elizabeth Strout a Pulitzer Prize.
Madeleine (with two new knees), Diana, Nancy, Sarah, Julie, Donna, Kathy,
Betsy, Carol, Janet and I attended. All but one of us had read and liked the
book whether they liked the character Olive or not. Olive was a cantankerous,
capricious, brusque, take charge math teacher in a small town in Maine.
She was married to the nicest man named Henry who was beloved by the
townspeople as well as the book club. The Kitteridges are the main characters
in the first chapter and then they are incidental characters in all the other chapters
which are short stories about different inhabitants of the town.
Donna had a printout of a synopsis of each chapter and after she read them we
added our own comments and remembrances. There was a plethora of characters
and some said they would have preferred to have had one story more developed
but I think Strout was still able to develop Olive's character by this writing style.
Although Olive has some flaws she also has a good side as she was
always willing to help others if they needed help whether young or old. She had
a tolerance for young people and seemed to have been loved as well as feared by
her students. She tolerated gays and Republicans.
There seemed to be a theme of suicide running throughout the book. In the final
chapter after her husband dies she seems to have lost her spunk but decides to
feed her hunger and wants to live and takes an older widow as a lover though he
is a republican who voted for G.W. Bush.. Kathy read some passages one of which
indicated that age should not deter hungers of the body and soul.
I read that HBO will be doing a mni series based on the book and Frances McDormond
will play Olive, I can see it it...perfect casting.
.
October 30th which is a Wednesday was chosen for the next meeting. Kathy chose
a book called "The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom which is about a 7 year old
orphaned Irish girl sent to a plantation in the south who has to live with the black
slaves. The relationship between the black slaves and the white kitchen help is her
story. Looks very interesting.
