Olive Kitteridge is getting old.
Olive and Betty spend a lot of time together, though, and both are pretty lonely.
One day, Betty breaks down in tears while recounting a terrible day.
Credit: Penguin Random House
Olive, in sympathy, asks what her life is like.
Through tears, Betty waves her off: Oh, its just a life, Olive.
Well, not in an Elizabeth Strout novel.
Leonardo Cendamo
But Olive, in the section of the book that follows, musters the courage to end the stalemate.
Called Labor, its a vintage Olive story, weird and funny and melancholy.
She delivers a strangers baby in the back of her car.
She forgets to bring a gift to a baby shower she cant bear to sit through.
And she calls Jack.
Lets get this over with, she tells herself beforehand.
Or maybe she has less of a sense than ever.
But the reality of missed opportunity seeps in as well.
Strout crafts each story expertly, butOlive, Againgains novelistic momentum as it expands, too.
Leave it to Olive to find that balance.
Theres a lot going on in this world, a lot to be angry about, plenty to mourn.
