Olive Kitteridge was on my TBR for a very long time. I like reading prize winners, and it won the Pulitzer. When @oprahsbookclub picked Olive, Again, it was the kick in the butt I needed to finally pick this one up. Even though you don’t have to read Olive Kitteridge before reading Olive, Again, I’m stubborn like that and wanted to anyway.

Olive Kitteridge tells the story of the title character through vignettes of other characters in their small town in Maine. Most chapters are focused on different people who encounter Olive and their lives, with Olive in the background, sometimes only very briefly. Some chapters are focused on her immediate family and some are focused on her. Olive is a retired teacher. She’s growing older with her husband, Henry, who loves her very much despite that she’s kind of judgmental and grumpy and can be irrational. She’s definitely very flawed and human, which I think is the draw of her character.

These stories felt slow to me, and I think it’s because the book is so character driven. I did enjoy reading about the characters and life in small town New England, but I also never felt very emotionally invested. These stories are often heavy and melancholy, but for some reason failed to move me emotionally. I don’t quite understand why this one won the Pulitzer. But, I did stay interested enough to read the sequel, which I’m hoping to get to before the end of the year.

If you like small town settings, ornery elderly characters, and stories of complicated people and often difficult lives, you may really enjoy this one. For me, it was a “liked but didn’t love”.