I don’t usually like short stories—just when you get to know a
character, they disappear, gone forever into the literary void. Take
the narrator of “I Stand Here Ironing.” She’s fascinating, and with so
much to teach us about experiencing our own lives, I want to ring up
Tillie Olson and berate her: “What happens to this woman? If her
ironing is this interesting, what about the rest of her life? How can
you give a gift like this and then take it away so soon?” And so, in
order to prevent this literary heartbreak, I usually avoid short
stories.

I was as surprised as can be, then, when Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth
Strout became my favorite book of the summer. I gave it a chance
because it won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize—and I fell in love, not with
Olive, but with her faithful pharmacist husband Henry. The first story
in this collection is told from his perspective, and we are introduced
to Olive through his loving (and infinitely patient!) eyes. The stories
that follow are tied together by the threads that bond a small town.
Olive plays a part, sometimes central, sometimes in passing mention, in
each of them. Her hometown of Crosby, Maine is nowhere special; yet, in
its quotidian nature, it is a microcosm of everywhere.

As readers of this town’s story, we witness Olive’s heartbreak as her
only son marries a girl Olive can’t stand. We are led into the life of
the Angela O’Meara, piano player at the Warehouse Bar and Grill, and
the habits and heartbreaks of her quiet life. We witness thoughts of
suicide and drug abuse, lost love, even a hospital holdup. In one
particular story about halfway through the book, I sat on my couch
sobbing, heartbroken at the fate of these good people and the harshness
of death. Strout exposes the tensions and dark sides of everyday
life—and yet, the real story here is one of hope.

Time passes and things change in Crosby, Maine, but after turning the
last page of this book, I was left with a lasting impression of the
simple goodness of life. The lives of Crosby’s citizens are ordinary,
but Olive reminds me that it is the seemingly mundane, everyday things
that a life is built on, that make a life rich and worth living. As
always, I was sad to the let the characters in this book go, but I was
also so glad to have spent my time with them!