Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroud (Jackie's Review)

Olive Kitteridge is described as a ”novel in stories”. I’m not a big fan of short stories, and so wasn’t convinced that I’d enjoy this book, but as it won the Pulitzer prize I thought I’d give it a try.

I think the emphasis on this being a collection of short stories is misleading, as it is essentially just a novel about one woman, Olive Kitteridge. The story is told through the eyes of various people who knew her, capturing the important moments in her life, in what at first, are seemingly random snippets. The use of small-town gossip, to tell much of the story was a clever medium, which I haven’t seen used before.

The book begins quite slowly, and I have to admit that for the first few chapters I didn’t know what to make of it. The writing was very vivid and powerful, but the large number of characters meant that I wasn’t sure who, or what, was important. About a third of the way through things began to fall into place. Olive’s character became prominent, and I felt that I understood what was happening. I don’t want to give anything away, but I think it is important that you know that the overwhelming emotion I felt on completing the book was that of heartbreak. This book is incredibly touching, and packed with feelings of sadness, and loss. It questions which things are important in life, and examines the relationships between family members who have forgotten how to love each other. Olive’s emotions are powerful and realistic. All mother’s will sympathise with her feelings of isolation, as her only son distances himself from her.

Overall, I found this to be an insightful, touching novel on the reflections of an old woman nearing death. It is a great book, and I think it is worthy of the Pulitzer prize, but I’m not sure it will stand the test of time. I think it will probably end up on that list of ‘the most forgotten Pulitzers’ in 50 years time.

Recommended to anyone who has the patience to piece together a great story.

4/5


Originally posted here.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Jackie's Review

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001.

The book started off really well, and by page 35 I was so fond of the characters that I had tears in my eyes when they had to say goodbye to each other. This is a very rare event for me, as I don’t often cry when reading. There are perhaps five books that have managed to move me to tears in my entire lifetime, so this just goes to show the power of the writing in this book.

It continued well, and I loved the detail of the magic tricks, and Joe’s escape from Prague in 1939 to his cousin’s flat in America. Then everything went wrong. There were about 200 pages of boring details about life in a comic book office. I completely lost interest in the book, and at one point I nearly gave up on it. I’m really glad that I didn’t though, as the last third of the book was as good as the beginning. The plot was clever, the vivid characters were back and the ending was very satisfying.

An amazing book, with a long, dull bit in the middle. It could easily have had 9 or 10 stars if the boring bit had been condensed to about 10 pages.

Recommended, as long as you are able to get through a long slow section – it is worth it in the end!




Originally reviewed here.

Beloved by Toni Morrison - Jackie's Review

‘Beloved’ is the story of a woman haunted by the ghost of her baby. Set in post-Civil war Ohio it is the story of how former slaves, psychically and emotionally crippled by years of labour, attempt to deal with their past.

I found the first half of the book very slow. It was confusing, as it skipped around so much, and as I didn’t have a clue what was happening, it had no forward momentum.

I found certain aspects of it the book very irritating. Why did there have to be 3 characters called Paul? Why was the Grandma also called a baby? And why did all the female characters seem to have male names? This all increasing my frustration with the book.

The second half was much better. I began to work out what was happening, and could cope with the changing of narrator/time period. As it neared the end I was totally hooked. Some scenes were very moving, and will stay with me for a long time.

I think this would be a great book to study, as I'm sure there were lots of things I missed out on first time round.


Recommended, if you’re able to get past the first 100 pages.

Originally posted here

Jackie's Progress

I'm excited to be starting a new reading challenge!

So far I have only read 4 Pulitzer prize winners:

1961 - To Kill a Mocking Bird
1983 - The Color Purple
2003 - Middlesex

and I've just finshed reading

1998 - Beloved, so hopefully I'll be able to add a review soon.

The Amazing Life of Kavalier and Clay is near the top to my reading pile, but I'm also going to try to get hold of some of the early winners soon.

I look forward to sharing some good books with you all in the future.

Jackie