elizabeth strout – Page 2 – Cannonball Read 17

No Olives, Please

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

May 27, 2020 by octothorp Leave a Comment

I have a friend who dislikes mushrooms and tries them again annually just to see if her taste buds have changed. I find her dislike intriguing in part because I love mushrooms and often wonder if the dissonance is due to qualia and my “mushroom” tastes different to her “mushroom” or if what I taste is identical to what she does and she doesn’t enjoy the flavor I love. My feelings about olives is similar if less intense; I don’t hate olives, but I would […]

Olive, Again (Again)

May 12, 2020 by cheerbrarian Leave a Comment

A perusal of my library’s digital audiobook library lead me to this book as it was in the “available now/hot commodity” bucket. This book is a sequel to Olive Kitteridge and I thought I remembered liking it, so I dove in. After scanning my review of the original book I learned that I really moreso thought it just okay, and I’d say my opinion of Strout is consistent. In fact, she is so consistent that my review of this book could literally be word for […]

Imperfect love and ruthless writing

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

March 22, 2019 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

This is a story about a mother who loves her daughter. Imperfectly. Because we all love imperfectly. Unintentionally, I have read two novels in a row that have to do with imperfect mothering told from the perspectives of women who have been imperfectly parented and who in turn recognize their own shortcomings. In The Language of Flowers the narrator was quite young, an orphan, and dealing in real time with the daily ramifications of imperfect parenting. In My Name is Lucy Barton, the narrator is older, […]

She didn’t like to be alone. Even more, she didn’t like being with people.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

February 9, 2019 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

This is a book that takes place in a small Maine town. The central locus of this book is Olive Kitteridge, a retired middle school math teacher with a pharmacist for a husband and a podiatrist for a son. She’s not the center of every single story in the collection, but she is the glue and often the catalyst for them separately and/or together. This is labeled as a “novel in stories” and there’s a lot of different of these floating around. Ultimately I think […]

We’re all just a mess

June 18, 2018 by Sophia Leave a Comment

Anything is Possible (2017) is another book I picked up on President Obama’s recommendation. I remember reading Olive Kittredge (2008) many years ago–it must have been right after it was published. At the time I was impressed by the writing, but the details are fuzzy. Anything is Possible is similar in construction: a novel composed of interconnected short stories. However, these stories take place in a small, Midwestern farming community instead of a small town in Maine. Lucy Barton is the primary connection in these short stories. Everyone in the […]

He opened his eyes, and yes, there it was, the perfect knowledge: Anything was possible for anyone.”

February 9, 2018 by Caitlin_D Leave a Comment

Elizabeth Strout takes her background characters from My Name is Lucy Barton and brings them to the forefront in these interconnected short stories. You don’t need to have read Lucy Barton to understand and enjoy Anything is Possible but I do think it will help flesh out some of these essays. Lucy, who doesn’t narrate any of these stories, left her small town and eventually became a writer in New York. Several of these stories connect back to Lucy who has a memoir published in […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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