Olive Again - Book Review

Today in the series Authors & Books, I would like to introduce the book ‘Olive, Again’ by the author Elizabeth Strout. The book was featured in the Oprah Book Club in Apple TV+. The novel is set in a fictional town known as Crosby, Maine. Maine is home for many creative minds like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Stephen King and Harriet Beecher Stowe. This is the second book discussed in the Oprah Book Club on Apple TV+. The first book discussed was The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates which dealt with the themes of racism and with some hard-hitting views about Thomas Jefferson. 

‘Olive, Again’ the second book after the novel ‘Olive Kitteridge’ (The novel won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) is a novel which talks about kindness, empathy, and remorse. The author says that she writes to make people aware that they are not alone, and life is sometimes uncomfortable. One of the participants who is from Somalia tells the book club members that it is very rare for White authors to write about refugees and discuss the theme of diversity. ‘’The novel is an acknowledgement of humanity’’ says the participant. One of the main themes discussed in the novel is ‘loneliness’. Oprah and her team while doing research for this session discovered the fact that the word loneliness is the most googled word especially during the night. The writing is visual and stunning and Olive tells us ‘to keep going’. One of the surprises in the book session was when Oprah introduced the first woman Governor of Maine. ‘We love a governor who reads’ Oprah announces in an excited manner.