Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

• Born: January 6, 1956
• Birthplace: Portland, Maine

First published: 2008

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Domestic realism

Time of plot: Several decades leading up to the present day

Locales: Crosby, Maine; Portland, Maine

Principal Characters

Olive Kitteridge, a retired math teacher

Henry Kitteridge, her husband

Christopher Kitteridge, her son

Suzanne Bernstein, her first daughter-in-law

Denise Thibodeau, her husband’s pharmacy assistant

Kevin Coulson, her former student

Jack Kennison, her love interest

The Story

The narrative is broken into thirteen interconnected stories that are linked by the presence of Olive Kitteridge, a retired junior high mathematics teacher living in Crosby, Maine. Her husband, Henry Kitteridge, is a churchgoing Protestant and retired pharmacist. Their son Christopher has grown from a sullen child to a depressed podiatrist. Olive bemoans the changes going on in Crosby and the world at large, though she cannot help but get caught up in the problems of her fellow townspeople and former students alike. Despite her astuteness and shrewd nature, Olive often fails to realize the changes occurring within her own family.

During his final years as a pharmacist, Henry develops romantic feelings for his young, married assistant Denise Thibodeau. The two develop a close friendship, and Henry even invites Denise and her husband over for dinner. Olive senses Henry’s attraction to Denise and teases him about it. On occasion, Henry fantasizes about a life with Denise, though he feels guilty about doing so. When Denise’s husband dies in a hunting accident, Henry does his best to take care of her. She winds up marrying again years later to the pharmacy delivery boy, Jerry McCarthy, who, in Henry’s opinion, is unsuited to be her husband. Denise moves to Texas and mails Henry a birthday card every year.

Kevin Coulson, a former student of Olive who is training to be a psychiatrist, returns to Crosby. Kevin and his father had moved away after Kevin’s mother, who suffered from bipolar disorder, committed suicide. Kevin, who now has suicidal thoughts of his own, has come back to town to end his life. Before doing so, he runs into Olive at the marina. Despite his sadness, he takes the time to catch up with her. As they are talking, Kevin witnesses Patty Howe, a former classmate, nearly drown in the bay. Kevin rescues her, and this act changes his attitude about suicide.

Christopher marries an out-of-towner named Suzanne, and they live in a house that Olive and Henry built. Olive disapproves of Suzanne, particularly since they married only after knowing each other for six weeks. At the wedding reception, Olive overhears Suzanne mocking her for how she dresses and saying that Christopher had a tough time as a child. This increases Olive’s loathing of Suzanne, but also makes her think deeply about how she raised her son and shaped him as an adult.

Olive goes through Suzanne’s closet and steals a single shoe and vandalizes some of her clothes. Olive’s goal with these acts is to cause Suzanne to doubt herself. Eventually, Suzanne convinces Christopher to move to California, which disappoints both Olive and Henry. Shortly after moving, Suzanne and Christopher divorce.

Years later, Olive and Henry are in their late sixties. One night on the way home from a restaurant, they stop at an emergency room so that Olive can use the bathroom. A nurse insists that Olive be examined for any uncommon symptoms, so she is admitted. While a doctor is looking her over, two addicts come in to rob the hospital. Olive and Henry are locked in a bathroom, where they begin arguing over petty things, such as the bad habits of Henry’s mother and Olive’s foul language. They survive the robbery unharmed but wind up saying things to each other that alter how they perceive one another, which causes a great rift in their marriage.

After this incident, Henry suffers a stroke that leaves him in a wheelchair, unable to communicate but always smiling. The emotional impact of the stroke is heavy on Olive, as she is at her most vulnerable and insecure. She moves Henry to a nursing home, and the loneliness at home pains her, though she still cannot stand to be around people. She contemplates suicide and feels frustrated that Christopher seems unaffected by his father’s condition.

A few years after Henry’s stroke, Christopher convinces Olive, now seventy-two years old, to visit him in Brooklyn, New York, where he has married a woman named Ann, whom he met in a group for divorced people. She has two children, Annabelle and Theodore, and is pregnant with another. The trip starts pleasantly enough and Olive believes Ann is a nice woman, but then Olive and Christopher get into an argument. Since being in New York, Christopher has been going to therapy to address his issues with his mother. Finally confident enough to confront her, he unloads all of the problems he has had over the years with Olive, including her mood swings and poor treatment of other people. Olive leaves Christopher’s home in anger.

Henry passes away several years after the stroke. A year and a half later, Olive is still pained over his death. She walks every morning on a path by the river, and it is there that she runs into Jack Kennison, whose wife has recently died and who is now lying down on the path. He is disoriented and unsure how he got there, so Olive takes him to a doctor. In spite of their differences, Jack and Olive begin dating.

Bibliography

Guaccero, Susan. "‘Standing in the Spaces’ with Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout." Psychoanalytical Perspectives 7.2 (2010): 411–415. Print.

Laga, Mary. "Older Women and Their Fall from Grace: Ageism in Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge." National Conference on Undergraduate Research March 31–April 2, 2011. Digital file.

Thomas, Louisa. "The Locals." New York Times. New York Times, 20 Apr. 2008. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.

Treadway, Jessica. "Emotions Are Raw and Real in Olive Kitteridge." Boston Globe 25 May 2008, Books: n.pag. NewsBank. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

Yu-feng, X. U. E. "Trauma of Love and Marriage in Olive Kitteridge." Shangdong Foreign Language Teaching Journal 5 (2010): 14. Print.