The Last Book I Loved: Olive Kitteridge

I’m now reading Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout and I’m awe-struck. This is exquisite writing and masterful story-telling. She creates a community of characters, all revolving around Olive in odd ways, and each one gets his or her own story. The stories seem to develop, twist, turn, and then suddenly the character’s life has shifted on its axis — and yet, we never sense the writer at work here. And there’s a depth to these explorations that keeps me breathless. I haven’t read anything this good in a long time.