“[T]he raw power of Ms. Strout’s writing comes from these unvarnished exchanges, in which characters reveal themselves in all of their sadness and badness and confusion.… The great, terrible mess of living is spilled out across the pages of this moving book. Ms. Strout may not have any answers for it, but she isn’t afraid of it either.”
Sam Sacks, “Fiction: Life Without Illusions in Crosby, Maine,” Wall Street Journal, Oct. 11, 2019.“Syllable for syllable, it’s stunning work — arguably better than the original.…
I have long and deeply admired all of Strout’s work, but Olive, Again transcends and triumphs. The naked pain, dignity, wit and courage these stories consistently embody fill us with a steady, wrought comfort.”
Joan Frank, “The cranky, bossy, sad, brave, beloved Olive Kitteridge is back in ‘Olive, Again’ — and better than ever,” Washington Post, October 8, 2019.A couple weeks ago, I climbed to the top of Mount David with the New Yorker Radio Hour, a place I visited almost every month when I was in school at Bates College.
It was like ancient history to be there and remember! I’d never talked about Mount David to anyone, but it was such an important part of who I became.
Kala Lea, "Elizabeth Strout’s View from the Top," The New Yorker Radio Hour, October 4, 2019.
“‘She honestly just showed up,’ Strout says. ‘I could see her in her car, nosing it into the marina.’ Olive had aged; she appeared to now be in her early 80s. ‘She was poking along with her cane. I just saw her so clearly that I thought, “OK, I guess I will have to write this down.’’””
I sat down for an interview with Mary Pols recently for the current issue of Maine Women Magazine.
Mary Pols, “Strout, Again,” Maine Women Magazine, July 31, 2019.
“I never intended to return to Olive Kitteridge. I really thought I was done with her, and she with me. But a few years ago I was in a European city, alone for a weekend, and I went to a café, and she just showed up. That’s all I can say. She showed up with a force, the way she did the very first time, and I could not ignore her.”
The current issue of The New Yorker includes an interview with me about my new book OLIVE, AGAIN and an excerpt from it, the short story “Motherless Child.”
Elizabeth Strout, “Motherless Child,” The New Yorker (August 5 & 12, 2019 Issue), July 29, 2019.Deborah Treisman, “Elizabeth Strout on Returning to Olive Kitteridge,” The New Yorker , July 29, 2019.Sign up for Elizabeth’s newsletter, with exclusive content from Elizabeth to her readers.