As the title suggests, this book is about Olive Kitteridge, who comes alive through a collection of thirteen short stories profiling the people who all live and work in the same small Vermont town where she lives and thus have a chance to know her. Each chapter in this book is about a different person, so we get differing views of Olive through their eyes. Thus our understanding of the central character is an evolving one much like a painting in the process of completion. Each new story allows Olive Kitteridge to come into better focus as her personality unfolds more. 

Since this is a small town then of course Olive is going to turn up somewhere along the line. In some stories she serves only as a minor tangential character, whereas in others she serves as the focal point for that story. The very pleasing result is that this novel ends up being a beautifully made literary quilt about Olive Kitteridge with all of the stories blending seamlessly into each other. The author has my compliments and my admiration for her superlative writing and for structuring the plot in such an interesting manner. 

Olive Kitteridge is a math teacher at the local junior high school, and she turns out to be a no nonsense kind of woman who typifies the cool New England reserve for which the region is noted. It is her husband who is introduced first in the most substantial story in the book. Henry Kitteridge is the town pharmacist, and he is often found standing behind the counter in his store looking down at the daily life of the town residents passing before his eyes. Henry is a warm and kind person well suited to his career. He has a ready ear for his neighbors and his customers, and he is admired by all who know him. 

It seems that Henry deserves better than what passes for his family life. Not that he complains, mind you, for he loves Olive, but she has a personality as moody and dark as his is congenial and sunny. Her anger at life comes partly from her long days at school which prevents her from being able to relax after teaching. Then she has to cook and do the household chores at night. Olive rarely has a kind word to say about anybody, and recently she has stopped accompanying Henry to church on Sunday.

In addition, their teenaged son, Christopher, is passing through an extended sullen phase which drives Henry to distraction. Even Mrs. Granger, Henry's assistant at the pharmacy, is cold and aloof with both him and his customers, but one day out of the blue she passes away. Henry then hires the much younger Denise Thibodeaux as her replacement. Denise is just 22 and only a year out of college. Henry's life gains new meaning and happiness as Denise and her husband, also named Henry, come into his life like a breath of fresh air. The little daily events of pharmacy and home life continue on through the years after this one year which Henry calls "the happiest in his life."

The following stories move on to other residents of this fictional small Vermont town on the edge of a lake. We read about Kevin Coulson, a young man who had once been a student in Olive's math class, and then a story about Angela O'Meara, who is the lonely but talented lounge singer and piano player at the local bar. Everyone in town passes by her piano, some nice, some not so nice. Then a story about Harmon, the kindly owner of the local hardware store, as he watches two strange young punk kids wander the aisles. On to other stories and other small town vignettes, all interesting and some tragic. Life goes on. Kids grow up and most of the middle aged residents like the Kitteridges advance into their golden years. 

There is great pleasure in the reading of these thirteen fascinating sketches, all of them adroitly placed and all of them expertly written with great sensitivity and compassion by Elizabeth Strout. 2008, Random House.