Reading Order
Olive, Again Reading Order
Olive, Again (2019) by Elizabeth Strout is the companion to Olive Kitteridge — returning to Crosby, Maine and to Olive Kitteridge in her late 70s and early 80s, in the years after Henry's death and after her unexpected second marriage to the lawyer Jack Kennison. The novel in stories follows Olive and the Crosby community through the next stage of life: old age, the deaths of contemporaries, the continuing difficulty of the relationship with her son Christopher, and the new relationship with Jack, who is difficult in a different way from the way Olive is difficult. Olive, Again was published eleven years after Olive Kitteridge and confirms that Olive's later life has as much going on as her earlier life — she is not softened by age but she is deepened, and the novel traces her belated recognitions more explicitly than the original. The book is also formally similar to its predecessor: linked stories set in Crosby, each with its own cast of characters but all circling Olive and the passage of time in the community. Readers who loved Olive Kitteridge will find Olive, Again as emotionally intelligent and as precisely observed as the original.
Where to start
Read Olive Kitteridge first — Olive, Again is a companion that assumes familiarity with Olive's history, Henry's death, and the Crosby world. Any Random House paperback of Olive, Again.
Complete Olive, Again Book List
- 1Buy
Olive, Again
Elizabeth Strout·2019·The novel in stories — Olive in her late 70s and 80s; her second marriage to Jack Kennison; new Crosby characters alongside familiar faces; the direct companion to Olive Kitteridge, following Olive into old age. - 2Buy
Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout·2008·The essential predecessor — the Pulitzer Prize-winning original; Olive's middle years, Henry, Christopher; all the history that Olive, Again builds on. - 3Buy
My Name Is Lucy Barton
Elizabeth Strout·2016·Strout's companion novel — Lucy Barton's hospitalization and her mother's visit; the companion in Strout's fiction about difficult mother-child relationships and the ways the past continues to shape the present. - 4Buy
Oh William!
Elizabeth Strout·2021·The second Lucy Barton novel — Lucy and her first husband William's companionable relationship in his old age; the companion in Strout's late fiction about aging and unexpected intimacy. - 5Buy
The Burgess Boys
Elizabeth Strout·2013·Strout's companion Maine novel — two brothers who left and the sister who stayed; the Maine small-town portrait in the mode of the novel rather than linked stories. - 6Buy
Gilead
Marilynne Robinson·2004·Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel — John Ames's late-life letter to his young son; the companion in American fiction about old age, mortality, and what one can still say and do in the time remaining. - 7Buy
Our Souls at Night
Kent Haruf·2015·Haruf's final novel — Addie and Louis in Holt, Colorado; the companion in American fiction about old people choosing each other for company in their final years; Olive's second marriage and Addie's proposition are parallel acts of late-life reaching toward connection. - 8Buy
A Man Called Ove
Fredrik Backman·2012·Backman's bestselling novel — the Swedish companion in fiction about a formidable, difficult old person whose community refuses to give up on them; Ove's late-life recovery is the Swedish, comic, male version of what Olive's aging represents.
Olive, Again — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Olive, Again about?
Olive, Again returns to Crosby, Maine in the years after the events of Olive Kitteridge. Henry has died; Olive is in her late 70s, living alone, and then unexpectedly married to Jack Kennison, a retired Harvard Law professor who is as sharp and difficult as Olive in complementary ways. The book's stories trace the Crosby community through this next stage: old age, the deaths of contemporaries, grandchildren, the continuing complications of Olive's relationship with her son Christopher and daughter-in-law Ann. New characters join familiar faces, and the book's concern with what it means to live in a specific community across a long time continues.
Who is Jack Kennison?
Jack Kennison is a retired Harvard Law professor who moves to Crosby after his wife's death and becomes, improbably, Olive's second husband. He is difficult in ways that complement Olive's difficulty — he has his own sharp edges, his own emotional defenses, his own version of the inability to express what he feels. The marriage between Jack and Olive is one of the most interesting relationships in Strout's fiction: two old, difficult, emotionally defended people who nonetheless choose each other and manage, in their particular ways, to be together. The relationship is both comic and genuinely tender.
How does Olive, Again compare to Olive Kitteridge?
Olive, Again is formally similar to Olive Kitteridge — linked stories, the same coastal Maine world, Olive at the center — but the Olive it portrays is different in important ways. Olive in the original book is in her 60s and 70s, still managing her marriage to Henry, still engaged in the community as a teacher, still protective of her emotional defenses. Olive in Olive, Again is older, has outlived Henry, and is more explicitly grappling with what she missed and what she still wants. The belated recognitions are more explicit, the emotional directness somewhat greater. Neither book sentimentalizes Olive, but Olive, Again gives her slightly more room for the feelings she spent so long not having.
Can Olive, Again be read without reading Olive Kitteridge first?
No — Olive, Again is a companion that assumes familiarity with Olive's history, Henry's death, Christopher's childhood in Crosby, and the Crosby community established in the original. Many of the characters in Olive, Again appeared in Olive Kitteridge, and the emotional weight of their reappearance depends on knowing who they are and what happened to them. Readers who try Olive, Again without the original will find a collection of good short stories; readers who come to it from Olive Kitteridge will find something much more resonant.
What should I read after Olive, Again?
After Olive, Again, My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016) and Oh William! (2021) are the companion Lucy Barton novels. The Burgess Boys (2013) is the companion Maine novel. For American fiction about old age and late intimacy in the same tradition, Marilynne Robinson's Gilead and Kent Haruf's Our Souls at Night are the most important companions.
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