Olive, Again (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel by Elizabeth Strout: Conversation Starters

By dailyBooks

Olive, Again (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel by Elizabeth Strout: Conversation Starters

Olive, Again is a 2019 novel by Elizabeth Strout which has been published by Random House on October 15, 2019. It is a sequel to the author’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel titled Olive Kitteridge, a collection of short stories of everyday situations of people that effectively portray the message of empathy. Similar to the previous novel, Olive, Again is also written in the form of thirteen short. These too, revolve around the central character of Olive and are interrelated but discontinuous in terms of narrative. The book now depicts the life and struggles of Olive Kitteridge who has now moved from her seventies into her eighties.
In November 2019, the novel was selected for the revival of Oprah's Book Club and has been labeled as the NY Times bestseller. Similar to the previous book, it has also been showered with praises from critics and readers alike and received the title for the Book of the year from most of the leading nationals and magazines.

A Brief Look Inside: 
 
EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER
than the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive, 
and the characters and its world still live on. 
Conversation Starters is peppered with questions designed to
bring us beneath the surface of the page
and invite us into the world that lives on. 
 
These questions can be used to create hours of conversation:
 
• Foster a deeper understanding of the book
• Promote an atmosphere of discussion for groups
• Assist in the study of the book, either individually or corporately
• Explore unseen realms of the book as never seen before
 
Disclaimer: This book you are about to enjoy is an independent resource to supplement the original book, enhancing your experience. If you have not yet purchased a copy of the original book, please do before purchasing this unofficial Conversation Starters.
 
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Read it on your PC, Mac, iOS or Android smartphone, tablet devices.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daily Books
• Release date: Jan 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9788835872405

Book preview

Answers

Introducing Olive Again

Olive Again is a sequel to Elizabeth Strout's widely acclaimed novel titled Olive Kitteridge which fetched her a Pulitzer Prize ten years ago. The book consisted of a collection of discontinuous but linked stories of a woman named Olive Kitteridge living in the coastal town of Maine. The book, written after a long gap of ten years, is just as enjoyable as the original.

Though the book is related to the previous novel, it could be read as a stand-alone. It is just as witty, humorous, eccentric and sad all at the same time as Olive. The book consists of thirteen short stories. They may seem unrelated at first, but have Olive as a common thread.

Olive Again starts shortly after Olive Kitteridge ended. Olive currently faces loneliness after the death of her husband Henry and has found an unlikely friend in the form of Jack Kennison, a Harvard professor who is equally lonely. Olive had earlier found Jack arrogant and dismissed him without a second thought. However, one day she finds him collapsed beside a river. She then learns that Jack was also battling loneliness following the death of his wife.

Three weeks after Jack and Olive met, Jack, decides to drive all the way to Portland in his red convertible for a whiskey. While driving, he muses over all his disappointments in life and feels that perhaps he had deserved it all. He feels remorse over his repugnant behavior towards his lesbian daughter, his wife's coldness who was later revealed to having a secret affair, and one surprising harassment lawsuit that forced his early retirement. He's brought back to the present from his miserable memories by a traffic police officer who hands him a speeding