Olive Kitteridge cover art

Olive Kitteridge

Fiction

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Olive Kitteridge

By: Elizabeth Strout
Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • The beloved first novel featuring Olive Kitteridge, from the number one New York Times best-selling author of the Oprah’s Book Club pick Olive, Again

“Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge.... You’ll never forget her.” (USA Today)

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post Book World USA Today San Francisco Chronicle Chicago Tribune Seattle Post-Intelligencer People Entertainment Weekly The Christian Science Monitor The Plain Dealer The Atlantic Rocky Mountain News Library Journal

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.

As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life - sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition - its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.

The inspiration for the Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries starring Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins, and Bill Murray

©2008 Elizabeth Strout (P)2019 Random House Audio
Anthologies Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Marriage Heartfelt Short Story
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Bel Canto cover art
Amy and Isabelle cover art
Abide with Me cover art
After Life cover art
Mrs. Kimble cover art
Blessings cover art
My Name Is Anton cover art
American Assassin cover art
An American Marriage (Oprah’s Book Club) cover art
The Disturbing Incidents at Lonesome Woods Boarding School cover art
Torch cover art
The Things We Cannot Say cover art
Cracking Da Vinci's Code cover art

Critic reviews

Olive Kitteridge still lingers in memory like a treasured photograph.” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

“Rarely does a story collection pack such a gutsy emotional punch.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Strout animates the ordinary with astonishing force.... [She] makes us experience not only the terrors of change but also the terrifying hope that change can bring: she plunges us into these churning waters and we come up gasping for air.” (The New Yorker)

What listeners say about Olive Kitteridge

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    568
  • 4 Stars
    181
  • 3 Stars
    69
  • 2 Stars
    19
  • 1 Stars
    11
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    582
  • 4 Stars
    132
  • 3 Stars
    28
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    7
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    492
  • 4 Stars
    168
  • 3 Stars
    59
  • 2 Stars
    22
  • 1 Stars
    11

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Olive Kitteridge is someone we already know

Enjoyed every minute of these entrancing gently visceral life vignettes.
Narrator was a character in each story and through out. 10/10

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

It took me about 10 minutes to get used to things then I was hooked.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent

This is a great collection of short stories, beautifully narrated. I've already bought the sequel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I like Olive..

I enjoyed this audiobook. Basically it is a series of stories about and around a housewife Olive Kitteridge. This book is a series of lovely stories. Each one good in a different way; the characters well painted. It was easy to get lost in the stories.

The narration brought Olive to life and she feels like someone I know. I look forward to listening to the other books in the series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sublime

Superb, insightful writing about being human and getting old. I’ve never read anything quite so touching and yet so ‘real’. Maybe a little melancholy, but I found it funny and soothing. Unfortunately the Audible announcement at the end spoilt the beauty of the last lines. Great narration too.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved Olive and this book....

Loved Olive and this book....characters were very real and often more was said by what wasn't said.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous narration.

The book is great but the narration is even better. Just the best reading of an audio book I've heard. Perfectly suits the story. I'm off to look for more things narrated by Kimberley Farr.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What a breakthrough

This is a beautifully read, extraordinary and almost perfect work of art. What is so original about it, from this reader’s perspective, is hard to pin down: the tenderness and spite of small town life, widowhood, ageing and loneliness, all have been done before. Perhaps it is the cussedness and realism of Olive herself, a large and unbreakable-seeming, though broken, American lady of a kind I’ve never encountered but who now will never leave me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A must listen…

How could you not fall in love with Olive Kitteridge, a complex, angry, contrary character and yet so genuine and perceptive.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fab narration

Loved the film, great story and what superb characters. Listened to it twice now and Kimberley is just like Olive on the screen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!