Olive Kitteridge

Olive Kitteridige was the 2009 award winner. Not a novel, not short stories but somewhere in between. That the writing is exempleary is a given. I won't even discuss that again.The format was difficult for me in that I'm not a short story fan. I embrace the novel. It's more of a committment. More long lasting. It's like an affair versus a marriage. The short stories are for the train, the bathroom or the doctor's office. They just don't seem to have the same weight as a good novel. The difference here is that the characters have continuity throughout the stories. Olive of course being the central tie to each story line. And through Olive we learn of other character's progression through life.  For example Henry's brief affair, retirement, heart attack etc. All these things mentioned in context of some other character's "story".
     And now I move backwards in time to 1948. Tales of the South Pacific is next. We'll see how it goes. Perhaps though I'll take a breather with some other tripe.