I was that person who hated character studies in book club for years

Last month we read 'Olive Kitteridge' and I realized I was wrong the whole time. The way Strout builds a whole town through tiny moments made me see why everyone gets so into these slow burn stories. Anybody else have a book style they wrote off but came around to?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles5811mo ago

Started thinking character studies were just people having boring tea parties until Olive Kitteridge punched me in the gut.

daniel2141mo ago

Punched you right in the gut and then made you sit through her awkward silences and sideways glances, right? That's the thing about Olive, she's like that grumpy relative who complains about everything but you can't help loving her anyway. It's funny how one character can completely flip your opinion on an entire genre. Books like that prove character studies aren't just boring tea parties, they're more like a full on family dinner where everybody argues and you leave feeling exhausted but full.