Olive Kitteridge - July 2021 Book Group discussion thread

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Columba Jul 2021 9:30pm, 26 Jul 2021 21,198 posts	0 Columba (Having read back) Olive certainly "came alive" for me, JB. I felt sad that she and her son had such a poor relationship. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that he - Christopher - "came alive" for me; not after he'd had therapy, anyway, and had all these slick answers for his mother.
McGoohan Jul 2021 9:41pm, 26 Jul 2021 49,932 posts	0 McGoohan I'm about 2/3 through Olive Again now and I feel it's the better book - it has been written to be a more coherent whole, I think. And - mile Spoiler Alert - Olive has a growing sense of her own flaws.
Johnny Blaze Jul 2021 9:55pm, 26 Jul 2021 25,494 posts	0 Johnny Blaze With the Maine setting I was hoping for a Stephen King influence to creep in - perhaps the school was built over an Indian burial ground or summat.
Columba Jul 2021 11:21am, 27 Jul 2021 21,200 posts	0 Columba Just remembered one little quibble I had. Early on, a Catholic church named "Holy Mother of Contrition" is mentioned (where Henry Thibodeau's funeral is held). This seems like a very unlikely name for a Catholic church. In Catholic theology, the Virgin Mary is without sin; so she has nothing to be contrite about.
GregP Jul 2021 7:40pm, 27 Jul 2021 128,285 posts	0 GregP Immaculate conception and all that.
Columba Jul 2021 10:09pm, 27 Jul 2021 21,203 posts	0 Columba That's right; untouched even by Original Sin.
Hanneke Jul 2021 11:21pm, 27 Jul 2021 76,877 posts	0 Hanneke Annoying little thing that, now you pointed it out Columba... I am now looming for more such inconsistencies while initially I hadn't paused on it, even though I have been to Henry Thibodeaux's funeral.
GregP Jul 2021 6:16am, 28 Jul 2021 128,295 posts	0 GregP Sidebar === Even as an Anglican I get very cross when people, often ‘churchy’ people, claim that ‘virgin birth’ and ‘immaculate conception’ are synonymous.
GregP Jul 2021 6:18am, 28 Jul 2021 128,296 posts	0 GregP Can we go back to the second story now we’re all here? There seem to be two interpretations of the end. I thought it was the grimmer of the two options but the reviews on GoodReads suggest I am an outlier.
McGoohan Jul 2021 6:51am, 28 Jul 2021 49,941 posts	0 McGoohan I thought there was a reference in passing to the story later where it was said they survived? But my wishful thinking might have imagined that.