“The first months, they had slept holding each other. Neither one of them had held another person in bed all night for years....Olive would put her leg over both of his, she would put her head on his chest, and during the night they would shift, but always they were holding each other, and Jack thought of their large old bodies, shipwrecked, thrown up upon the shore – and how they held on for dear life.” —————— I hated her, loved her, disliked her, I didn’t mind her, I wanted to yell at her, I wanted to drag her to therapy. She is empathetic, but not. She seems to be aware of everyone else’s behaviors but her own. She is narcissistic, but simultaneously mindful and thoughtful of others needs. In this collection of short stories, Olive is threaded through each one, sometimes as a subtle extra or as sometimes the main character. Strout has a way of writing so honestly about the human condition. Her stories are honest, heartfelt, realistic, surprising, and both joyful and sad