Olive Kitteridge

This was the Pulitzer Prize winner for 2009.  I hated it.  I know it got 4 out of 5 stars in 289 reviews on Amazon, but it was so freakin' depressing I felt like shooting myself after most of the stories.  It is a collection of 13 stories in which Olive Kitteridge makes an appearance.  A character study done in an unusual way you get to know her through her own story and as a peripheral character in others' stories.  It ends on the barest of hopeful notes which was not enough for me after slogging through 270 pages.  50% of the stories and nearly all the first 8 feature stories of infidelity disguised as the search for love.  In every instance, it is excused away (Perhaps Tiger Woods has read this book).  I will give the author props on this--it is very well written.  She walks that fine line of evocative writing without being so caught up in her own turn of phrase that you end up rolling your eyes.  If you're looking for tales of despair and woe with a bone of hopefulness at the end, check this out.  Otherwise, pass.