Black Olives: A Novel Review

I don't even remember where I got the idea to read Black Olives by Martha Tod Dudman.  I think it was recommended by an online search thingie because I like Judy Blume's adult books.  All I know is the description sounded pretty interesting so I checked it out of the library and read it.  Having finished Black Olives I found it to be neither good nor bad, just kind of average.  I was not crazy about it.

Black Olives is about Virginia, a middle-aged divorcee who was dumped nine months ago by her boyfriend of nine years, David.  She spots him at a local grocery store and hides behind the olive display (partly where the title was derived from I suppose) so he won't see her as she is still very much hurting over the break-up and is not ready to meet him again in person. So instead she makes a crazy snap decision to burrow herself under the stuff in the back of his Jeep and spend the day riding around back there to see what he's up to.  They eventually end up at his house where he leaves again and she ends up wandering around his house thinking about their relationship, the evolution of it, and the end of it.

Black Olives has very little dialogue as it consists mostly of the thoughts rambling around in Virginia's head.  Although there are tons of things about David that drive her crazy and she was pretty mean to him, she does not understand why she got dumped seemingly out of the blue and spends about 160 pages ruminating on the fact until she finally gets it.

I was not crazy about Virginia.  She is selfish and I felt that she pretty much got what was coming to her as a result so I had a hard time whipping up any compassion for her.  David could have been a bit more open to discussion about their problems but neither of them put any work into the relationship which is why it ended.  The whole book is about Virginia obsessing over every little aspect of the relationship with little regard for the problems that she created. 

While this book wasn't bad, it wasn't great either.  I expected more than the rambling thoughts of the main character's selfish, obsessed brain and I had a hard time relating to their ages.  Virginia is in her 50s and David is I think several years older so thinking of older people acting stupid, childish, and obsessed like that didn't really appeal to me as someone under 40.  Fortunately it was a very quick read, unfortunately it's rather depressing.

3 stars.