Olive: The acclaimed debut that’s getting everyone talking from the Sunday Times bestselling author

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I found the expression of the various friends' prejudices very interesting. The sub-fertile friend who thinks her suffering must be somehow more noble and worth talking about than her newly single friend's loneliness and sense of loss. The general ganging up of the mums against the non-mum, the sense that Olive's life was somehow less valid and interesting in their eyes, her inability to talk about her broken relationship because her friends were so self-interested. All good valid discussions. I am almost 33 years old and I am child free by choice. thought I was going to really like this. but I didn't. at all. here are the notes I wrote in my phone as I read this book in one sitting. I feel the need to preface this review with the caveat that my low star rating is not because of the subject matter covered by the novel, but because of the novel's execution. In fact, the concept of a story about a woman contemplating a child-free existence was what drew me to the novel, despite my concerns about Gannon residing in a circle that includes Dolly Alderton, Pandora Sykes, and Daisy Buchanan (all good podcasters and terrible novelists), as well as Marian Keyes and Louise O’Neill (great writers with abysmal reading tastes)*. From first loves and first heartbreaks to flatshares and the first scary steps into the real world, they’ve been through it all – together. I found Olive herself to be the most frustrating character of all. She is childish and rude throughout the book which was such a disappointment to me. I really wanted this book to be a relatable account of a childfree character, a person who is independent, anxious, loyal and kind, like the synopsis says. Really, Olive is none of those things and most certainly not loyal or kind. She almost comes across as a bully, making mean comments about her co-workers and dismissing others constantly. Even though Olive does portray a character who doesn’t want children, the rep leaves a lot to be desired. In a way, Olive’s hatefulness brings to mind the traditional portrayal of childfree women as bitter and miserable.

A devourer of cake and stories. A PhD student in informatics & psychology, raving about feminism & veganism. When I think that it won’t hurt too much, I imagine the children I will not have. Would they be more like me or my partner? Would they have inherited my thatch of hair, our terrible eyesight? Mostly, a child is so abstract to me, living with high rent, student debt, no property and no room, that the absence barely registers. But sometimes I suddenly want a daughter with the same staggering intensity my father felt when he first cradled my tiny body in his big hands. I want to feel that reassuring weight, a reminder of the persistence of life. She lies, too, telling people she’s busy with work when she really wants to run a bath and relax. Nothing wrong at all with relaxing, and taking time for yourself – but I believe that you should be honest and tell your friends and boyfriends what you’re doing, or at least recognise that it’s a bit crap of you to lie outright. Even though I rate it at two stars, I actually enjoyed the book. It did make me examine my thoughts on motherhood and life choices, and helped me understand where I stand. It had a lot of (mostly side) characters telling different stories which I found inspiring. Olive is a contemporary novel about Olive and her three friends, all in their early thirties. Bea is a mother of three, married to a movie director. Cec is a lawyer, pregnant with her first child. Isla is a therapist, who's struggling with fertility issues. Olive, on the other hand, is adamant she doesn't want children, which, of course, causes consternation, reprobations, and a long-term relationship to fall apart. How dare Olive not want what she's supposed to want?

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For August’s book club, we had the pleasure of reading Olive, the hotly-anticipated novel by Sunday Times Author, Journalist & Podcaster, Emma Gannon. The parallels with Dawn O’Porter’s recent novel The Cows are strong, though Olive’s pursuit of a childfree life sets Gannon’s debut apart. Other recent publications dealing with the same issue are Sheila Heti’s Motherhood, an intricate and more intellectual exploration of the subject, and Megham Daum’s collection of essays Selfish, Shallow and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on Their Decision Not to Have Kids. The latter is referenced in Olive, as are contemporary touchstones such as the Moth Storytelling Night, and a CFC event in Shoreditch inspired by its format.

Olive works on writing one (1) magazine story for the entire length of the book (and at least the entire length of another character’s maternity leave), which she doesn’t even finish or publish. She gets promoted multiple times, eventually to editor-in-chief. I quite naturally gravitate towards women who are very unapologetic for their lifestyle choices. And that could be anything, that doesn’t necessarily have to be child-free.This started off well — we have Olive, the only single one in her friendship group, who doesn’t want kids and is surrounded by babies and talk about babies. She’s happy about her career and confident in her decision not to have kids. There were a few relatable moments. We were getting along, and I really enjoyed Sian Clifford’s narration. Whilst the style is far too commercial for my tastes, I appreciated the exploration of motherhood in its myriad forms. This book will definitely be discussed by millennial podcasters everywhere (not my scene), which can only be a good thing. I painted a picture of my Big Bright Future through the lens of an old Argos catalogue, and today I am inside that distant future; in the painting, living and breathing it. But I don't have the hand painted tea cups, or the navy blue patterned plates. I don't have a garden slide. And I don't have the baby either. I happened to read 2 books about friendship, right after the other and it got me thinking about my own 😌. I actually told my high school friend the other day that I’ve been so blessed when it comes to friends (which I’m super grateful about 🥺). However, that also meant that while I was reading this novel I found myself struggling to understand Olive and her relationship with her friends. Olive's is not the only perspective to relate to though - each of her friends have a different relationship to motherhood and family - with one friend struggling to conceive through IVF, another with older children but a struggling marriage and a new mother navigating pregnancy and then life with a baby. Empathy is cultivated for each character, poignantly highlighting the struggles that aren't always seen or understood and yet how easy it is to be jealous without knowing this. While the friendships are strong it doesn't shy away from showing how maintaining connection through such huge life changes can be challenging, and the ways we can miss each other when communicating. I loved how this friendship group feel like the heart of the novel too, over any romantic narratives.