What I like about this book so far is how I keep thinking about the characters over and over, even days after I finished the story.

In "Pharmacy," the first story in the collection, we see Olive more peripherally -- the story focuses on Henry, her husband, and his day-to-day life at the pharmacy he owns, including his relationship with a young woman, Denise Thibodeau, his helper there. We see Olive in his scenes at home, and it's clear that their relationship can be prickly at best sometimes. The couple has conflicts over their son, and Olive's refusal to attend the church where Henry is a deacon.

I thought it was an interesting choice by Strout to open the book with a story that doesn't focus on Olive, and I find I rather like it. (I know many of you are already done with the book -- congratulations! I have finished three stories, but am planning to read more tonight after my kids are in bed.)

The first time I read the story, I liked Henry very much, and sympathized with him. I didn't like Olive much.

But the more I think about her and the story, I'm starting to like her more. I think Laura made a very good point in her comments on the previous post to this blog, about how many wives and mothers sometimes feel that no one's appreciating all the things they do for people. And I think Rhea, also in the comments on the previous post, has a telling observation: Olive isn't a "just for show" person. Henry wanted her to attend church with him because he was worried about appearances, and so on that front, I side with Olive.

I still like Henry, but the more I think about him, I think he has a flaw of wanting to make or keep people happy, and being careless about how he does so. Denise seemed to feel like he had let her down. Am I the only one who thought that he was careless in blurting out "I will take care of you"? I felt that Denise read more into that comment than he intended, even with his fantasy about a new life with her "He could find work somewhere up north; she could have a child. A little girl who would adore him; girls adored their fathers."

Of course, I also felt sorry for Henry. He wants to, needs to, be adored, and I don't think he feels that way at home.

My favorite Olive observation, when Henry says Denise is helpless. "People are never as helpless as you think they are," she says.

I can't wait to meet up with Henry again in future chapters, and I'm dying to know how his relationship with Christopher turns out. Will we meet Denise again? I also want to know all about Olive and Jim O'Casey, and I somehow suspect we're going to learn the back story on that one, too.

What do you all think?

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