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. And it’s ok that she’s still figuring it all out, navigating her world without a compass. But life comes with expectations, there are choices to be made and – sometimes – stereotypes to fulfil. So when her best friends’ lives branch away towards marriage and motherhood, leaving the path they’ve always followed together, she starts to question her choices – because life according to Olive looks a little bit different. This review is also published in my book blog (with pretty graphics yay!): https://bookaholicdreamer.wordpress.c... The night ended with loud music and dancing on tables, and the restaurant staff seemed to love it just as much as we did, pouring free shots straight from the bottle into our mouths.” I think so many women will see themselves in this book. I could definitely connect to that feeling of being "behind" and separate - the description of Olive being with a group of mothers feeling outside their bond and with nothing to contribute to the conversation is so perfect. We don't see characters like Olive in books or media and it's a breath of fresh air to have her here - it will mean a lot to many I'm sure.

Still, my generation continues desperately to hunt for things to do in the face of the greatest catastrophe some of us (or our children) may live to see. We give up meat and take holidays closer to home, even when we know that if the super-rich cut their emissions to that of the average EU citizen, global emissions would drop by a third. But we can’t make anyone else do anything, so we do what we can, and we justify our choices as being meaningful, bigger than us.

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)*. suspiciously? As in, they’re fake? And you find it suspicious that she’s … pretending they’re not? Except I think this character is fully aware that her boobs look too perfect to be natural. Isn’t that surely, say, the point of getting a boob job? I dunno, I feel it’s more feminist to just not comment on people’s boobs, suspicious or otherwise. This is going by their consistency in reviewing mediocre-to-astonishingly-bad books with universally positive – indeed glowing – epithets. Now, there’s a whole other essay to be written on how your outlook changes – at least in public – when you become a writer with writer friends. Certainly, if Emma Gannon was my friend, the strongest move I would make against her work is to damn it with faint praise. However, Gannon is not my friend, she is not a good writer, and this is not a good book. After several best-selling non-fiction books Ctr, Alt, Delete, The Multi-Hyphen Method and The Multi-Hyphen Life, Olive is Gannon’s fiction debut. Although the audiobook was really engaging and the narrator did a good job, some things stood out, and made me lower my rating and thoughts about the book.

Olive is a book about motherhood and guilt, and that's why I ended up loving it. Guilt of not wanting to be a mother, being a good enough one, being a wife as well as a mither, guilt over not being able to have children, of choosing to let someone go so they can have what they want without you. The positive comments, the notes of changing minds, the pressure to have kids, have it all, succeed at work, live life.Olive is in her early thirties and lives in London with long-term boyfriend, Jacob. She is a journalist who loves her job working at .dot magazine. She remains close to her three childhood and university friends, Bea, Cecily and Isla. As they all settle down, marrying and starting families, Olive is pretty sure she doesn't want children, but everyone else thinks she will change her mind. Jacob wants children and so when he ends their relationship because of this, we follow Olive as she struggles, feeling distant from her friends. 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. so much internalised mysogony! Jacob's eye wrinkles are so sexy but Olive's are disgusting and her time is running out 🙄 I absolutely LOVED reading Olive. I straight away felt so connected with the main character Olive, I felt a lot of compassion for her as she navigated her recent breakup and the disconnect she felt from her close friends who were either pregnant, had children or were trying for a child. This book really delves into the social construct that all women are expected to want children and if they don’t, something must be wrong with them or they will ultimately change their mind. As a woman who isn’t particularly maternal and has also never really felt the “buzz” of starting a family one day like some of my friends have since the age of 16, I could really see myself in Olive. This book really explores the issues women face, whether they want children or not, whether they can have children or not. Olive is so honest and real, showing how friendships can begin to break down when everyone grows up and starts wanting different things. How navigating adult life can be so difficult, especially when you aren’t hitting the ‘expected milestones’, which can make someone feel so isolated. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and absolutely loved the ending which gave a peek into Olive and her friend’s futures, would definitely recommend!

Olive is about to turn 33 and she’s just split from her boyfriend of nine years because he’s ready for kids but that’s not something she wants for herself. Her best friends Bea, Cecily and Isla are all having their own struggles relating to motherhood and family. They’ve been friends since they were little but now seem to be drifting apart. Olive is trying to rediscover herself outside of her relationship and is looking for people to finally accept that she doesn’t want children and that’s ok. And then. Suddenly it’s a soap opera where characters get upset with each other because someone decides to make different life choices than they do??? A journalist takes the whole book (months and eventually YEARS) to write an article she doesn’t even publish??? Friends treat each other like crap and then suddenly it’s all ok because they have dinner together??? Olive gets a promotion out of nowhere??? She and her boyfriend can afford a nice house in Soho???? What is this universe???

I'm pretty sure that there are a lot more novels about wanting and not being able to get kids than there are about not wanting them. Olive adds to the choices of what you can read on the topic. It's worthy of praise for discussing the topic. I’m slightly blindsided. […] I’d somehow put Dorothy into a small box of tradition and convention. It’s just what I’d associate with her generation. […] But I suppose it goes to show, people can surprise you all the time. There doesn’t have to be one given path for everyone.” I received a free advance reader copy of Olive in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley! Receiving a e-copy has in no way influenced my opinions on the book.