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. Olive is described as being independent but can't even clean her house or cook without a man encouraging her. She's always skiving off at work, yet is described as a workaholic. She apparently doesn't care about her appearance and what others think, but then is constantly complaining that her friends don't understand her and aren't validating her life choices.

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. The debut novel about the life-changing choices we makeabout careers, love, friendship, and motherhood from bestselling UK author Emma Gannon. I was afraid to give this 5 stars because I´m completely biased here: I´m the same age as Olive, and I also chose not to have children. It´s NOT EASY to find characters like her in contemporary lit. I went through this book mostly nodding because everything that is explored is relevant especially considering how women’s experiences are so affected by the patriarchal society we live in. But at the end of the day I feel like 90% of Olive’s problems could have been solved by speaking to her friends 👀 I was also leaning towards the feeling that the conversation felt outdated but I realised that that sentiment stems from the fact that my friends and I have never assumed each other’s position when it comes to motherhood, a topic that we explore every now and then (just to keep each other updated you know 😂) The loneliness and judgement Olive feels was understandable. I liked seeing how Emma Gannon didn't write the perfect female friendship but each of the four friends were flawed in their own ways, which gave the book a realistic take. But at the end of the day, I felt like 80% of Olive's problems could've been solved by speaking to her friends.A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three As a recent mum, phew, a lot of it caught me off guard. There's an almost ingrained guilt to pregnancy and motherhood, and a guilt about not having children, and here it was shown across a wide range of brilliant characters, all dealing with their own twist on the idea. Overall, this is a well written book which looks at relevant issues and is thought provoking. It’s funny, sad, happy with tension as the main characters different perspectives tests their friendship but ultimately it’s a message about acceptance about who we are rather than whether we do or don’t wish to reproduce and being happy in our own skin. The author has proved that it is possible to look at feminist issues in an entertaining way and I applaud her for that. it was widely known that Charlize's boyfriend, the father of the child, owned a chain of popular hotels in the area and was going to inherit the family business soon..." how can you own something you're going to inherit? it reads so badly and is incredibly distracting!

She's a terrible friend - she has zero empathy for the other women (especially Isla, who desperately wants a child through IVF) and constantly feels like she's the one owed an apology. She'd rather feel she's right than make up with her friends - in fact at one point she contemplates walking away from her friends completely. I mean, for what?! What terrible crime have they apparently committed against her?

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. Sometimes we don’t ‘know’ for sure, and maybe we never will, but we just have to live each day in the way that feels most natural to us.” Few novels have attempted to tell us what to do in the face of climate catastrophe. Amitav Ghosh has called this “a crisis of imagination”. As Richard Powers writes in his 2018 novel The Overstory, “The world is failing precisely because no novel can make the contest for the world seem as compelling as the struggles between a few lost people.” Olive is a delicate, heartbreaking and delicious story that will bring a pang of delightful recognition to every woman who reads it' Scarlett Curtis

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing via Netgalley for providing an audio ARC of Olive by Emma Gannon for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. There is definitely a societal expectation to get married, buy a house, have a baby, so it was understandable that Olive felt lonely and jugded by her group of friends. The story is a haphazard patchwork of events, present jumbled with past, with no clear storyline in sight. I had no idea where the book was going. The author has no sense of pacing. Seemingly important events are tossed aside - e.g. Jeremy cheating on Bea; Olive seems to completely forget or not care about this until she suddenly has the presence of mind to randomly call her ‘best friend’ while sitting on the toilet. So much for deep and lifelong friendship? And then skipping entirely over the start of Olive and Marcus's relationship? They're just suddenly together, comfortable, and cooking each other food; no mention of how this must feel coming out of a 9-year relationship. Unimportant events are included for no reason, such as getting ready to go out to a club with colleague Colin - but then the actual outing is skipped entirely. 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.

right yes, the continuity issues in this book are so damn obvious. it's been mentioned that Olive may need to get a flatmate to help pay the rent. but when Isla comes to stay, she has to get out the sofa bed? 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. But let’s talk about the rep first! Olive is a 30-something powerhouse of a woman who works in a feminist magazine and loves meeting up with her friend group after work for dinner & wine. She is perfectly content with her life until her long-term boyfriend tells her that he is ready to start a family. But Olive doesn’t want kids. And even though this realisation doesn’t seem ground-breaking to Olive at first, she soon notices that her relationship and friendships are going to be turned upside down because of it. Everyone turns on her with the same offensive arguments that I have heard during my life. Jacob's best mate starting a healthy delivery food business so Jacob got free membership.... sorry WHAT. was this just an excuse to prove how Jacob and Olive were able to affordably eat well? the privilege dripping off this book, oh my days. how is this relatable?