Black Olives

by Martha Tod Dudman

Book Overview

With all the page-turning energy of her bestselling memoir--and award-winning television movie--Augusta, Gone, Black Olives chronicles with wit and candor the utterly painful emotions of a breakup.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416549609
• ISBN13: 9781416549604
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.4" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Who knew?

Who knew that those of us in middle age needed a coming-of-age novel? Martha Tod Dudman has given us exactly that. Funny, original and filled with hard-won wisdom and page-turning tension, BLACK OLIVES kept me reading all through the night. With her first novel, Dudman joins the ranks of writers who dare to tell the truth about the madness of love and lust.

Suspenseful, humorous and rings oh so true!

Suspenseful and sooo true to life...with twists and turns that artfully tell about the aftermath of a long relationship. Dudman knows how to make every word ring true. Black Olives is a literary delight, evoking images that touch the heart and provoke lifey thoughts. As with Dudman's memoirs Augusta, Gone and Expecting to Fly, I read her novel in one sitting. Need I say more? Ah yes... Full of sadness and humor, Black Olives offers a surprising, generous ending reminding us -- women and men alike -- that we're all only human.

Black Olives-- You'll love it!

Black Olives, I loved it! It is not one of those whiny relationship books, instead it is a novel for anyone who knows how hard it is to go through a break-up. It allows the reader to live through the pain of having your heart broken, while at the same time laughing with Virginia in her analysis of certain situations. The ending is very well done. It is the perfect present when you cannot think of anymore relationship advice to give a friend. I love the size of the book too and felt classy reading in public. This is a great buy. Thank you Martha Dudman, keep writing!

Love's end: "I don't know what his life is like now."

Love doesn't usually end neatly or on cue. Sometimes people torture themselves over what might have been and obsess over what their former lover's life is like now.... Martha Tod Dudman's BLACK OLIVES: A NOVEL infiltrates the moment-by-moment thoughts of Virginia of Maine, who, nine months after breaking up -- on New Year's -- with David, tells us exactly how she feels when he saunters into "ye phony old grocery store," Rogerson's Emporium, where she is already poking through the aisles: "I feel as if I could cry forever. I could begin crying right here by the olives." Unprepared to simply strut up and say a casual "hello," she panics and hides herself before artlessly and conspicuously fleeing the store. Outside, she fumes and fusses, not sure whether to escape while he's still occupied inside or stay and speak to him. After all, she was in such shock when he ended it, she didn't get to tell him what she really thought of him, did she? And nine months had only inflated that mountain of saved-up speech. Then, abruptly, her senses run for the hills: she, totally impulsively, sticks her head through the Cherokee's open window to inhale familiar David smells. And then she -- "I don't even know what I'm doing" -- opens the door and stuffs herself into the space behind the driver's seat! She covers herself with the clutter back there. Now he's coming...and she doesn't budge! Okay then, what do you imagine about Virginia's age? Think maybe she is a twenty-something, thanks to her retro-adolescent behavior? Nope, this Jeep Cherokee stowaway is middle-aged. She and David, both divorced, began their ten-year relationship when Virginia was forty and he about fifty. Yes, even adult adults with their own homes and grown children can pull crazy stunts. BLACK OLIVES isn't solely focused on the girlish, intrusive actions of a woman still emotionally bruised and aching from the New Year's breakup. To be sure, we follow her every move as she trespasses even more egregiously during this single, bizarre day. But, as she encroaches on her former lover's space, she minutely reviews her years with him. She remembers the blush of early, giddy closeness and then the ways they pulled away from each other. This is a sure-handed, compulsively involving novel that wryly dissects and understands the human conditions that undermine the crusade of love. Love isn't "happily ever after" very often, and we all know it from personal heartache. Dudman just tells one "love-off-the-rails" story with more brass, more black comedy, more attention to the detritus of relationships and more gritty candor than most of us would or could. Reading BLACK OLIVES can tip us into memories of our own misfires in love, but it can also prod us to work harder to guard what we have when we have it. 4.5 stars.

Black Olives by Martha Tod Dudman

Martha Tod Dudman writes BLACK OLIVES with wit and truthfulness about the pain of midlife love lost. I was mesmerized by Virginia's tortured reflections as she bounces along on gravel roads under the sweaters that smell like him. Dudman's Virginia is smart and funny, and I couldn't turn the pages of BLACK OLIVES fast enough. I highly recommend this compelling fictional account to everyone I know. I liked BLACK OLIVES so much that I read it twice. Fifty-something Virginia is standing in the olive section of a gourmet market when she spots her former lover, David. After nine months, she is still confused over why he jilted her but is relieved he hasn't seen her. If he were to see her again, she longs to look her ravishing best in the company of another man. After seeing David, her lover of ten years in a store, heartbroken Virginia frets outside in the parking lot. Knowing his truck is parked next to her car, something he probably didn't even notice, she crawls into his back seat. Angry, she knows full well that her behavior is obsessive. Close enough to hear him breathe for the rest of the day, she hides and tries to figure out what cursed their romance. Virginia reflects on the details of his personality while spying on him. She fears humiliation since he's sure to discover her, but somehow this undercover thrill is worth it. While she reflects over her willingness to cheer him through his intermittent depression, will she at some point confront him? Will she talk him into coming back to her? Can she ever stop missing him?