Elizabeth Strout · Novel · 224 pages · May 5, 2026
67Not yet
Goodreads 4.11Keeper Score 67
Skip it for now. It scores 67, well short of the 85 a Keeper needs. The weakest part is the critics: a critic score of 81, tied for 15th of the 16 books we scored.
Skip for nowWorth itKeeper
Where the 67 comes from
Critics16/40
Critic score 81. A 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40 points.
Audience11/20
Audience score 82. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20 points.
Track record15/15
Olive Kitteridge won the Pulitzer; Olive and Lucy Barton have carried eight novels since.
Staying power25/25
Shortlisted for the 2026 Booker (winner Nov 9), with 99,000 Goodreads ratings in five months.
Scores used: Book Marks 9 rave, 7 positive, 4 mixed (20 reviews), read as 81. Goodreads 4.11 (99,190 ratings), read as 82. Numbers checked September 27, 2026. See the main source.
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How the score works
Albums, games, films, shows and books
Critics, 40. The published aggregate from Metacritic, OpenCritic, Album of the Year or Rotten Tomatoes. For books, Book Marks grades every major review rave, positive, mixed or pan; we read those as 100, 75, 50 and 25 and take the average. Almost everything reviewed lands between 70 and 98, so a 70 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 40.
Audience, 20. What people who paid for it say, from user scores, Steam reviews and, for books, the Goodreads average times 20. A 60 earns nothing and a 98 earns all 20.
Track record, 15. Whether the people who made it have made things that lasted before. Debuts start lower on purpose.
Staying power, 25. What happens after launch week: chart runs, players who stick around, renewals, sales that keep going, prize shortlists.
A Keeper is our bet on what lasts. Some releases show it right away: the reviews, the players and the people behind them all point the same way, the way they did for Elden Ring. For albums, games, films, shows and books, 85 or above is a Keeper and 75 to 84 is worth your time. Things and tech need 80. We score everything again as time goes by, and a Keeper that fades loses the label. Nobody pays to be here or pays for a score. Every score links to where its numbers came from. Each one has a link to find it on Amazon, and as an Amazon Associate, Keepers earns from qualifying purchases.
