Reviews

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout

alexxa's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

bethschroeder's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

findyourgoldenhour's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this book. The prose in this book was so touching, so raw, that I found myself underlining passages in a way that I haven't done since college! I loved her book Olive Kitteridge, too. Highly recommend it!!

2017: I just reread this for book club, and I loved it all over again. Strout is a powerful writer who inspires so much empathy for her characters, in spite of their very human flaws. Or maybe because of them? I need to hurry up and read My Name Is Lucy Barton so that I'll have read everything she's written. I know she has a new book coming out next month, and she's going to be at my local library...can't wait to meet her!

magpieinthesky's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sweddy65's review against another edition

3.0

I think I would have liked this more if I hadn't had incredibly high expectations. One of my friends just loved, loved, loved it. I liked it. A lot. Strout can write interiority like nobody's business. I also appreciated the "Jeezum Crow"s, a tamed swearing from my childhood that I don't hear out in the west.

spahade's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. The conflict between mother and daughter and the combination of the other characters reminded me a bit of "Lost and Found" and I enjoyed it

foggy_rosamund's review

4.0

Isabelle is a single mother, living alone with her daughter, Amy, and working as a secretary in a mill. The town of Shirley Falls is small, and Isabelle doesn't know whether she fits with the working-class women at the mill, or with the aspirational middle-classes at her local church. Their life is lonely and restricted, and Amy, age 16, is desperate for something to change. Then Isabelle discovers Amy doing something scandalous, and the tender relationship between mother and daughter is shattered. Strout doesn't make clear when this story is set: it was published in '98, but based on the technologies described, as well as the social mores, I believe it's probably set in the late 60s or early 70s. Strout is an accomplished writer, and her prose flies along: careful, measured, and full of detail. Her characters, including Amy and Isabelle, the women at the mill, and Amy's teachers, are all believable and evoked in few words. Though this book isn't full of incident, I found it gripping and emotionally satisfying. However, it doesn't have the power of Strout's short stories and novellas, and while this is an excellent novel, the shorter form is where her work truly becomes luminous.

oryx27's review

hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

tardemus's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

3.75

quietmachine's review against another edition

Uninteresting