National Bestseller
In her stunning first novel, Amy and Isabelle, Elizabeth Strout evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant m... read full description
In her stunning first novel, Amy and Isabelle, Elizabeth Strout evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant m... read full description
reviews
Jan 20, 2008
Joanna
rated it: 
Heartbreakingly real, beautifully written, the relationships in this book will stay with me. This was an intense read and I am filled with both hope and despair for all of these women. A delicate but steely line separates us from joy and can only occasionally be broken, but with a quick flip of the wrist that same line separates us from fear.
My favorite "aha" moment of the book--Isabelle decides to educate herself and starts reading Hamlet but breaks off at the point wh More...
My favorite "aha" moment of the book--Isabelle decides to educate herself and starts reading Hamlet but breaks off at the point wh More...
Nov 15, 2007
Miya
rated it: 
Not sure why I even picked this book up. Boring and predictable. The fact that it was made into an Oprah movie should have been the first clue...
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Jul 17, 2008
Heather
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This story could have ended halfway through and I would have been content with that. Instead, it went on, way past where I would have expected it to end, and each additional page felt like some secret reward. Strout writes deliberately and without trite language. She's able to masterfully capture the feel of both the single mother and her sordid past as well as the teenage daughter and her sexual awakenings. While predictable in spots (I knew that Isabelle would eventually reveal her past and th
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May 08, 2008
Mayra
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This novel is about a mother and daughter with secrets that are to be kept a secret so that nobody thinks bad about them.Amy is a quiet girl and she is very shy.She meets Mr.Robinson and hates him at first but after sometime starts to like him.Their relationship goes even further then a teacher relationship.Amy starts to see her teacher and they start to talk later they do more.Amy is told not to tell anyone and she doesn't. She loves the fact that he loves her and does these things with her an
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Apr 08, 2010
Sandra
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I was wowed by Strout's writing in Olive Kitteridge, so decided to read other books she has written. I was not disappointed with Amy and Isabelle, a novel about the strained relationship between Isabelle, a single mother, and her teen-aged daughter Amy. A/I is a coming of age story of young Amy--but also of her mother--as both slowly and painfully find their freedom, independence, and the confidence to move ahead.
The story is not merely a struggle between mother and daughter; it’s a More...
The story is not merely a struggle between mother and daughter; it’s a More...
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Dec 17, 2008
AJ
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An amazing read! Takes place around the early 1970s, but reads as if it were today. Isabelle is a single mom raising 16 year old Amy in a small, gossipy mill town. The two have a common mother/daughter relationship of sometimes love and sometimes hate. The book starts out looking at the lives of the two, but slowly branches out to include many of the women in the town.
Strout has a gift for developing characters that are so complete you wonder if they actually exist. Everyone has More...
Strout has a gift for developing characters that are so complete you wonder if they actually exist. Everyone has More...
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Jan 06, 2012
Meghan
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I love Elizabeth Strout (ironically enough, a classmate of Ann Patchett's at Iowa Writer's Workshop, and a friend of hers now too) and anything she's done is quality fiction at its finest. I decided to read this because I loved Olive Kitteridge, and I was not let down. Strout's characters are so real I could feel them; they were so honest in their responses that it was sometimes painful. She captures the heartwrenching love and frustration and beauty of a mother daughter relationship; she als
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Aug 05, 2011
Pat
rated it:
This is a great story of a daughter and her mother. They are navigating the life changes that come from the child becoming an adult and the parent letting go. This book is beautifully written and one becomes enthralled with the characters of Shirley Falls. A mill town in New England. The summer is the hottest anyone can remember. The town is split with class differences that boil over. Expectations unmet. Bored teenagers.
This is mostly a book about women. Strong women. I loved the ch More...
This is mostly a book about women. Strong women. I loved the ch More...
Jun 21, 2011
David
rated it:
In her first outing, Elizabeth Strout shows great promise as a novelist. Clearly, she has not caught full-stride as a writer in this probably largely autobiographical first work. Her lean, almost minimalist, writing style is deceptive in its depth, at first. The women are all round, full and deep in their portrayal. But the men are all flat, one-dimensional, cardboard fiends. She seemed to be stretching to create a gritty realism in the dialogue, which simply came across in many places as contri
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Feb 27, 2011
Carla
rated it:
I just finished Amy and Isabelle and am in a state of writerly awe; it is now on the list of books about which I can say "I wish I had written that book!"
Strout's deft handling of the omniscient point of view is remarkable and fluid. It's rare to find a story that dares to dip into the heads of multiple characters in a single scene, primarily because it's hard to do WELL. The author does so in this novel subtly and with a light touch. Her handling of time passing is also wo More...
Strout's deft handling of the omniscient point of view is remarkable and fluid. It's rare to find a story that dares to dip into the heads of multiple characters in a single scene, primarily because it's hard to do WELL. The author does so in this novel subtly and with a light touch. Her handling of time passing is also wo More...
Aug 28, 2010
Nitya
rated it:
I love Elizabeth Strout's writing. Wanted to read this since reading Olive Kitteredge. Amy and Isabelle did not disappoint, though I see Strout's growth as a writer in that I think Olive Kitteredge was even better.
Amy and Isabelle tells the story of a single mom (Isabelle) and her teenage daughter (Amy) in a small midwestern town in the late 60's. Isabelle works as a secretary at a local mill, goes to church regularly, but has no social life and no friends. Amy, like her mother, is als More...
Amy and Isabelle tells the story of a single mom (Isabelle) and her teenage daughter (Amy) in a small midwestern town in the late 60's. Isabelle works as a secretary at a local mill, goes to church regularly, but has no social life and no friends. Amy, like her mother, is als More...
Jan 27, 2010
Salwa
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Nov 19, 2010
Jessica
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I liked this book right up to the ending.
Both Isabelle and Amy were well developed characters, and I particularly liked that Isabelle was somewhat unappealing. Much like Olive Kittridge, Strout makes her main character flawed in a way that I found disconcerting, but mostly because I recognized things Isabelle did in myself and my acquaintences which were less than flattering.
Amy was very convincingly written to me. I thought Strout presented a very believable teenaged g More...
Both Isabelle and Amy were well developed characters, and I particularly liked that Isabelle was somewhat unappealing. Much like Olive Kittridge, Strout makes her main character flawed in a way that I found disconcerting, but mostly because I recognized things Isabelle did in myself and my acquaintences which were less than flattering.
Amy was very convincingly written to me. I thought Strout presented a very believable teenaged g More...
Jun 23, 2009
CJ
rated it:
I didn't love this book, but I liked it. It took me until nearly halfway through to find it compelling, but I admit that after that, I couldn't put it down. I feel kind of picky when I think of the things that I didn't like about it. First, the setting wasn't clear to me. I know it was in New England, but I kept picturing the South. I also know it was set roughly in the 70's, but it felt like a much earlier time period, such that the mentions of TV news and hippies felt anachronistic. Then, I di
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Sep 25, 2009
Dawn Michelle
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1 1/2 Stars
I did not like this book. At all. And after reading reviews by others here on GoodReads, I have to wonder if I missed something !!) in this book. I didn't see ANY of the same things that they all saw that they deemed the making of this book wonderful. In fact, in over 20 reviews, only TWO reviews were negative, where they (like me) felt the book was crap. And all this makes me feel flawed (Even though I *KNOW* I am not). Like there is something inherently wron More...
Aug 30, 2009
Hillary
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I picked up this book because i'm on the waitlist for Olive Kitteridge and was wondering why i'd never heard of this author before. i'm so glad i did, as i was quite impressed by her Strout's first novel. reading her evocative descriptions of New England weather, and how the seasons played into her tale, really reminded me of the drama of New England seasons that i grew up with. and while the the student-teacher plot would appear, on face, to be the more titillating of the many major and mino
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Aug 29, 2010
Nancy
rated it:
This turned out to be a rather lovely read. It started I thought as a simple little story of relationships between Mother and Daughter;but soon revealed itself to be a complex relationship that wasn't to be fully understood till the end though much surmised by the reader. But the daughter lost in the turmoil of growing up and maternal moods never really understood until the end. Around the central characters there were several subplots of women struggling with a myriad of lives issues. I love
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Jul 06, 2009
Karyl
rated it:
This book is just as bleak and dour as you'd expect from a book associated with Oprah. (It's not an Oprah Book Club book, but apparently it's an Oprah Winfrey Presents movie.) Initially it was hard to get into; it seemed a bit slow and confusing. The book isn't told in straightforward chronological way; a lot of it is told in flashbacks.
However, I found the imagery very compelling. The author will be going along, describing a mundane event (like a sermon the minister is giving) More...
However, I found the imagery very compelling. The author will be going along, describing a mundane event (like a sermon the minister is giving) More...
Dec 17, 2009
Theresa
rated it:
On the whole I really enjoyed this book - a story of a strained mother/daughter relationship with lots of secrets in the single mother's past. Life eventually forces the very controlled and tense mother to give up some of her stuff, due to events in the life of her teenage daughter. The author has a great sense of humor which manifests in the day to day lives of some of the less important characters. The novel is set in a backwater New England mill town.
Jun 13, 2010
Rhonda
rated it:
3.5 stars, if I could.
Isabelle and her infant daughter, Amy, move to a small gossipy mining town, saying only that she was widowed and needed a job to earn a living. She works her way up to becoming secretary to the boss. Isabella and Amy are going through the tough, difficult relationship brought on by teen years, when Amy starts staying after school with her substitute math teacher, Mr. Robertson. Things happen....and they are caught by Isabelle's boss.
This book explores More...
Isabelle and her infant daughter, Amy, move to a small gossipy mining town, saying only that she was widowed and needed a job to earn a living. She works her way up to becoming secretary to the boss. Isabella and Amy are going through the tough, difficult relationship brought on by teen years, when Amy starts staying after school with her substitute math teacher, Mr. Robertson. Things happen....and they are caught by Isabelle's boss.
This book explores More...
Jan 02, 2010
Amanda
rated it:
I'm quite behind in my reading. There's three big reasons for this: I am ridiculously busy at work; I'm trying to read The Corrections and I can't get into it; because I can't get into it, I've been re-reading the Anne of Green Gables books to pass the time. But I did manage to finish Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout. It's a mother-daughter tale, so you know it can't be good. Wait, that came out wrong. I mean that fictional mother-daughter tales usually involve heartache and strife, not that
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Aug 25, 2011
Suzy
rated it:
I loved this book as if it were a person--still do. It's actually several people, mainly Isabelle and her teenage daughter Amy, but also Amy's friend Stacy and her boyfriend, Amy's substitute teacher Mr. Robertson (whom I don't love), and Isabelle's office mates Fat Bev and Dottie. I read Olive Kitteridge--also by Elizabeth Strout--and didn't much like it (unlike most people) but I had nothing against Strout's writing, so I gave this office book-swap find a try. I found Strout to be amazing w
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May 27, 2009
Carol
rated it:
I was looking for something a little lighter and more humorous when I checked this book out from the library, and this was neither. This is a very gritty book about a 15-year-old girl who becomes involved with her math teacher. It is also about her very hemmed in, controlling, isolated mother.
Very gritty. Specifically, I could do with FEWER vivid descriptions of really bad smells.
On the other hand, these are some things I always enjoy in a book: I like it when the ma More...
Very gritty. Specifically, I could do with FEWER vivid descriptions of really bad smells.
On the other hand, these are some things I always enjoy in a book: I like it when the ma More...
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Jan 15, 2011
Mary Lou
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 22, 2011
Jenny
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Have had this on my shelves for years - picked it up at the Strand - but never got around to it till now. A quiet novel, but not "small," beautifully written with extraordinary central characters.
But an ache stayed inside her. And a faint reverberating hum of something close to joy lived on the outer edges of her memory, some kind of longing that had been answered once and was simply not answered anymore. (41)
...a hearty laugh...as they sat at their desks in the off More...
But an ache stayed inside her. And a faint reverberating hum of something close to joy lived on the outer edges of her memory, some kind of longing that had been answered once and was simply not answered anymore. (41)
...a hearty laugh...as they sat at their desks in the off More...
Jan 15, 2010
Veronica
rated it:
Like a lot of people probably, I read this because I enjoyed Olive Kitteridge so much. It has the same minute observation of ordinary lives, but I didn't like it quite so much. It was longer than it needed to be and a bit repetitive at tines (Alice Munro could have done this in a novella!). And some things were a bit too neat/obvious -- the parallels between Isabelle and Lucy's early lives for example, or the inclusion of Stacy's teenage pregnancy. It was a pity all the male characters were so w
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Jun 05, 2009
Lauren
rated it:
Another amazing book -- I'd place this right up there with the two Lionel Shriver books I've been raving about.
I read Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge" earlier this year, because it was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award -- my fave award next to the Booker. "O.K." was quietly powerful, and I enjoyed it. After I read it, it won the Pulitzer (unrelated events, I'm sure), which was a pleasant surprise, since Pulitzer Prize winners are so hit More...
I read Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge" earlier this year, because it was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award -- my fave award next to the Booker. "O.K." was quietly powerful, and I enjoyed it. After I read it, it won the Pulitzer (unrelated events, I'm sure), which was a pleasant surprise, since Pulitzer Prize winners are so hit More...
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Mar 12, 2011
Elinor
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This book was a strange one for me, because I wasn't ever eager to pick it up and start reading, but once I did, I couldn't seem to put it down. It was a bit more graphic than I expected - as in sexually graphic - and it really came as a shock while reading. Also, I don't think the end of winter is the right time to read this book. The main part of the book deals with a horribly hot summer, and summer was so long ago that I couldn't really fathom what that was like, and I feel like the change
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May 25, 2010
Christy
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 15, 2009
Meg
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Oh, the trials of being a female/mother/daughter. It's different for us all, the spectrum is gargantuan, though most have qualities that each can relate to. This probably chronicles most of those. Dramatically! It certainly made me feel more unsettled and I wanted to finish it quickly - for two reasons: it was purposefully written to keep you guessing (but fairly predictable at the same time) and I just wanted to be done with it already! I tend to take on characters personalities as my own
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