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420 ratings, 3.57 average rating, 42 reviews
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published
1999
by Random House Value Publishing
binding
Hardcover
isbn
0609000306
(isbn13: 9780609000304)
description
In this first novel, Amy Bloom spins the tale of one Elizabeth Taube, charting her progress from an unloved adolescent to (alas) an unloved, middle-ag...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 552)
recommends it for:
Serious readers.
I wrote this down in my reader-response journal and sometimes re-read it on the train, bus, or just when I feel the need to shed a quick tear, which is more often than I care to admit.
"The organ came in on cue and everyone stood up as the lady in gray sang again, sang the only hymn Mrs. Hill had ever sung, in her cracked, phlegmy voice. She sang it so often Elizabeth learned the words, and hummed along, not wanting to intrude or do the wrong thing until Mrs. Hill called her into her bedroom one evening and said, 'Sing,' and they had sat up together in Mrs. Hill's bed, their hands in a pile and night falling fast, singing, 'Why should I feel discouraged, why do the shadows come/why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home/When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is he/for his eye is on the sparrow and I know he's watching me/and I know he's watching me-e-e-e,' and Mrs. Hill touched Elizabeth's face with paper-dry fingertips and said, 'You're the sparrow girl,' and Elizabeth thought that this was family, dirty dishes and unappreciated treasures, the low friendly buzz of TV and two stiff fingers tapping her cheek, a full embrace of all-believing, all-hoping, all-enduring love in the face of deceit and pretense and the unchangeable past and the inevitable end." ...more
"The organ came in on cue and everyone stood up as the lady in gray sang again, sang the only hymn Mrs. Hill had ever sung, in her cracked, phlegmy voice. She sang it so often Elizabeth learned the words, and hummed along, not wanting to intrude or do the wrong thing until Mrs. Hill called her into her bedroom one evening and said, 'Sing,' and they had sat up together in Mrs. Hill's bed, their hands in a pile and night falling fast, singing, 'Why should I feel discouraged, why do the shadows come/why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home/When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is he/for his eye is on the sparrow and I know he's watching me/and I know he's watching me-e-e-e,' and Mrs. Hill touched Elizabeth's face with paper-dry fingertips and said, 'You're the sparrow girl,' and Elizabeth thought that this was family, dirty dishes and unappreciated treasures, the low friendly buzz of TV and two stiff fingers tapping her cheek, a full embrace of all-believing, all-hoping, all-enduring love in the face of deceit and pretense and the unchangeable past and the inevitable end." ...more
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Read in July, 2008
I picked this up in a used bookstore a couple of weeks ago because I loved the title (I believe the title: love *does* invent us), and I have read great short stories by Bloom. On reading the 1st page, I realized that I had read this novel before, a few years ago (a library copy? or have I bought it a second time?). I reread it, over about a 24 hr period. Partly procrastinating (who wants to pack for a move, after all, or put together their reappointment dossier?!), but partly because its a very...more
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I picked this up on spec at Powells because someone had written an enthusiastic shelf talker for a more recent book by Amy Bloom. The book starts off a bit strangely as the narrator - who is in Grade 5 - spends her after school time trying on furs in her underwear for the admiration (and ONLY the admiration) of the elderly shop owner. The narrator is the single and not much loved child of a successful professional couple living in Great Neck, Long Island, in the sixties and her continued efforts...more
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This is the second of Bloom's books that I have read. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, but it was still worth the read. This story was bleak, the characters were damaged and it was moving, in an odd, depressing, Bloom-like way.
I'm not exactly sure why it didn't grab me, but the novel felt .... listless, which I guess echoed the character's own lives. I felt similar to how I did with her short stories, as if it wasn't fleshed out enough. I wanted some of her short stories to be...more
I'm not exactly sure why it didn't grab me, but the novel felt .... listless, which I guess echoed the character's own lives. I felt similar to how I did with her short stories, as if it wasn't fleshed out enough. I wanted some of her short stories to be...more
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Read in August, 2008
I loved it, save for the unbelievable bit about the gay eight-year-old, what seemed like an odd focus on people's races at inappropriate times, and the conspicuous shift in point of view that I thought was capricious. But Bloom's imagery affects me like little else, and whether she means to do this or not, she always has me questioning what I thought I believed was morally sound. I wind up reading what I should view with disgust with a little fascination. She challenges me to explain to mysel...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in April, 2007
I really liked this book when I read it. But now here I am adding it two months later and I find that I remember very little and actually had to read a synopsis to jog my memory. This fact alone is responsible for me giving it 3 stars instead of 4.
That said, the story is very engaging and I think the author has an excellent grasp on how people interact. It approaches love in a way to which I think the movie "Closer" aspired. The book is honest in its portrayal of flawed people lov...more
That said, the story is very engaging and I think the author has an excellent grasp on how people interact. It approaches love in a way to which I think the movie "Closer" aspired. The book is honest in its portrayal of flawed people lov...more
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Read in November, 2007
I love Amy Bloom's short stories, and wondered if she could pull off a whole novel. The answer is yes -- mostly. The language is beautiful throughout -- inventive, lovely, revealing. It's fantastic. The characters are unusual and believable, though the shift in focus from the main female character to include perspectives from her lovers is somewhat hard to integrate. I will admit a bias for a more conclusive ending, and was very disappointed. I like the type of ending she wrote -- in a sho...more
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Read in June, 2006
Not satisfying. Mostly this "novel" reads like a collection of stories, which is okay. And I was engaged until the last story, which has Elizabeth (the messed up central character, who steals and lies and sleeps with her English teacher, probably because her parents do a lousy job with her) receiving a visit from Huddie, the black guy she really has loved all along, while her son--no mention of who the father might be, but he's named after the English teacher who died long before the k...more
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3 comments
Read in January, 2008
another good one by amy bloom. i'm about halfway through and somehow falling asleep even though i think i'm enjoying it...
i'm keeping my initial summary because it's somehow apt in describing the experience of the book. i had go back and read the synopsis to remember if i even finished the book, and in skimming the reviews i found someone else who had the exact same problem. strange. it's an absorbing read when it's happening, but it seems to be utterly forgettable.
i'm keeping my initial summary because it's somehow apt in describing the experience of the book. i had go back and read the synopsis to remember if i even finished the book, and in skimming the reviews i found someone else who had the exact same problem. strange. it's an absorbing read when it's happening, but it seems to be utterly forgettable.
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Yes, you've heard this story before: the young girl becomes a young woman and then is all grown up. Her parents have problems; she has problems. She has boyfriends. She is white and one of her best friends is an old black woman. What makes this book an outstanding read is the language Bloom uses, and the spark of her main character. Pick it up and take it in; you won't regret it, will be moved and amused and will think about it after you finish reading.
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
females
Enjoyed another book by this author, so took out a half dozen of her other books, including this one. Well written, fast moving story of an unloved teenager. She becomes the object of the obsession of a male teacher (a litle Lolita-like). She, herself, becomes infatuated with a black classmate. His family breaks them up by sending him out of town to relatives. They meet up years later.... Book is on the salacious side so beware if that would offend you.
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Read in April, 2007
I love Amy Bloom's stories, and while this novel was pretty enjoyable at times, I was disappointed by it, overall. The book is about a series of people that the narrator has loved and been loved by, and while the larger cast of characters is well-drawn, interesting, even heart-rending, the main character is a big fat blank, and I found myself wondering if she'd changed over the course of the book - if she had, I don't think I'd have noticed.
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Read in January, 2005
I really loved this book, read the entire thing on a plane from east coast to west. Fell deeply into the characters' lives and found them fascinating. But I wanted more. Jumping POV from one part of the book to the next left me feeling a bit disappointed in the end. It felt like a novel-in-stories more than a completely satisfying novel experience.
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Read in December, 2007
I would definitely read another book by Amy Bloom and am still quite excited to read "Away." However, the plot of this book wasn't necessarily my favorite. I had trouble identifying with the main character, as it seemed that her motivations in life were completely different from my own. Mostly I just found myself disliking her.
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Disappointed. I didn't like Elizabeth at all, and I find it hard to like the whole book if I hate the protagonist. I read it all the way through because I felt the need to know whether or not she had a happy ending, but I wouldn't read it again. However, I liked Bloom's short work enough to read another novel of hers.
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Read in September, 2008
I read this 3/4 of the way through and just gave it up sitting here on the beach in Jamaica.
Although I wanted to know what happend to the young girl in the book, I had a hard time feeling anything other than contempt and loathing for her English teacher. Wonderful writing, but a subject that turns my stomach.
Although I wanted to know what happend to the young girl in the book, I had a hard time feeling anything other than contempt and loathing for her English teacher. Wonderful writing, but a subject that turns my stomach.
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Read in June, 2008
Although I enjoyed this book more the first time I read it, I like the way Bloom turns a phrase so much so that I can't imagine not having this book around. I especially admire the way in which the final four sentences impact the reader in a way that makes one realize everything was leading to that moment.
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Read in January, 2006
This book was haunting! I was lucky enough to see her at a book signing, and asked her about this book. This was her first! And I've read two others of hers too. I loved it, tragic, sublime, romantic. Good main character. My sister didn't like it, but I so recommend it.
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Read in February, 2004
I wish I could scrub this book from my cerebral cortex. It was so bad that I couldn't even finish it. To put it in perspective: I did finish both Le Divorce and The Da Vinci Code, so you know my tolerance for crap is strong.
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Read in November, 2007
hmmmm... i guess i liked it. i mean, i generally like dark movies, dark books, i can get into a non-happy ending. but none of these characters really had any redeeming qualities. it was an interesting character study if nothing else.
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quotes from this book
"I wasn't surprised to find myself in the back of Mr. Klein's store, wearing only my undershirt and panties, surrounded by sable."
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