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Isobel and Emile
by
Alan Reed (Goodreads Author)
This is the story of Isobel and Emile.
They wake up beside each other one morning, and they slowly get out of bed. It is the last time that they will sleep together. They know it. They do not want it to be the last time but they know that it is.
They get out of bed and they go to a train station. Emile gets onto a train. Isobel does not.
She stands on the platform and she wat...more
They wake up beside each other one morning, and they slowly get out of bed. It is the last time that they will sleep together. They know it. They do not want it to be the last time but they know that it is.
They get out of bed and they go to a train station. Emile gets onto a train. Isobel does not.
She stands on the platform and she wat...more
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
April 11th 2010
by Coach House Books
(first published 2010)
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This fell into my lap twice while I was at work. I was intrigued. I took the book home. It seemed like something I would like. I read it in one sitting. I enjoyed it. I thought it was a good break up novel. It had some terse prose. The style lent the narrative a creepy/disturbing air. I closed the book. I enjoyed the book. I would reccommend the book.
This novel does an excellent job at exploring the dark recesses of the emotions dealing with loss and heartache while maintaining a normal mantle f...more
This novel does an excellent job at exploring the dark recesses of the emotions dealing with loss and heartache while maintaining a normal mantle f...more
This is the story of two young lovers who separate and then try to survive on their own. The novel opens on the morning after their final consummation. Emile boards a train bound for his home in the city. Isobel stays in the town where they conducted their brief affair. For each one, the pain of separation becomes an existential crisis.
The prose is a study in restraint, with a jarring minimalism style that reflects Isobel and Emile���s disorientation and confusion. A child would have no trouble...more
The prose is a study in restraint, with a jarring minimalism style that reflects Isobel and Emile���s disorientation and confusion. A child would have no trouble...more
Alan's done a very challenging thing here. The distance he's imposed by the style allows/demands/swooshes us into the action. It doesn't seem at first that that's what's going to happen (us swooshing into the story), but all of sudden there we are, deeply invested and hoping.
I can't say I am dissapointed with this book, but not as moved as I believe I should have been for the characters. The stylization of the writing is part of the story, but it didn't allow for depth to be explored on behalf of the individual characters.
This book looked promising, however I couldn't get past the writing style and narration. It was too "start-stop" for me to even get past the first 30 pages.
Read the back cover while in New Mexico: "Isobel and Emile is the hypnotizing story of two lovers without each other." Intrigued.
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(borrowed from Booksexyreview)
review to come
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