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Isobel and Emile
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 watches him go. He is going to the city, where he will be an artist. He will make puppets, and films of puppets, that struggle to say something he does not have the words for. She will stay in the small town, in the small room where they lived. She will work at a small grocery store and write letters to Emile while she works up the courage to do something more.
Told in a stark, minimalist voice, Isobel and Emile is the hypnotizing story of two lovers without each other. It is a story of struggling with loss and a loneliness that threatens to consume them. It is about staying true to what they hold dear, no matter that it is hopeless and that nothing will ever come of it, because sometimes that is all that is left.
And sometimes, it is enough.
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 watches him go. He is going to the city, where he will be an artist. He will make puppets, and films of puppets, that struggle to say something he does not have the words for. She will stay in the small town, in the small room where they lived. She will work at a small grocery store and write letters to Emile while she works up the courage to do something more.
Told in a stark, minimalist voice, Isobel and Emile is the hypnotizing story of two lovers without each other. It is a story of struggling with loss and a loneliness that threatens to consume them. It is about staying true to what they hold dear, no matter that it is hopeless and that nothing will ever come of it, because sometimes that is all that is left.
And sometimes, it is enough.
- GenresFiction
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Did Not Finish
June 22, 2023Recent reading has deepened my appreciation for how mundanity—portraying everyday life, events and thoughts—can pull me under, illuminate subtleties.
This short novel, on the other hand, failed pretty much utterly. To be fair, there were perhaps three moments where mundane stuff astonished me up to page 66 (which is when I put the book down); the rest was so incredibly banal that I began skimming just to find out if anything was going to happen. Just to hasten discovering another brief moment of ordinariness that startled. Skimming through the most mind-numbing, prolonged depictions of people walking down the street or drinking coffee or this and that.
I’m out of here.
This short novel, on the other hand, failed pretty much utterly. To be fair, there were perhaps three moments where mundane stuff astonished me up to page 66 (which is when I put the book down); the rest was so incredibly banal that I began skimming just to find out if anything was going to happen. Just to hasten discovering another brief moment of ordinariness that startled. Skimming through the most mind-numbing, prolonged depictions of people walking down the street or drinking coffee or this and that.
I’m out of here.
September 26, 2010
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.
July 20, 2017
Young lovers are forced into parting ways and experience loss and growth separately.
I felt like this book had potential but I finished it with a sense of disappointment. I felt as if the characters had more to give and that I was only experiencing a fraction of an expected emotional well.
At first I hated the writing style, but as I got used to it I began to appreciate the way it built and amended the scenes around the characters. For example (and this is based on, but not a direct quote from, the novel):
Sunlight came in the window.
Not a lot of sunlight came in the window.
The window was too small to let much sunlight in.
This irritated me at first, but then it became interesting to see what my mind came up with from the first sentence before the author revised it, in a self-aware way that I hadn't previously experienced from a novel. However, this may have taken too much of my focus away from the story.
I felt like this book had potential but I finished it with a sense of disappointment. I felt as if the characters had more to give and that I was only experiencing a fraction of an expected emotional well.
At first I hated the writing style, but as I got used to it I began to appreciate the way it built and amended the scenes around the characters. For example (and this is based on, but not a direct quote from, the novel):
Sunlight came in the window.
Not a lot of sunlight came in the window.
The window was too small to let much sunlight in.
This irritated me at first, but then it became interesting to see what my mind came up with from the first sentence before the author revised it, in a self-aware way that I hadn't previously experienced from a novel. However, this may have taken too much of my focus away from the story.
September 2, 2015
Alan Reed’s delicate, minimalist style quietly echoes the muted lives Isobel and Emile lead after Emile departs for the city to become a puppet master and artist. The work explores the dust-filled interspaces that lie between the crevices of our day-to-day life, where memories and dreams will accumulate if left undisturbed.
Isobel and Emile is not a love story--it is the story of what comes after a love story; it is about the crumbs that get left behind. The choppy, detached narrative mimics the redundant and cyclic routine of daily life, haunting the reader as he or she sees how the two eventually nestle into their distinct worlds that share a commonality in their blandness and emptiness. A series of unsent letters written from Isobel to Emile pepper the book and provide insight into their heart-wrenchingly mundane and hypnotic experience of post-love life, though I agree with some that the stylistic detachment leaves little room for character depth or development, with the exception of Isobel’s final decision. What does one hold onto when love has parted, and the memory of that love begins to fade? Where do we find that which gives us courage? What makes us feel as though we are more than our daily, monotonous routines? Isobel's mind fills with such questions, as she takes up the job and living space that was formerly Emile's, longing to be something more. Meanwhile, Emile's big city dreams remain hazy and colorless.
If you want to read more of my reviews, check out my book blog♡
All in all, the stylization of Reed’s writing made this a read that, although I could appreciate, was not very enjoyable for myself. I must say however, that it was refreshing to be challenged such literature. My heart felt for Isobel and Emile, and while I see how Reed has strategically detracted details and depth to emphasize that hollow longing, that hoping, that rests within us all, I wish I felt during my reading what Isobel herself wanted to feel: “I want my body to be electric and alive, not this sad, worn-out thing. I want to be more than this. I have to be” (101). Was this book worth my time? Yes.
Isobel and Emile is not a love story--it is the story of what comes after a love story; it is about the crumbs that get left behind. The choppy, detached narrative mimics the redundant and cyclic routine of daily life, haunting the reader as he or she sees how the two eventually nestle into their distinct worlds that share a commonality in their blandness and emptiness. A series of unsent letters written from Isobel to Emile pepper the book and provide insight into their heart-wrenchingly mundane and hypnotic experience of post-love life, though I agree with some that the stylistic detachment leaves little room for character depth or development, with the exception of Isobel’s final decision. What does one hold onto when love has parted, and the memory of that love begins to fade? Where do we find that which gives us courage? What makes us feel as though we are more than our daily, monotonous routines? Isobel's mind fills with such questions, as she takes up the job and living space that was formerly Emile's, longing to be something more. Meanwhile, Emile's big city dreams remain hazy and colorless.
If you want to read more of my reviews, check out my book blog♡
All in all, the stylization of Reed’s writing made this a read that, although I could appreciate, was not very enjoyable for myself. I must say however, that it was refreshing to be challenged such literature. My heart felt for Isobel and Emile, and while I see how Reed has strategically detracted details and depth to emphasize that hollow longing, that hoping, that rests within us all, I wish I felt during my reading what Isobel herself wanted to feel: “I want my body to be electric and alive, not this sad, worn-out thing. I want to be more than this. I have to be” (101). Was this book worth my time? Yes.
May 14, 2013
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 for the rest of the world to see.
Some of the book seems to hang open a little bit. I wasn't too sure what had happened between Emile and Isobel to create such tension between her and her family. The book also leaves you wondering what would happen next.
Either way, it was a fun read and maybe best taken in in one or two sittings. Its nice to read the work of a Canadian author from a contemporary setting. A fine piece of art. Please, Mr. Reed, continue what you're doing.
This novel does an excellent job at exploring the dark recesses of the emotions dealing with loss and heartache while maintaining a normal mantle for the rest of the world to see.
Some of the book seems to hang open a little bit. I wasn't too sure what had happened between Emile and Isobel to create such tension between her and her family. The book also leaves you wondering what would happen next.
Either way, it was a fun read and maybe best taken in in one or two sittings. Its nice to read the work of a Canadian author from a contemporary setting. A fine piece of art. Please, Mr. Reed, continue what you're doing.
July 24, 2012
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 with the vocabulary and sentence structure. And there are few concrete details about the characters or the settings. With the exception of references to trains and streetcars, the story could occur at any time or place in history. As in the work of Hemingway, Carver and Barthelme, the style reflects the trauma that the characters suffer, the bleakness and repression of their lives.
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 with the vocabulary and sentence structure. And there are few concrete details about the characters or the settings. With the exception of references to trains and streetcars, the story could occur at any time or place in history. As in the work of Hemingway, Carver and Barthelme, the style reflects the trauma that the characters suffer, the bleakness and repression of their lives.
April 15, 2013
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.
Want to Read
August 16, 2010Read the back cover while in New Mexico: "Isobel and Emile is the hypnotizing story of two lovers without each other." Intrigued.
August 23, 2010
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.
March 11, 2013
(borrowed from Booksexyreview)
review to come
review to come
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews