Book Review
Amy and Isabelle
I finished reading Elizabeth Strout's Amy and Isabelle a few days ago, and find the characters are still with me. I want to say it's a wonderful story, but really it's much more than that. Elizabeth Strout has conjured up a small mill town named Shirley Falls and while she never mentions the exact year, you soon realize she doesn't have to as the issues confronting this mother (Isabelle) and her daughter (Amy) are timeless. My sympathy and frustration jumped back and forth between these complex and all-too-real women: aggravation at the teenage Amy for thinking she knows the ways of the world (as all teenagers do), and then equal irritation with Isabelle for forgetting what it was like to be a teenager (as most adults do). The punishing events that threaten to destroy them are real and could happen to anyone, leaving you glad you survived your own adolescence and the thought, " there but for the grace of God…" ringing in your ears.
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In the wings of the stage on which Amy and Isabelle struggle through their lives are characters that you'll love (Fat Bev was my favorite), and ones that you will dislike, but they're all, in some way, people you know. And when Ms. Strout describes the hot arid summer that grips Shirley Falls and its inhabitants, you'll actually catch yourself putting a hand to the back of your neck, sure you'll find trickles of sweat, only to bring your hand back dry.
Amy and Isabelle is a wonderful, real and passionate book full of dreams--and people--lost and found again. Bottom line: you will care about these people and what happens to them. You won't want to put this book down, but once you do, be prepared for it to stay with you for days to come.
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Date Reviewed: 2001