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Summary: I live in Maine and this book made me depressed!
Review: I bought the book because my name is Amy and my daughter's name is Isabelle and we live in Maine! However, what a bummer of a life! I wanted to shake the mom...wake up! Thank goodness my life is nothing like their's and Maine is a beautiful, wonderful place to live...even the run down mill towns!
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Summary: This Is The Best Book I've Read All Year
Review: And I read constantly. The author has so much compassion for her characters; she made me ache for them, wish them well, miss them when the book was over. The end was happy, yes, but I disagree that it was too sweet. It was finely wrought and well earned. One of the things that impressed me most about the novel was the author's intricate sense of causality. Unlike Wally Lamb and many of the Oprah authors, she doesn't trace everything to extreme child abuse; yet all of the major characters had their reasons, and their sorrows, which made their mistakes so understandable and poignant. And yes, she does hold parents accountable for what happens to their children but in the most generous sense. As Isabelle says, a mother can not help but pass on who she is. That the book is also hilarious at times (Isabelle reading Hamlet made me laugh aloud) makes it even more wonderful. Thanks to Elizabeth Strout and her editor for redeeming my faith in nineties publishing. This novel has no Hollywood style hook, no easy PC politics, and no clear autobiographical connection that makes it marketable as thinly disguised memoir. But it's a great story: what fiction should be.
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Summary: A very interesting look at life!!!!
Review: I read a lot of books; some I dislike and some I love. This book was very good!! Amy and her friend Stacy are the epitome of me in high school; smoking outside the school and hanging out in cars. I especially loved Fat Bev. She was the icing on the cake and made Isabelle look like a green-eyed monster! Isabelle acted much too old for her age. I wish the book had been longer, but it was good nonetheless. I can hardly wait for another book by this author.
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Summary: a promising beginning but...
Review: I was very excited to read this book because of the plot and the good reviews. I am very interested in 'mother-daughter' stories as I have 4 daughters myself, none of whom are teenagers yet, but I do enjoy reading about mother-daughter relationships and their issues and how they manage to get through the adolescent years. I enjoyed the beginning of the book with all the rich description of a small new england town and the seasons, etc.. however I really did expect so much more in terms of the plot involving mother-daughter and the teacher. There seemed to be too many things Strout felt like writing about and not much depth to anything else. I don't think you could compare her writing to Anna Quindlen's at all, maybe yes to Alice Hoffman especially Hoffman's later books where her writing felt a bit hurried. Towards the end of the book I was pretty much skimming through the pages and was surprised to reach such a neat and resolute ending while I still felt like I never really got to know the characters, never got 'into' the story either.
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Summary: Exquisite, poignant, searingly painful and beautiful
Review: This ranks as one of my favorites. The prose was read-aloud beautiful. The slow, painful uncovering of the truth was worth the wait. This novel demonstrates (in an unforgettable way) that secrets only breed more secrets. The author's ability to construct humiliation made me want to look away. My only criticism was that it was a bit too tidy at the end. Fantastic!
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Summary: Good story, but way too long
Review: I can't help but feel a little disappointed in this book. The idea of the story was good, but I just could never get into it. I liked Amy and felt her pain but I could never understand or feel compassion for Isabelle. I thought there was entirely too much description of the weather and outside surroundings. All the characters and subplots were confusing and I found myself constantly having to go back to figure out who some of the people were. The one thing I did enjoy was the ending where mother and daughter some how found familiar ground together. I would never tell anyone not to read this book, but I couldn't recommend it either.
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Summary: There are many mysteries and secrets below the surface.
Review: What could seemingly be more boring than ordinary people in an ordinary mill town in New England? To Ms. Strout's credit, all is not as it appears. We, the readers, become deeply involved with the characters and the web-like relationships that are the core of this story and their life. The writing is perfect for the content; there are symbols and metaphors, but never too abstract or complex. The author never takes the easy road with facile plot elements. Plot, characters, and writing--all work well to provide a fine novel that makes you think and feel without agonizing.
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Summary: very heart-warming novel
Review: I happened to find this book just because my name is Isabelle and my daughter's name is Amy. As simple as that. However, the book was much much deeper and well written. The story is almost so next neighbor like and that's why it interested me and I finished reading very quickly. The author really knows the women's feelings and she describes very well. It was so delightful to know the good book available where most of the books or TV shows are too unreal.
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Summary: A Luminous First Novel
Review: I loved this novel (despite the many very disparaging reviews below). The bravery of ordinary people attempting to deal with the pain of everyday life shines through on every page. The tragedy explored in this book is how two woman - a mother and a sixteen year old daughter have so much to share but are unable to communicate with each other because of their inability to open their hearts. Perhaps it touched me deeply because I have a sixteen year old daughter. Sure there are flaws in the novel. It drags somewhat after Amy's relationship with her teacher is discovered. There is too much extraneous material thrown in that clutters the plot, such as the obscene phone caller, the house robberies. The symbolism gets a bit heavy handed. The author seems not to trust the intelligence of her readers and bashs us over the head with it. Sure I understood the symbolism of one of the subsidiary character's hysterectomy. I didn't need another minor character's mastectomy thrown in as well. The author needs to have trust in her readers and control and pare down her plot line. How about some male characters who are fully realized human beings? Every male in this book is wooden. The major disappointment for me, was the ending (which I won't reveal) which I thought was Pollyannish and unrealistc. But the writing is truly beautiful. Sultry summer in Shirley Falls becomes a character in the novel itself. In my mind, Strout is right up there with Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Berg, Barbara Kingsolver and Alice Hoffman in writing serious contemporary fiction.I look forward to reading her novel.
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Summary: I Hugged My Daughter After This Read
Review: I read this during a particularly low period in my life and in the life of our family. This book was the tonic which helped me get back on my feet. I will never take for granted the relationship I enjoy (but almost lost) with my daughter. The two main characters maintain a tragic relationship, poignantly described by the author. Some plot twists were unnecessary; others were particularly germane. It's up to you to determine which falls into which category. I identify with the setting, having lived in gritty New England mill towns most of my life. Also, the subcharacters provide a spectrum of experience upon which the protagonists bounce their duel with each other. I love Fat Bev; she exists in every office, everywhere in the United States, and epitomizes what is good in humanity.
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