Rating: 
Summary: Too much dull description;too much hair
Review: I liked these characters, but they kept doing the same things over and over. How many ways can you describe a girl's long, blonde hair? Not enough to make them interesting. Also, each chapter begins with a mundane description of the weather. Who cares? If you want to read two really engaging books about a teenage girl, check out Elizabeth Berg's Durable Goods and Joy School. These are poignant, evocative and short with only vital details included.Joy Street describes the relationship between a teenage girl and an older man, but in a believable, beautiful way.
Rating: 
Summary: negative
Review: Agree with those who were disappointed in this book. Too many unresolved issues and I lost interest in characters early on. There were too many sub-plots, ie, pregnant friend, her father, the mother's past. boss and co-workers at mill, death of girl, etc. Just seemed muddled.
Rating: 
Summary: I cried when it was over.
Review: Do you have a teenage daughter? Have you been a teenage daughter? If so, you'll recognize yourself - and your mother - in the pages of Amy & Isabelle. For me, the story just flowed; the portrait of this mother and daughter was sharply (and at times, painfully) etched. I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: A promising book...
Review: Ms. Strout has shown a great deal of effort into her first novel. I would love to say that I really like the characters, because they were really alive in her writings. However, the book has no pormises and didn't get an in-depth into many aspect of life. But it has shown a great deal between the protestant and the Catholic, and not like any other writers, she tries to balance the flaws between the two Christians sect.The book I felt, dwelt more deeply into Isabelle, because the writtings shows more grieve, more struggles and conflicts in her. Raise by a conservative mother, Isabelle takes hard steps to learn to give and take from her teenage daughter, it potrays simple relation and yet can be so deeply true. I've enjoy her book well, however, things gets abit boring in the middle with the case of Mr. Robertson and Amy's affair. Whatever it is, the book turns out marvelous and particularly me enjoyed and not regretted getting a worthwhile book.
Rating:
Summary: Did not meet expectation
Review: A good novel but drawn out. The characters became boring midway through the story. I was eager to read this first novel by Ms. Strout but was a little disappointed at the outcome. A good read for someone who doesn't mind a story going off in various, unnecessary directions. Should have had more develop between Amy and her teacher, clearly the point of interest in this story. But instead we must muddle through secondary character's lives and troubles. Found myself not too excited about finishing this one.
Rating:
Summary: A promising first novel but...
Review: In her first outing, Elizabeth Strout shows great promise as a novelist. Clearly, she has not caught full-stride as a writer in this probably largely autobiographical first work. Her lean, almost minimalist, writing style is deceptive in its depth, at first. The women are all round, full and deep in their portrayal. But the men are all flat, one-dimensional, cardboard fiends. The scatological references were too frequent and pointless. She seemed to be stretching to create a gritty realism in the dialogue that simply came across in many places as contrived and unseemly. Both Amy and Isabelle were utterly bewildered by virtually every man whom they met. Yet by the end of the novel, I really liked the women and felt I knew them as friends. Ultimately, Strout creatively built a small, milltown community in Shirley Falls, Maine, much as Faulkner did in Mississippi. The production quality of the book itself by the publisher was masterful. Women will probably strongly gravitate en masse toward this novel, which men will be much less likely to embrace. With creative seasoning, Strout's next novel will build upon the promise she has definitely demonstrated in this early work.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely loved it!
Review: This book was special. Loved everything about it. Not "sweet", but just right, just what I'm always looking for in a book -- a very real, not always perfect and pretty -- but a kind and hopeful and charitable portrayal of people and life, with language that flows easily and lets you actually forget that you're reading. The characters and themes and plot are expressed with a "light touch", just enough to get the point across so beautifully! I can't wait to read more from Elizabeth Strout!
Rating: 
Summary: A quiet, dusty story about a mother's complicated past.
Review: I enjoyed this quick read about a single mother raising her teenage daughter in the wake of secrets and lies. Isabelle and her daughter Amy live in a small New England town and despite their longevity there, haven't managed to make much of a dent socially or otherwise. This is probably due to Isabelle's private fears of the past becoming revealed if she were to get too intimate with anyone. Amy has a few things to hide as well--her "friendship" with her math teacher not the least of them. True to fiction's form, secrets can't be kept forever, and these secrets explode and whimper and keep the plot moving forward. The author has a talent for making regular people interesting by revealing their inner lives and messy pasts. If you enjoy quiet character studies and stories about small-town living, you may enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Not for me.
Review: A realistic view of the depressing, dark, gloomy, dirty side of life. I'm so glad my life is not so pathetic. I, too, found the characters, such as Amy and Stacy too steoreotypical of teenagers to the negative side; smoking, cussing, hating their parents. I found the book slow moving and had a hard time getting through it. The descriptions were good, though, and I think the author can write well, but choose something less dark, gloomy, and depressing.
Rating:
Summary: A good read, although a bit wooden
Review: I found this book enjoyable, although, like other reviewers, also a bit wooden and unsurprising. Amy is a typical teenager, wanting to experiment with all sorts of things, including sex, teachers and cigarettes. Isabelle leads a little too awful of a life to believe, going to her dreary job in the mill, where she thinks she is better than all of the other women and lusts after her boss and the genteel life she thinks he leads. The book follows their life through a teen-age crisis - Amy's first sexual encounter with a teacher and concludes with Amy and Isabelle both becoming much more mature about each other and themseleves.
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