Amy and Isabelle

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Summary: Literary Analysis of Amy and Isabelle
Review: As a senior in high school, we were asked to write a literary analysis from a fiction novel of our choice. I read Amy and Isabelle a novel that was recommended to me from our school librarian. After reading the first several pages, Strout's uses of description and character development is outstanding. I found myself able to picture the characters very clearly, especially Fat Bev. One of my favorites, because her personality and characteristics really stand out. Stout also creates several character conflicts. A few of them I was able to connect with because I am a teenager, but some of them seemed very factitious. I think that I am not able to connect with them because the relationship that I have with my mom is very special. She is my best friend, and she would never treat me like Isabelle treated Amy. Isabelle watches Amy make some of the same mistakes that she made in her own life. Instead of becoming the caring mom that she is she lashes out on her daughter creating a relationship that can not be described. This is only one of the problems that Strout places her characters in.
Along with the very complicated problems that the characters face many events happen in the town. Strout places everything from UFO sightings to a missing child in the story. I found myself distracted form the main plot, and thought that some of these items could be left out. Overall Amy and Elizabeth is a novel that I enjoyed, but I don't think that I would read it again. I would recommend this book to both mothers and daughters, because it made me very thankful for what I had. Including how lucky I am to have the relationship that I have with my mom. If you are looking for a novel full of compassion and emotion between a mother and daughter read Amy and Elizabeth.

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Summary: A Little Sentimental
Review: A little sentimental for me, but nice insight into mother/daughter realtions.

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Summary: Generation gap between mother and daughter
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It's a story of a daughter, Amy, who has a destuctive infatuation towards one of her high school teachers. It's also a story of a mother that learns to be more in tune with her daughter and realizing that Amy will make some mistakes and hopefully learn from them like Isabelle, the mother, has learned from hers.
I liked the way the author would write in tidbits of happenings across town in someone else's life in the middle of the main scene in a chapter or paragraph.
This book has a great storyline. I didn't see the TV movie but I can understand why it was such a hit.
I believe any mother would enjoy this book and most probably a lot of fathers. This book is on the shelf with the other books in my collection of favorites.

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Summary: Excellent and Complex
Review: This is an amazingly written book and Strout does an excellent job of setting the tone right off the bat. She is a talented writer who portrays characters and emotions very well. This book has many layers to it, and is about relationships on many levels; friendship, mother-daughter, and some less than ideal relations as well. It is about trust, faith, and the human condition. The characters are multi-dimensional and likeable with the exception of the teacher who Amy has "interaction" with. This book, like life, demonstrates the many hats people wear, and proves that in facing adversity, our relationships often strengthen, and our character grows. This is a great book, and hopefully the author will write more soon.

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Summary: A wonderful book!
Review: This book takes a relatively simple idea - problems between a teenage girl and her mother - and shows the complexity and depth that actually exists. The story jumps from past to present, and the farther you get into the book, the more it makes sense, and the more interesting the whole plot gets.

"Amy and Isabelle" deals with issues which many people can in some way relate to, and I found myself nodding in agreement to some of the feelings expressed by characters in this book. Read it - you'll love it, and will be wishing for more when you're done.

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Summary: mother/daughter story told with compassion
Review: This is a compassionate account of mother/daughter relationship. The incident with Mr. Robertson, jolting both Amy and Isabelle out of their habitual polite nicety to each other, transforms them through a painful process of searching inwards. Amy, not cast in the usual rebellious teenager role, is actually quite meek and obedient before the incident. It is the passion for her math teacher, who apparently encourages her on, and her mother's attempts to thaw it that revive all her buried resentments and discontents toward her mother. On the mother's side, Isabelle is filled with a spectrum of complicated emotions while confronted with her daughter's sex scandal. Other than the typical motherly protective instincts, which are quite understandable considering her own sordid past, Isabelle's emotional outburst has its dark side too. Frustrated by her years' longing for the oblivious Mr. Avery Clark, she is not totally free from the intense jealousy toward her own daughter who seems to bath in a romantic and sexual bliss which she has been denied for so many years. She is also being resentfully reminded of the huge sacrifice she has made for her ungrateful daughter. Only when Isabelle stops averting from looking into the depth of her own heart, can she come up with the eventual understanding and compassion for Amy. These observant touches by the author rescue this book from being just another middle-aged mother/teenaged daughter cliché. Amy and Isabelle, not necessarily the most likable characters in literature, are honestly drawn and touchingly real.

However, the author seems to be running out of steam toward the end of the book. The change of Isabelle, hastily and briefly developed, is short of being convincing. The book thus ends on a too sentimental and simple-mindedly happy note which the author has, in the beginning part of the book, worked so hard to avoid.

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Summary: A Gorgeous Novel!!!!!
Review: Amy & Isabelle is a wonderful novel with a creative author.It was very descriptive & well developed characters.The plot was excellent with a little mystery wound into the story of a mother & daughter & theie trials.It also involves a bit of what teenagers are like today.Unlike a lot of novels it is'nt paradise the whole way.It may have a happy ending but it takes work to get there.I read this book in one day.I really enjoyed it & I think it was very well written & was worth reading & purchasing .Elizabeth Strout seems to be a talented author who is imaginative & Amy & Isabelle is thoroughly a great book.

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Summary: Engaging, at times overly melodramatic, mother/daughter stor
Review: "Amy and Isabelle" is the story of a complicated mother (Isabelle) and daughter (Amy) relationship. They live in a small town, and Amy is becoming a rebellious teenager, chafing at the strictness of her mother's rules. Of course, one of the questions that must be resolved is WHY Isabelle is so strict--and it is resolved, at the end of the novel, but by then you will probably have figured it out for yourself. I won't spoil it here.

The engaging part of the story is the transformation of the two main characters. Amy draws increasingly into herself after a harmful relationship with her teacher, while Isabelle begins to blossom near the end of the book. One of the major problems with the book is a total lack of a sympathetic character--while I felt that Amy had been badly taken advantage of, she was too surly and rude even prior to that to be a really sympathetic heroine. Likewise, the revelation of Isabelle's secret comes too late in the book to make her truly sympathetic.

The other problem with the book is some really clunky, pretentious dialogue scattered throughout. I believe that this is Strout's first novel, and it shows quite a bit of promise. However, while I never considered putting this book down, it became a bit of a chore to get through it. Also, be prepared for activating your total suspension of disbelief with the (out of nowhere) supernatural elements of the plot.

Worth reading for the finely drawn and complicated relationship between Amy and Isabelle.

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Summary: Mother & Daughter Substance
Review: What I liked most about Amy & Isabelle is how insightful the author was on the dynamics of a mother/daughter relationship as well as the quirks that make up different people's personality types. Isabelle is devastated when she learns a secret that her daughter Amy has kept from her. As a single mother, who can often come across as rigid and controlling, Isabelle tries to raise her daughter with dignity and prevent her child from making the same painful mistakes that are a part of her past. The author does a phenominal job in helping the reader really know the characters and feel their anguish.

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Summary: Real Life
Review: This book is wonderful and true to real life. All the little thoughts that a person has, and thinks that they are the only one that thinks them - are exactly the things that the characters in the book express. I found Ms. Strout's insight into relationships and situations to be extraordinally remarkable. The book was easy to get into and very hard to put down.