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Amy & Isabelle
Amy & Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
41 posts | 64 read | 28 to read
Isabelle Goodrow has been living in self-imposed exile with her daughter Amy for fifteen years. Shamed by her past and her affair with Amy's father, she has submerged herself in the routine of her dead-end job and her unrequited love for her boss. But when Amy, frustrated by her quiet and unemotional mother, embarks on an illicit affair with her maths teacher, the disgrace intensifies the shame Isabelle feels about her own past. Throughout one long, sweltering summer, as the events of the small town ebb and flow around them, Amy and Isabelle exist in silent conflict until a final act leads ultimately to the understanding they both crave.
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review
AnneCecilie
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

Strout‘s debut novel about a mother and a daughter, and their relationship. Amy is 16 and just starting life. Isabelle is a single parent, working as a secretary at the factory, trying to get by. It‘s the warmest summer in memory and things are about to change.

58 likes2 stack adds
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Soubhiville
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Bailedbailed

I think I‘ve found that for me Elizabeth Strout needs to be mood read. I‘ve loved books by her in the past, but her characters can be so unpleasant that sometimes I don‘t want to hear them whine and make bad decisions.

I know this is an #unpopularopinion for a lot of folks.

I may come back to this when I‘m in the mood for something Not Cheerful 😆.

KristiAhlers I‘ve yet to read one of her hers. However one of her books is listed on one of my reading challenges for 2023 so I‘ll be attempting to read one. People either seem to like her or don‘t. 2y
TheBookHippie I have bailed on four of her books therefore I AM OUT! 👀😵‍💫😅🤣. Oy. 2y
Soubhiville @TheBookHippie I can relate. I‘ll probably give her another go eventually but she‘s on a back burner for now. I just decided the same thing about Silvia Morena-Garcia, not for me. 2y
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TheBookHippie @Soubhiville HA. I don‘t like her books, at all😅. It‘s funny to see how upset people get when you don‘t like an author. 👀 2y
batsy I read this and wasn't too impressed, but it was years ago. I wonder if her more recent work is different. 2y
Hooked_on_books I dropped the other bit of your holiday treats in the mail today. I was expecting it to miss Christmas and thus didn‘t wrap anything (oops), but they told me it should get to you on Friday. Hooray for that! Enjoy and open whenever you‘d like. 2y
Soubhiville Aw thanks @Hooked_on_books , I‘ll keep an eye out and let you know when it arrives. 2y
54 likes7 comments
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Megabooks
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

Strout strikingly captures the fear a mother has that her daughter will repeat her greatest mistake and the shame and blame around it.

In a Maine mill town in the late 1960s, Isabelle struggles to raise her daughter, Amy, solo. Amy is a well behaved girl in general, however a high school teacher skillfully grooms her into a relationship. When it is revealed, the bond between them becomes strained as Isabelle lashes out terribly towards Amy.

Megabooks I think you‘re really going to enjoy this @Cinfhen !! 👍🏻👍🏻 2y
Cinfhen I‘m excited to get to it!! I really LOVE Strout - 2y
Megabooks @Cinfhen yay!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😘 2y
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BarbaraBB I read this so long ago that I remember nothing about it. Maybe one day I‘ll reread it 🤷🏻‍♀️ 2y
Megabooks @BarbaraBB I think we all have that problem! 💜 2y
Centique I loved this. Some of the scenes are burned into my skull. Her little office job and the heat in there. The dinner she made for her boss. That awful high school teacher 😳 2y
Megabooks @Centique I loved the various characters at her office job and agree that the high school teacher was terrible!! 2y
91 likes4 stack adds7 comments
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Cinfhen
Amy & Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Thank you, Thank you, Thank you @Megabooks for my wonderful birthday gifts!! The only Strout I haven‘t read yet!! And the t-shirt is awesome 😎 Feeling so spoiled today and blessed to have made such amazing friends. I love all my gifts and appreciate all the birthday wishes.

squirrelbrain Lovely! ❤️ 2y
BarbaraBB How lovely! That shirt is so cool too! (edited) 2y
Megabooks Yay!!! Glad it got there safely!! I hope you had a wonderful day!!! 😘😘 2y
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TrishB Lovely ♥️ 2y
Cinfhen T-Shirt is really cool 😎 @BarbaraBB Thanks to all of you beautiful women for spoiling me today xxxxx @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB @Megabooks @TrishB 2y
Centique I‘m so jealous of the tshirt! I love that book - it‘s very different to Olive but I can still feel the atmosphere it created years later. 😍 2y
Cinfhen I‘m rocking the t-shirt this morning @Centique 🤘🏼 2y
64 likes7 comments
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LaLove
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
Pickpick

I think everything Strout writes is so powerful. This was disturbing to read because of the teacher/student romance, but so moving.

CuriousG I was *so* incredibly disturbed by this book, but the writing is definitely powerful. 3y
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MommyWantsToReadHerBook
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

I loved this book! It explores sex, people's longing for intimacy and pleasure, shame, judgment and fear of judgement, friendship... It's about a mother and daughter and terrible events that sets in motion a beautiful flowering in their lives in the end. Elizabeth Strout is a wonderful writer, quickly becoming a favourite. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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bekakins
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
Pickpick

A nice, slow paced, small town American novel, with a meandering plot. I really enjoyed this, although took a couple of hours reading time before I got swept up into the lives of the different characters.

+16 pts for #MerryReaders #WinterGames

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Thousand-Lives
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

Wow, Strout‘s debut is excellent! This is a mother and daughter story, told with honesty and both perspectives. I loved the female friendships that form - they felt so real and relatable. After I finished this, I picked up the last chapter of Strout‘s latest book, Olive Again, because Isabelle has a role in that story too. Such smart storytelling!

Lauram I LOVED this book! 4y
Thousand-Lives @Lauram It‘s so good, right! Now I‘ve read all of Strout‘s books which is bittersweet. She‘s a fantastic author. 4y
Lauram I still have a few left to read. I love knowing that I have a several books from my favorite authors in my tbr inventory. 4y
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Thousand-Lives @Lauram Such a wonderful feeling. 🙂 4y
valeriegeary What a nice little book basket! 4y
Thousand-Lives @valeriegeary Thank you! I like to corral my library books and current reads in it. 😁 4y
52 likes6 comments
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Thousand-Lives
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Starting this one today! This is the only Elizabeth Strout book I haven‘t read. It‘s always bittersweet to complete an author‘s collection.

candc320 I love your coffee table! So pretty! 4y
Thousand-Lives @candc320 Thank you so much! It was an old trunk covered in paint and my husband stripped the paint and restored it for use as a table! We love it. 4y
57 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Lesliereads
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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“Please God,” Isabelle whispered piteously, kneading her face with her fingers. Please what? She hated God. She hated him. In the darkness she actually shook her fist in the air, oh, she was so sick to death of God. For years she had been playing some kind of guessing game with him. Is this right, God? Am I doing the right thing? Every decision made on what would Please God - and look where it had gotten her: no place. Less than no place at all.”

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Yanya
Amy & Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Beautifully written! First Elizabeth Strout read for me. Definitely won't be my last! Going out searching for more of her books!

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MelKelsey
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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MelKelsey
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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MelKelsey
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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MelKelsey
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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MelKelsey
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

Book 76
Strout's first novel, Amy and Isabelle, is an anomaly in her repertoire in that it has a storyline and main characters; its beauty, as in all her work, is her elegantly-described, relatable explanations of the minutiae of living as well as the dynamic characters and their relationships with each other and their world. A real pleasure to read! 4.5 stars

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Becker
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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This is an older book by Elizabeth Strout that I started a few days ago and I‘m really invested in it. I love the narrative voice.

Blaire I read this earlier this year for my family book club and we all really liked it. 5y
26 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Blaire
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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The high school math teacher that takes advantage of teenage Amy in this book is a super #creep. I love Elizabeth Strout and loved hitting up her backlist and reading this novel about the relationship between a mother and daughter. #anglophileapril

Reviewsbylola Pretty sure I read this one but it‘s been a loooooooong time! 6y
Cinfhen Ooooh, I don‘t think I read this one!! 6y
Blaire @Reviewsbylola @Cinfhen I really liked it. Strout writes complete/complex characters so well. Mother-daughter relationship felt very real and also liked her depiction of female friendship. 6y
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Mdargusch Creepy old man. 🤨 6y
Centique I really liked this too @Cinfhen keep thinking about it. Such an atmospheric book too. 6y
emilyhaldi Slowly working my way through her books!! ❤️ 6y
Cinfhen Good to know @Centique 🤗🤗🤗 6y
51 likes7 comments
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Blaire
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

Love Strout! Primarily the story of one mother daughter relationship, Amy and Isabelle, it also delves into teenage #infatuation, the intricacies of adult relationships and friendships and how we learn to accept ourselves and each other. It felt so real. A book where I felt completely involved in their world. #literarylove

vkois88 It sounds good! 6y
67 likes1 comment
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Blaire
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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In a bit of reader serendipity I finished Shirley and immediately started this book which takes places in Shirley Falls and features women working in a mill. Perhaps Strout is a Bronte fan? #shirlitesunite

saresmoore Fun! 6y
batsy Oh, interesting! 6y
merelybookish Interesting! I read that book a few years ago. Strout's writing is so good! 6y
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merelybookish Also so impressed you and @batsy are finished. I still have 100ish pages. 6y
rubyslippersreads @merelybookish Don‘t worry—I‘m way behind you. 😊 6y
LeahBergen Now that‘s cool! 👍🏻 6y
Blaire @merelybookish she is one of my favorite authors! 6y
Blaire @LeahBergen @batsy @saresmoore @merelybookish it was so fun to see the name of the town when I started it. 😍 6y
66 likes1 stack add8 comments
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Centique
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

Finished my GR challenge (90 books) with a 5 star read. 😊This is Elizabeth Strout‘s debut novel and her skill at rendering complex characters and the gut punches in the small details she uses is astounding. Isabelle is a single mother of teenaged Amy. They are both intensely quiet and aloof from neighbours but something has happened to tear them apart. Over a slow stultifyingly hot summer, Strout unveils their story layer by layer.

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Centique
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

Finished my GR challenge (90 books) with a 5 star read. 😊This is Elizabeth Strout‘s debut novel and her skill at rendering complex characters and the gut punches in the small details she uses is astounding. Isabelle is a single mother of teenaged Amy. They are both intensely quiet and aloof from neighbours but something has happened to tear them apart. Over a slow stultifyingly hot summer, Strout unveils their story layer by layer.

Ruthiella I have Abide with Me by Strout that I need to pick up soon. I‘ve liked much of her books but I LOVED Lucy Barton ❤️ 6y
30 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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TLVZ721
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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This is my first Elizabeth Strout and, so far, I‘m really enjoying the story, characters, and her writing style.

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ShariEstaLeando
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

Well, that was harrowing!

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JoAnn2
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Irma read

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mrp27
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Cobscook
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Church book sale. All these plus four for my daughter for two bucks!👍🏼📚💯

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Jas16
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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This was the first Elizabeth Strout I read. I bought it as a bargain book and was blown away by this story about a mother and daughter. I meant to keep an eye about for her next book and then forgot until I was amazed by Olive Kitteridge and looked up her back list. Moments like make me think about organizing my bookshelves. #booksaboutmothers #maybookflowers

46 likes4 stack adds
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alisonrose
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
Pickpick

This was better than I expected, and definitely heavier. A good exploration of a mother/daughter relationship, and how fraught things can become because of small actions. I really liked the internal struggles of the mother and just wanted to hug almost everyone in the story. (ALMOST everyone, there are a couple douchebags who I want to slap.) A dark story in many ways, but realistic and well written. 4/5 ⭐

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alisonrose
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout

What she felt...was a fury and pain so deep that she would never have believed a person could feel it and still remain alive.

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alisonrose
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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I don't know much about this one, but I absolutely loved Olive Kitteridge, so hopefully that bodes well! #nowreading

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chowmeyow
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Picking up books left on stoops in Brooklyn since 2011.

lynneamch Ha! Loved doing that when visiting my daughter there. She's moved to DC now, so sadly missing so many Brooklyn perks: walking the promenade to Dumbo, Jacque Torres, Almondine, . . . 🙄 8y
9 likes1 comment
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CuriousG
Amy & Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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merelybookish
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Trying to read the #tbr books on my bookshelf. First up, Strout's debut novel from 1998, a first edition I scored at a school book sale. Loved Olive Kitteridge so prepared to love this, too. A blurb from Alice Munro on the back helps.

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TLFinn
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
Pickpick

This author can write a character into existence: she starts to unravel in your head, and then you see her--walking around outside with you. Spot on. My third Strout book in a row. Can't stop. Now onto updating my neglected Reading Log!

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TLFinn
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Wine in a mason jar, campfire, sleeping baby, and a great book: kicking off the long weekend with ❤️ tonight.

MrBook Nice pic! 😊👍🏻 8y
2 likes1 comment
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Alena
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

As if the spot-on mother-daughter dynamic and themes of loneliness and longing weren't enough, Strout's writing of secondary characters elevates this book from good to great! Can't believe it was her first novel.

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TLFinn
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Wanting to start this immediately after finishing Olive, but it's past midnight. Sleep or read! The timeless struggle.

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Denisereads75
Amy and Isabelle | Elizabeth Strout
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Pickpick

I loved this novel about a single mother and her teenage daughter. Elizabeth Strout is so honest in her writing. There were many truths that hit home to me. I highly reckoned this novel.