Amy and Isabelle

By Elizabeth Strout

Amy and Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout
  • Release Date: 2000-02-01
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 374 Ratings

Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The debut novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant mother, and a parent's rage at the discovery of her daughter's sexual secrets.

“A novel of shining integrity and humor, about the bravery and hard choices of what is called ordinary life.”—Alice Munro, Nobel Prize-winning author

Before there was Olive Kitteridge, there was Amy and Isabelle

In most ways, Isabelle and Amy are like any mother and her 16-year-old daughter, a fierce mix of love and loathing exchanged in their every glance. That they eat, sleep, and work side by side in the gossip-ridden mill town of Shirley Falls—a location fans of Strout will recognize from her critically acclaimed novel, The Burgess Boys—only increases the tension. And just when it appears things can't get any worse, Amy's sexuality begins to unfold, causing a vast and icy rift between mother and daughter that will remain unbridgeable unless Isabelle examines her own secretive and shameful past.

A Reader's Guide is included in this powerful first novel by the author who brought Olive Kitteridge to millions of readers.

Reviews

  • Do read!

    5
    By Jamiam987
    Really liked it
  • Amy & Isabelle

    4
    By eggEggbaby
    Elizabeth Strout's fluid style captures the complex relationship of a mother and daughter coming-of -age in Maine. I must note that the scene in which Mother angrily chops off her daughter's hair seems to be directly lifted from "Mommie Dearest"; whether Strout is aware of this is unknown. Otherwise, a nice read.
  • Amy and Isabel

    5
    By Oliver Jacobs
    This remarkable novel highlights the darkest and most brilliant moments of a mother-daughter relationship that withstand the personal and interpersonal growth of two beautiful women and the community/family that accompanies them on their journey.
  • Amy and Isabelle

    5
    By Sly gray
    I could not put this book down. All the characters in the book were believable and the reader could feel their pain and sorrow. The author described feelings and emotions of the characters so well. Excellent!