Isabelle has had a crush on her married boss for more than 10 years and she feels her life is being wasted away, and secretly, even without daring to. But a lot of its people live in secret turmoil. I realise from this that I tend to prefer quick paced plots, while Amy & Isabelle is quite a slow burner. Isabelle and Amy, mother and daughter, live in Shirley Falls, a small and quiet little town in Maine where apparently nothing much ever happens. I found that book easier to read, as it’s broken into connecting short stories. This also happened when I read Olive Kitteridge, one of the first books I purchased by Strout. This made it difficult to keep reading, particularly around the middle of the book. Occasionally I found that there was too much detail in the setting and not enough pace in the plot. Strout includes small details about the lives of some of the town’s residents throughout the novel, which adds to the complexity of the story. The story explores a complicated and strained mother-daughter relationship in the cleverly constructed town of Shirley Falls. A lyrical, closely observant first novel, charting the complex, resilient relationship of a mother and daughter. In Amy & Isabelle, the lives of a daughter and mother begin to spiral out of control when Amy is caught in an affair with her math teacher. I have read Strout’s books before so I was already aware of her astute ability to create an enchanting story based on themes of loneliness, the minutia of everyday life and complex relationships. The synopsis intrigued me straightaway and I’m always hearing good things about Elizabeth Strout and her novels. When I found Amy & Isbaelle in my local bookshop, I knew that this was my next read.
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