Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout

After enjoying Olive Kitteridge and Abide With Me by the same author, I requested this book from the library, and as expected, this lady continues to impress me with her writing style and story telling ability.
This book's main theme is a relationship between a single mother and her teen daughter, in a small town in New England, which was also the venue of the other two books. I won't divulge the story line as that would ruin it, but what really amazed me was the author's ability to give high definition insight into the minds of her main characters and also the satelite characters. Often I felt uncomfortable when it seemed she got just a little close to home, as far as knowing about my frailties and weakness as a human being. Several of her characters had the selfsame insecurities as often beset me, and Isabel especially was such a believable, strong, but often pathetic character, with whom I often identified. I felt her pain and embarrassment, and have experienced similar obsessive self-deprecating thought patterns, and it was a bit disconcerting to read of them in a novel.
A couple of issues were left unresolved in the book, I found that a bit unsatisfactory, and the blow by blow(so to speak) of Amy performing oral sex on her boy friend was gratuitous and a bit over the top (read: nauseating) That could have been edited a bit without any loss of literary quality in my prudish opinion.
After I finished the book( which i read over a 24 hr day, finding it difficult to do anything else) I closed it and said,"wow, that was some story" and since finishing it, have often found myself thinking about the character, to the point of wondering what they might be up to. I think a sequel would be another fascinating read, and I just might write to the author and tell her so!!!
Great read: I would recommend it!