Alan Reed (1)

Alan Reed’s delicate, minimalist style quietly echoes the muted lives Isobel and Emile lead after Emile departs for the city to become a puppet master and artist. The work explores the dust-filled interspaces that lie between the crevices of our day-to-day life, where memories and dreams will accumulate if left undisturbed.

Isobel and Emile is not a love story--it is the story of what comes after a love story; it is about the crumbs that get left behind. The choppy, detached narrative mimics the redundant and cyclic routine of daily life, haunting the reader as he or she sees how the two eventually nestle into their distinct worlds that share a commonality in their blandness and emptiness. A series of unsent letters written from Isobel to Emile pepper the book and provide insight into their heart-wrenchingly mundane and hypnotic experience of post-love life, though I agree with some that the stylistic detachment leaves little room for character depth or development, with the exception of Isobel’s final decision. What does one hold onto when love has parted, and the memory of that love begins to fade? Where do we find that which gives us courage? What makes us feel as though we are more than our daily, monotonous routines? Isobel's mind fills with such questions, as she takes up the job and living space that was formerly Emile's, longing to be something more. Meanwhile, Emile's big city dreams remain hazy and colorless.

All in all, the stylization of Reed’s writing made this a read that, although I could appreciate, was not very enjoyable for myself. I must say however, that it was refreshing to be challenged such literature. My heart felt for Isobel and Emile, and while I see how Reed has strategically detracted details and depth to emphasize that hollow longing, that hoping, that rests within us all, I wish I felt during my reading what Isobel herself wanted to feel: “I want my body to be electric and alive, not this sad, worn-out thing. I want to be more than this. I have to be” (101). Was this book worth my time? Yes.

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