Arrangements in Blue is a heart felt memoir capturing in a way only a poet could have, the author's experience of a void in her life, a sometimes profound sense of grief over living her life devoid of romantic love. It expounds on her sense and experiences of aloneness and how society is designed to cater to couples and love and not to singles and aloneness. In her girlhood the author became emotionally attached to Joni Mitchell's album, Blue. It became her personal anthem and she thrilled to the songs secure in the knowledge that someday that romantic love depicted in those songs would be hers.

Yet as the years went on, the romantic relationship that leads to deep, abiding love and couplehood, marriage and children did not happen. And as more and more time went by, and her friends became married and had children, Ms. Key started to feel the void, the "loss" or lack, more and more. Her writing is sublime, as you often find when a poet has turned to prose; and she has the ability to record her experiences and emotions in a wonderfully flowing, heartfelt manner.

Ultimately this book is a love letter to the self and a reminder that we shouldn't be so hard on ourselves as we often are. Arrangements in Blue truly resonated with me. I understood much of what the author went through though of course every person's experiences are unique. I often think back on how I attached my emotions to music at a young age and in so doing it seems deceived myself, causing myself to live in an alternate reality. That seemed to correlate with the author's attachment to Blue.

The author's journey to how she has come to terms with living without romantic love is laid bare and her bravery in exposing her innermost feelings and experiences is commendable. She has done a fine job of it. ( )

I am always interested in books on solitude, but this is more about loneliness and extreme neediness set against the narrator's fondness for Joni Mitchell's album, Blue, and her failed relationships: "I wanted love so badly I persuaded myself things were present in our relationship that were not. Every word of rejection, denial and disinterest was reshaped by me into something more ambiguous, more promising." Not my cuppa, but I salute her for heartfelt reflections. ( )

2.5 stars

This is a hard one to rate, because I wouldn't say that I liked it. But there were so many thoughts that I resonated with, as related to being single. I've written down so many quotes in my book journal, things I've thought to myself too many times.

The book is threaded around a Joni Mitchell album - an artist I'd never heard of, and couldn't care less about. I didn't feel like this major theme actually added anything to the storytelling, because the reader doesn't make a personal connection with this artist. We're just taking the author's word for it that this music matters.

There's a lot of navel gazing here. The writing style, overall, is quite vague, and like the author was trying really hard to seem artsy.

The author is so emotionally unhealthy, it's not even funny. She grows up a little toward the end, but not much. She's put romantic love and money on high pedestals, viewing them as the be-all, end-all of life - and she also weirdly connects them together. She vacations around the world just to stay at resorts the whole time and swim in their pools. Maybe she'd have the house she wants so badly if she spent her money more wisely. She has a shopping addiction and puts everything on credit.

When she talks about wanting a child, adoption isn't even thought about, let alone seen as an option. She just whines that her national health care (she's British?) won't pay for her to have IVF.

She has a laissez faire attitude about getting drunk and high, sleeping around, having affairs with married individuals, etc. Sex is often described crudely, particularly by the use of the f-word, and there were far too many details about the author's sex life. Why do authors feel the need to share this kind of thing with a million strangers?

Other trigger warnings: Child sexual abuse, abortion, and a lot of profanity.

A Bible verse is taken completely out of context.

There were a lot of typos and grammatical errors that were distracting.
( )

Arrangements in Blue by Amy Key (audiobook also narrated by Key) is not so much a book lamenting her status as single and living alone as it is reflecting on what her expectations (and society's) have been throughout her journey to this point in her life. As such, it speaks deeply to any of us who have been through, or are living, a similar life experience. Even if we haven't arrived at the same current destination as she has.

Following Joni Mitchell's iconic album, Key's essays dive into moments and feelings of inadequacy as well as those moments when she realizes there are not inadequacies in her so much as in how we as a society perceive life to be for a single person. I used to be one of those that seemed to be as much in love with the idea of being in love as with the actual people I loved. As several relationships faltered, I came to the realization that intimacy is not confined to either romance or the physical acts we so often mistakenly call making love. Devoid of any feeling for the other person they are definitely empty, desperate acts, but the feelings don't have to be a claiming as in most romantic relationships.

I found Key's honesty in looking at both herself and at the society within which she lives refreshing. Like most of us can relate to, there is far less certainty and far more questioning in our daily lives than we want to admit, even (perhaps especially?) in our romantic relationships. The facade of certainty is often what allows us to keep playing the game even if we don't want to. For those fortunate enough to want to play and to have found their ideal (or close enough) partner, it can be wonderful. But that doesn't mean that is or should be the goal for everyone, we are all different. Now if only society would stop implying there must be a defect in anyone who is single for any length of time, or, God forbid, by choice long term.

I fluctuated between taking in these "notes" as memoirish work that has me inhabiting Key's life vicariously and as thought pieces that use personal anecdotes to drive home the ideas. So I spent some time thinking about how she might have felt during some of these periods and some time reflecting on my own life and beliefs. This worked very well for me, I didn't feel alone while working through my personal feelings and felt care for her while she worked through hers.

This is not going to feel the same for every reader, even more so than most books. Some will get defensive when they recognize themselves and lash out, some will only see whining where I see trying to understand oneself. But for those who connect with attempts to understand one's life, this will largely be a very well-written success.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )

loved it, so sad and bracing. idiosyncratically honest and brilliant and moved me tremendously. ( )