Arrangements in Blue frames the author’s life through Joni Mitchell’s blue album. The book is written beautifully and left me with an achy feeling and lots to think about.

I think it was beautifully written, just really long winded and did not make me feel any better about living alone. Felt a bit sad to me which I don't think was the intention but just didn't land.

Arrangements in Blue is a book about grief about a love and life that never were -- the all too common feeling of why not me? Why am I not enough?

I related to parts and didn't relate to others. I grew frustrated at Key's insistence on doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. But overall, it was a melancholy memoir of a single woman in a world that values romantic relationships above all else.

Happy to highlight this contemplative new release in “The Art of Living” a round-up of new and notable spring reads about how we live now, for the Books section of Zoomer magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

Gloria Steinem remarked that a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle. The message is clear: Women don’t need men to lead fulfilling lives. While that’s true, Amy Key’s achingly raw memoir explores the emotional toll of becoming resigned to a lifetime without a partner. It’s a unique brand of melancholy, one Key explores creatively through songs in Joni Mitchell’s oeuvre. Your heart aches when the author recounts the imprints of her grandparents’ time together: “A still-warm cup in the sink. Or coming home to see a light on in the hall, home’s mood already animated.”

A heartfelt collection of essays and musings on the author’s life, Joni Mitchell’s Blue album, the entangled themes of loneliness and intimacy. It ponders whether we can rid ourselves of the underlying expectation of needing romantic love to have lived a “complete” life.

I took my time reading this collection, dipping in and out of it chapter by chapter. Allowing myself to pause and sit with each section I read. I could see so much of my younger self in Key’s experiences with romance, the tethering of selfhood and worth to whether or not I had a romantic partner. The cycle of creating an idea of a person, becoming enamored with it, and subsequently being heartbroken when the reality doesn’t align - or shatters in front of you.

The essays incorporate scenes from the author’s life, with Key looking back at the landscape of her romantic self and how her outlook on romance was shaped by the lyrics of Joni Mitchell’s album, Blue. Over the course of the collection, we see Key grappling with a world that is often catered to couples, and the journey she’s had in finding and establishing herself and the life she wants to live - regardless of whether or not she has a romantic partner.

The theme of loneliness is often touched on and returned to in this collection. Key contends with loneliness, whether it be in the aftermath of a breakup, having the realization that every adult in her life has “found their person”, looking at how her personal relationships have shifted as friends get married and have kids, or even just the absence of a theoretical romantic partner. The impact these things have had, and how they’ve shaped her. I read The Lonely City by Olivia Laing earlier this year, and this collection felt like an extension of the conversation Laing’s book was having about loneliness. However, Arrangements in Blue explored this theme on a much more intimate and one-to-one level, over the course of a life.

This collection is poignant and raw, gorgeously written, and intimately vulnerable. Amy Key takes us through the highs and lows, the reflections, and the milestones that have made up her adult life. As a reader, I saw parts of myself in Amy and her experience, and have since been able to look back with a deeper level of understanding and kindness on certain times in my life.

Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton and Company for allowing me to access an advanced reader’s copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Amy Key uses Joni Mitchell's Blue, the album that taught her about romantic love, to examine living a life without that kind of partnership. Through the lens of Blue's lyrics, she explores what home life, travel, children, and soul connections can look like for a woman who remains romantically unattached. There's a valuable feminist investigation at this book's core: what does it take to create a meaningful life as a single woman? And, I found it did get tiresome, repeatedly revisiting the same insecurities and feelings of lack, even as I understand many of those pressures are repeatedly coming from society. Some chapters worked better than others. The one about her complicated relationship with poet mentor Roddy Lumsden, in particular, stood out. Overall, a soft pick. Thanks to netgally for the ARC.

Delicate, tender, vulnerable and utterly gorgeous. I have so much respect and appreciation to the way Amy Key allowed the reader to get such a large piece of her heart and mind in this memoir. I thought this was such a refreshing take on longing, loneliness, and negotiating your own version of adulthood between what you desire, what you should desire, and the idea of the nuclear family and romantic companionship.
I also loved the way all these conversations were centered around this one album that defined so much of Key's life, and found that to be such a clever way of approaching both her life experience and these broader themes.

Thank you to W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Amy Key’s Arrangements in Blue is aptly titled after Joni Mitchell’s Blue album, yet Key uses both of these elements as a lens through which to view relationships. In essence, blue and its connotations of calmness, loyalty, and responsibility are what Key seeks in life but the experience of failed after failed relationship invites her to investigate the significance that society places on romantic love and moves beyond this ideal to explore other means to feel fulfilled in life, asking herself questions: What is a home? How can someone create a home of their own? Is parenthood for me? Do material possessions bring joy? Can people impact our lives? Are the expectations of romantic or even true love so essential to our journeys? Is inner peace achievable? In every chapter, Key revisits her younger self with great vulnerability to help the reader get a clearer sense of her mindset and her reasoning behind many of her life choices. This is a memoir that sets off to challenge romantic love’s promises only to conclude that people can proudly live life on one’s own terms in whatever form that may be.

There’s no doubt that Amy Key is a magical writer. While slow-paced, her memoir kept me enthralled throughout; her framing of the story through the lens of Joni Mitchell’s Blue album tracks was uniquely done. Her vulnerability was admirable, and I found myself underlining many lines and thinking, “Wow — she articulated that feeling in a way I have never been able to.” While Amy’s book is certainly honest, raw, and real, it wasn’t as uplifting as I had hoped. When I closed the book, I felt more terrified of living without romantic love than before I had opened it.

i did not finish this collection, but i'm still giving it four stars. i enjoyed the writing style, and there was nothing inherently wrong with any of the essays inside, but i am just not the target audience for them. maybe i'll come back to them at another time.

I was drawn to this book, knowing every word, melody, and nuance of Joni Mitchell’s Blue album; I can relate specific lines to specific times.
This book is inspired by Mitchell, a beautiful collection of very personal essays about love and life, filled with colorful characters. Although Key’s experiences are far from my own, I could relate to her writings and inspirations.

Whew, This is one of the most beautiful memoirs/essay collections I've read in some time. Key captures, in poetic, vulnerable, atmospheric words, the precise combination of self-love and fierce independence that comes with being a single woman, and the deep melancholy and sense of shame that comes with getting late into ones 30s-40s without being in a romantic relationship. While Joni Mitchell's seminal album Blue is used as the backbone for these essays, one does not have to be familiar with the album (though I highly, highly recommend listening to it anyway) in order to enjoy this book. If you're anything like me you will feel gut-punched by certain lines as you read, the air totally sucked out of you, and in the next line feel real, true hope. I loved this and I'm so grateful to Key for truly putting her heart on display for all to read. Highly recommend for hopeless romantics everywhere.

In this book, Key uses Joni Mitchell’s Blue album as the backdrop for her essays on life and loneliness. Each chapter was inspired by a specific song, and she discussed how the songs shaped her perception of love and how her own experience differed. Many of the essays were lovely: thoughtful, nuanced, and poignant. I hope she finds the love and companionship she deserves.

Arrangements in Blue is a lovely, lyrical rumination on the experiences of being a single woman in today's society, all set against the backdrop of Joni Mitchell's classic Blue album. You don't have to be single to relate to Amy Key's words and sentiments - she digs deep into the human heart and speaks eloquently for so many of us. That said, I felt such a kinship with her words, felt that she had peeked into my emotional makeup and laid out a map of its landscape for all to see, down to her love of the water and the sea.. Each essay in this collection is carefully arranged, building on and informing the other, creating a crescendo of longing and desire, heartache and heartful, beautifully capturing our need for connection, for intimacy, for love. Thank you NetGalley and W.W. Norton for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this gorgeous book. #ArrangementsinBlue #NetGalley.

This book was beautifully written, and I loved how she tied it into music. While I do not live alone, it reminded me of when I did. She did an excellent job viscerally explaining how living alone can feel - the push and the pull of wanting to be alone versus wanting to have someone with you.

I’ve only read the first chapter, but I wanted to leave my review now because I was so moved by it. It feels like Ms. Key has reached into my brain and expressed (far more eloquently than I ever could) my exact thoughts on being alone. I’m 35 and I’ve been single for 7 years. I’ve been actively searching for romantic love for as long as I can remember, but I have never actually been in love. It’s what I want more than anything in the world. I felt compelled to write this review so quickly because I wanted to tell Ms. Key that I’m in complete solidarity with her sentiments and thank her for writing this book. I can’t wait to read the rest of the book and see what lessons and further ideas she has to share with me.
P.S. I’ve never actually listened to “Blue”, but I was so intrigued by this book that I just purchased a copy. I’m excited to hear it for the first time!