What establishes Amy and Isabelle as literature?If literature deals with long known themes of human kind and presents them in ways that are...

I guess I am not entirely sold that the novel is
"Literature."  I think that there is value in the work, but I guess I need to be sold on
how the work actually is representative of "Literature."  This is probably where things
become a bit murky because the actual definition of what falls into "Literature" varies
and I am not sure if there is an absolute and totalizing definition of what "Literature"
is.  It is difficult to engage in such a discussion without injecting some level of
personal opinion into it.  With that in mind, I think that the subject matter of the
work and the manner in which Strout develops the plot sounds more like "popular writing"
more than a work of literary value.  I don't really see the work intertextually
connecting to others in continuing a discourse that has been established in literature,
nor do I see it seeking to broaden its own understanding to be included in a canon of
literature.  I see it as a work that details the incidents of love, infatuation,
secrets, and concealment.  I see it designed to evoke a popular reaction and a popular
aspect to it more than one of a "literature" nature.  In this, I think that there has to
be a greater discussion of what defines "Literature" and how this definition may or may
not apply to Strout's work.