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3.16 AVERAGE
3.16 AVERAGE
I couldn't help comparing it to Freedom as I read--the white midwestern kids at college similarity, I guess. Its lightness of touch, the wit that sometimes just shimmers off the page, the wistfulness--all in all, I have to say I enjoyed it more than Freedom as a reading experience. The passivity of the main character was at times troubling, but after all that is the point. Better to keep those bright young people distracted by their college courses in sufism, winetasting and soundtracks to war movies, so that you can get their kid brothers to enlist to go die in pointless wars.
Anything I can think to say about this book would be a spoiler, beyond that it's one of the most lyrical texts I've ever consumed, and consumed it I did, like sour candy. There.
Tassie Keltjin is a 20-year-old Midwest farm girl who is now away at college in a larger city than that in which she grew up. She gets a part-time job as a nanny to a couple who are eager to adopt a child; so eager, that she is hired before a child is placed with them, and she is asked to participate in the “parent” interviews. She has a roommate who is mostly absent - spending all her time at her boyfriend’s place - and a possible new romance with a Brazilian student she sits next to in “Intro to Sufism.” Her father grows organic, specialty potatoes that are all the rage in trendy restaurants as far away as Chicago. Her younger brother Robert is struggling in his senior year of high school and trying to decide whether to go into the Army, go to college, or attend the local truck driving school (the latter said only half jokingly), and he wants his sister’s advice.
If that plot summary doesn’t sound gripping, it is because it isn’t. This is more of a character study than a plot-driven story. Moore’s writing is wonderful in places; I kept reading aloud to anyone who would listen. She plays with words and images and completely entertained that part of my brain. But I kept wondering where the story was going.
There are some major things that happen to Tassie. And she is faced with issues of racism, terrorism in post 9/11 America, budding romance, loss of loved ones, etc. A lot of plot elements – big and small – seem to just … end, never to be mentioned again.
For example … Baby Mary-Emma is taken away, never to be heard from again. Reynaldo turns out to be not-only-NOT Brazilian, but probably a terrorist … or is he? Murph is nearly poisoned by a concoction made by Tassie’s nutso boss Sarah, apparently with the intent to poison her husband and/or his paramour … or not. The whole scene where she crawls into the casket with the remains of her brother is not just creepy, it’s completely unbelievable.
Okay then … what about character development? I like a character-driven novel. But I have to be able to connect to the character in some way, to understand her (even if I do not like her), to want to know what and how she thinks and feels and how her emotions and values affect her actions. I liked Tassie just fine. We do get a lot of her musings, but there is a lot of rambling in her thoughts and I don’t get a clear sense of who she is. I just didn’t connect with her strongly enough to overcome the lack of plot. As for the other characters in the book … I didn’t connect with them at all.
So I give it 3 stars primarily because I love Moore’s ability with words. Too bad she could not manage to give me a story line that engaged me and kept me wanting more Moore.
If that plot summary doesn’t sound gripping, it is because it isn’t. This is more of a character study than a plot-driven story. Moore’s writing is wonderful in places; I kept reading aloud to anyone who would listen. She plays with words and images and completely entertained that part of my brain. But I kept wondering where the story was going.
There are some major things that happen to Tassie. And she is faced with issues of racism, terrorism in post 9/11 America, budding romance, loss of loved ones, etc. A lot of plot elements – big and small – seem to just … end, never to be mentioned again.
Spoiler
For example … Baby Mary-Emma is taken away, never to be heard from again. Reynaldo turns out to be not-only-NOT Brazilian, but probably a terrorist … or is he? Murph is nearly poisoned by a concoction made by Tassie’s nutso boss Sarah, apparently with the intent to poison her husband and/or his paramour … or not. The whole scene where she crawls into the casket with the remains of her brother is not just creepy, it’s completely unbelievable.
Okay then … what about character development? I like a character-driven novel. But I have to be able to connect to the character in some way, to understand her (even if I do not like her), to want to know what and how she thinks and feels and how her emotions and values affect her actions. I liked Tassie just fine. We do get a lot of her musings, but there is a lot of rambling in her thoughts and I don’t get a clear sense of who she is. I just didn’t connect with her strongly enough to overcome the lack of plot. As for the other characters in the book … I didn’t connect with them at all.
So I give it 3 stars primarily because I love Moore’s ability with words. Too bad she could not manage to give me a story line that engaged me and kept me wanting more Moore.
another recommendation from amazon
small college town story...
Eh...didn't hate it, didn't love it. Parts were really interesting, but other parts were slow, odd, didn't seem to fit in....and I never quite cared enough about any of the characters.
small college town story...
Eh...didn't hate it, didn't love it. Parts were really interesting, but other parts were slow, odd, didn't seem to fit in....and I never quite cared enough about any of the characters.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A coming-of-age story. I really enjoyed the narrator, Tassie--her sense of humor, her tendency to over-think and philosophize. In some ways, this is a retelling of Jane Eyre. A girl leaving her childhood behind takes a job as a childcare provider with a semi-mysterious employer. Rochester's ward is replaced by Edward (the name another nod to Jane Eyre) & Sarah's soon-to-be-adopted Mary- Emma. Their last name, Thornwood, invokes Thornfield Hall. Mary-Emma can also be viewed, however, as Bertha, significantly the middle name that Sarah gives her,--an Other who is in some ways entrapped and victimized. Mary-Emma's room is even in the attic of the Thornfield house.
The employer's dark secret comes out into the open and our Tassie/ Jane figure parts ways with the household. Ultimately, where Jane Eyre ends with Rochester and Jane reconnecting and the line, "Reader, I married him," A Gate at the Stairs ends with Edward calling Tassie to ask her out and Tassie telling us, "Reader, I did not even have coffee with him." LOL.
Sarah was also a compelling character, and I would have been interested to see (that part of) the story from her perspective, too.
Moore explores racism and the post-9/11 world: Mary-Emma is half-black; Sarah starts a support group for other parents of minority children; Tassie dates a secret Muslim extremist ; Tassie's brother, Robert, joins the military directly out of high school and is immediately sent to Afghanistan after Basic Training.
The employer's dark secret comes out into the open and our Tassie/ Jane figure parts ways with the household. Ultimately, where Jane Eyre ends with
Sarah was also a compelling character, and I would have been interested to see (that part of) the story from her perspective, too.
Moore explores racism and the post-9/11 world: Mary-Emma is half-black; Sarah starts a support group for other parents of minority children; Tassie dates a secret
In this New York Times bestseller with unnecessary post-9/11 ghosts, the book's quirky-yet-featureless protagonist bumbles through a series of uncomfortable and unsuccessful relationships that could have interesting social commentary except for each of them ending with incoherent and abrupt tragedy. Everything turns out poorly, and the only lesson of it is a bleakly unrealistic, "that's just how it is sometimes."
Phenomenal on a sentence / paragraph level but the structure / plot was really all over the place and it felt like it was trying to do too much and not giving enough time or focus to any particular thread
Did not enjoy at all. I have no clue what the book was supposed to be about. There were too many little stories within this one novel, and they weren't even good. I enjoyed the main character, but everything else was just dull. I skipped most of the last 10 pages, just reading dialogue so I could get through it. That was pointless...I could have put the book down 200 pages ago...