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3.16 AVERAGE
3.16 AVERAGE
I have seen this book both the best and worst books of 2009. I understand why it is on both. Set in 2001, just post 9-11, the protagonist, Tassie, is a 20 year old college student in the Midwest. The book concludes a year later after many events happen around her, but not necessarily to her. There are big events that occur--adoption, death, poisoning, terrorism and war--but oddly, they all seem anticlimatic. Lorrie Moore has beautiful prose, but it doesn't seem to belong to the voice of her young narrator: "...the shoulders of the county trunks were bruised blue with chicory, then snowy with Queen Anne's lace, for a while mixing, making a kind of weed gingham along the roadside. Prairie grass flowers had been replanted in places and in others had never left: meadow rose, Turk's cap, lady slipper, laurel." Beautiful, but not a 20 year old's view. I am not sure I could say what this book is about. In the book, there is a gate at the stairs that is broken; this book also has some fractures.
A lot of themes covered in this book and the Reader is flying around to navigated them right along with the narrator (who is very endearing, by the way). Would recommend!
There is something about this book that makes me feel how I want a good book to make me feel. You know what I mean- that feeling of satisfaction and sweet melancholy that it's over, but knowing that it's never REALLY over, because this book was one of the ones that made it down deep and it'll always be a part of you. It's been awhile since I've found a story like this.
Tassie is a college freshman who finds a job as a nanny with Sarah and Edward. They are adopting a biracial toddler and need help, as Sarah is a full-time chef and Edward often travels for work. That's where we start. Where we end, the world looks and feels very differently.
The writing is magnificent. The evocation of emotion is subtle, yet not at all. It's just... right. Lorrie Moore has a gift.
Food: I had this dark chocolate bark with flake salt not too long ago. The salt is so fine that it just melts over the top, and so you don't get a grain of salt, you just get a touch of it, like the sea mist from the ocean on your lips. The sweetness mixed with the bitter notes, with that kiss of salt is perfectly balanced and you savor it, letting the flavor roll around in your mouth.
Tassie is a college freshman who finds a job as a nanny with Sarah and Edward. They are adopting a biracial toddler and need help, as Sarah is a full-time chef and Edward often travels for work. That's where we start. Where we end, the world looks and feels very differently.
The writing is magnificent. The evocation of emotion is subtle, yet not at all. It's just... right. Lorrie Moore has a gift.
Food: I had this dark chocolate bark with flake salt not too long ago. The salt is so fine that it just melts over the top, and so you don't get a grain of salt, you just get a touch of it, like the sea mist from the ocean on your lips. The sweetness mixed with the bitter notes, with that kiss of salt is perfectly balanced and you savor it, letting the flavor roll around in your mouth.
Not quite sure why this meandering tale is on so many MUST READ lists.
The story of a twenty year old college student who takes a nanny job.
The narrative was disingenuous to me, a 20 year old from Illinois just doesn't know the things this "girl" knows. She was naive in obvious ways (love), a bit too sophisticated in others (worldly knowledge).
The story of a twenty year old college student who takes a nanny job.
The narrative was disingenuous to me, a 20 year old from Illinois just doesn't know the things this "girl" knows. She was naive in obvious ways (love), a bit too sophisticated in others (worldly knowledge).
I thought the humour was dark and razor-sharp but fun and witty at times. I liked the main character and enjoyed the contrast of her perceptive, playful innocence with her employer/mentor(?)'s jaded, sour cleverness. All this word play was overwhelming at times but displayed such agility with and love of language that I was very, very impressed.
About two-thirds through the book things take a sinister turn indeed. I was able to put myself in the young shoes of Tassie aided by the memory of my own youth. How would she cope with these various dissapointments, realizations and traumas? With time and great difficulty as we all do I suppose.
I liked the author's respectful and un-clichéd vision of youth. There's a lot about religion and prejudices and just how we negotiate difference and convention. These are issues that this sensitive observant heroine registers and considers....in fresh ways, sometimes.
Concerning the last paragraph, I still ask myself, Is it possible that she would have had coffee with that monster? horrors! Is this what constitues a victory?
I'm still contemplating the title: There ARE many kinds of 'gates'in the novel...and a certain amount of trespassing too.
About two-thirds through the book things take a sinister turn indeed. I was able to put myself in the young shoes of Tassie aided by the memory of my own youth. How would she cope with these various dissapointments, realizations and traumas? With time and great difficulty as we all do I suppose.
I liked the author's respectful and un-clichéd vision of youth. There's a lot about religion and prejudices and just how we negotiate difference and convention. These are issues that this sensitive observant heroine registers and considers....in fresh ways, sometimes.
Concerning the last paragraph, I still ask myself, Is it possible that she would have had coffee with that monster? horrors! Is this what constitues a victory?
I'm still contemplating the title: There ARE many kinds of 'gates'in the novel...and a certain amount of trespassing too.
i didnt abide by my 100 page rule, but i bailed on the book.
I really loved the first 2/3-3/4 of this book, but felt the rest was weak.It felt like a novel and a novella or short story crammed together. I think those who have read it will understand where the break occurs--but to tell would be a spoiler.
I found Moore's wordplay to be fabulous. It amazes me how people can do that--especially repeatedly (maybe that's why this book took 10 years ;) ?)
Tassie's (and Robert's) confusion over life in general hit close to home. Didn't we all feel that way at 18 and 20? Sometimes even now? I was originally frustrated with not knowing about what happens to Reynaldo--but don't we all have people like Reynaldo in our pasts? And we don't know where they are, however many years later?--just like the girls Tassie knew in high school who don't even recognize her any more, they are in such a different place in their lives, though the same age.
A good book, a pretty fast read--why did it take 7 months to get from the library queue?????
I found Moore's wordplay to be fabulous. It amazes me how people can do that--especially repeatedly (maybe that's why this book took 10 years ;) ?)
Tassie's (and Robert's) confusion over life in general hit close to home. Didn't we all feel that way at 18 and 20? Sometimes even now? I was originally frustrated with not knowing about what happens to Reynaldo--but don't we all have people like Reynaldo in our pasts? And we don't know where they are, however many years later?--just like the girls Tassie knew in high school who don't even recognize her any more, they are in such a different place in their lives, though the same age.
A good book, a pretty fast read--why did it take 7 months to get from the library queue?????
challenging
dark
fast-paced