Reviews

I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore

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beanpod's review against another edition

3.0

I love Lorrie Moore. And some of her short stories stay with me, even ones I last remember reading at 25. This book wasn’t that. In the end she did have my heart, but it took me a lot to make it to that point in this extremely short book. I’m he ideas didn’t seem to live on the page as much. Still; even in this, her more beautiful sentences make me want to just keep re-reading them for a while.

lilyluan's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

theglorifiedbabysitter's review

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

I ended up liking this book more than anticipated. It’s very well-written and has an interesting premise. There are many quotable lines.

shehtaz's review against another edition

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2.0

Did not finish.

tenderedge's review against another edition

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5.0

Right book, right moment in my life. Genius.

literarycrushes's review against another edition

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2.0

As a fan of Lorrie Moore’s short stories, I was excited to hear about the release of I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, her first novel in nearly 15 years. Written like three short stories woven together, we first meet Finn, a suspended high school teacher, as he visits his dying brother at a hospice center in the Bronx. It’s November 2016, and the backdrop of political turmoil colors everything, from his inner anxieties to his childhood reminiscence. We then follow Finn as he rushes back home after learning of his ex-girlfriend’s death by her own hand. All of this is strangely broken up by small chapters of letters written by an older woman to her sister in the Civil war-era.
The novel is part ghost story, both in how it is haunted by death as well as in a very literal way, which I won’t spoil. It’s told in a sort of quirky, rapid-fire philosophical conversation style that felt beautiful in some sections and somewhat grating & self-indulgent in others. Overall, it's musings on death and grief were classic Moore, and yet the rest of the book sort of got in its own way.
Still, it was filled with lots of gems of sentences, like “He pulled his hands away. He knew Lily like the backs of them – that is, he never looked closely, too busy reading his own palm.” & “When not paying attention in life, he assumed you could end up in Ohio.”