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alittlebird's review
5.0
This is not what I'd call a happy read, but there are clever and sometimes even ridiculous things that happen within these stories of stagnation and despondency. And the writing is lyrical and visual but never distracting. Moore has a very adept hand and a very cutting and insightful view of the human condition.
rbreade's review
Lorrie Moore is at it again in these eight short stories, brilliantly deploying the exclamation mark--what other writer has so utterly colonized a punctuation mark in her name?--lavishing fresh dialogue and description across every page, sharp observations by the ton, and mixing wry, gentle humor into even the saddest of situations.
Examples, of course. In "Thank You for Having Me," the bridesmaids at a wedding "were in pastels: one the light peach of baby aspirin; one the seafoam green of low-dose clonazepam; the other the pale daffodil of the next lowest dose of clonazepam. What a good idea to have the look of Big Pharma at your wedding. Why hadn't I thought of that?" Not only is this fresh and funny, it characterizes the first-person narrator so much better than other approaches, such as, perhaps, the narrator ruminating on the pills she's taken, or continues to take, for a variety of troubles, unconnected to anything going on in the story at hand.
Tiny details of description? Moore doesn't skimp on them. In "Debarking," a refrigerator "puckered open, then whooshed shut." Puckered. Exactly.
Later in the same story, the narrator muses on dating after divorce, well into middle-age: "It had been so long, the whole thing seemed a kind of distant civilization, a planet of the apings!--graying, human flotsam with scorched internal landscapes mimicking the young, picking up where they had left off decades ago, if only they could recall where the hell that was."
Note one of her trademark exclamation marks as she quickly and vividly sketches a complex emotional undertaking in only a few sentences.
Well, more of this is available on each and every page.
Examples, of course. In "Thank You for Having Me," the bridesmaids at a wedding "were in pastels: one the light peach of baby aspirin; one the seafoam green of low-dose clonazepam; the other the pale daffodil of the next lowest dose of clonazepam. What a good idea to have the look of Big Pharma at your wedding. Why hadn't I thought of that?" Not only is this fresh and funny, it characterizes the first-person narrator so much better than other approaches, such as, perhaps, the narrator ruminating on the pills she's taken, or continues to take, for a variety of troubles, unconnected to anything going on in the story at hand.
Tiny details of description? Moore doesn't skimp on them. In "Debarking," a refrigerator "puckered open, then whooshed shut." Puckered. Exactly.
Later in the same story, the narrator muses on dating after divorce, well into middle-age: "It had been so long, the whole thing seemed a kind of distant civilization, a planet of the apings!--graying, human flotsam with scorched internal landscapes mimicking the young, picking up where they had left off decades ago, if only they could recall where the hell that was."
Note one of her trademark exclamation marks as she quickly and vividly sketches a complex emotional undertaking in only a few sentences.
Well, more of this is available on each and every page.
nssutton's review
3.0
This was worth the wait. It's not my favorite of Moore's, but it felt so good to be in her world again, tangled in her sentences, ear cocked to her asides. The story's felt like a small peep hole into someone else's life, letting you pull back before getting too involved. These with a bit more political than I remembered her work being. I much preferred the second half of the collection, from Wings to the very end.
manaledi's review against another edition
3.0
These stories ranged between 3 and 4 stars. Lorrie Moore has such an insightful way of writing about the hidden darkness in people. The stories were all interesting in their characters and thematic content, but not captivating.
isaac_c_hill's review
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
keight's review
4.0
Endearing stories that avoid getting maudlin, despite themes of disappointment and regret. Read more on the booklog
gilmoreguide's review
4.0
I’m going to start with a little confession: I’ve never read Lorrie Moore before (say that three times fast). Why not? Who knows? But now after finishing her latest collection of short stories, called Bark, I can say I’m fan. And if you’re one of those people who wants to buy free-range poultry, brine it, and slow roast it in the oven but accidentally sets the oven to Clean instead, then you should be reading her as well. In the course of eight stories, she slices life into the messy bits where the best intentions and worst actions come to the same end.
The rest of this review is available at The Gilmore Guide to Books: http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2014/02/bark/
The rest of this review is available at The Gilmore Guide to Books: http://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2014/02/bark/
rebeccarennerfl's review
This book was underwhelming. It seemed as though Moore made a list of clichés of the literary genre and tried to check them all off as she wrote. In other words, this book is full of ennui-induced navel-gazing and overly introspective, depressed divorcés. Not my cup of tea.
ilaiza_aviles's review
3.0
I’m not a big fan of short stories, I always feel like I miss the point they are trying to make. I did enjoy the story “wings” in this collection.
dcmr's review
2.0
For many years Lorrie Moore has been one of my favorite short story writers ("Self Help," "Birds of America") but Bark left me cold. The stories rang clever but elliptic, and I turned each page feeling not quite smart enough to "get" the message.