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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
While not my favorite Moore collection, I tremendously enjoyed the sad, strange, smart, funny stories in this collection and the multiple ways 'bark' frames and informs the collection.
Phenomenal collection of short stories. So amazing that I am immediately re-reading them all. What a talent Ms. Moore is!
i love well crafted building blocks of sentences and a deft capacity for the economy of language. a good storyline helps too.
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed the first story and the last one, the rest kind of blended together. But I love this audiobook narrator for Lorrie Moore so that was great.
I just inadvertently (and unfairly) evaluate every short story collection I read against the standard of Alice Munro, who I think is THE best short story writer.
As an English as a second language speaker, I also try to learn English while reading, and Moore language in many stories is too American (if that makes any sense) and too vernacular (and arcane phrase and idiom heavy) that any foreign reader might have trouble understanding the story fully. Also, it seems like she sometimes sacrifices realistic portrayal in the service of witticism. This is not the case AT ALL with Munro's language.
There's no doubt that she is a great writer, and her humor is slight yet very effective.
The first story was the best in the collection, about the travails of a recently divorced man. The story called "Referential" is interesting in a sense that it is a blatant derivation (intentionally) from one of Nabokov's stories.
As an English as a second language speaker, I also try to learn English while reading, and Moore language in many stories is too American (if that makes any sense) and too vernacular (and arcane phrase and idiom heavy) that any foreign reader might have trouble understanding the story fully. Also, it seems like she sometimes sacrifices realistic portrayal in the service of witticism. This is not the case AT ALL with Munro's language.
There's no doubt that she is a great writer, and her humor is slight yet very effective.
The first story was the best in the collection, about the travails of a recently divorced man. The story called "Referential" is interesting in a sense that it is a blatant derivation (intentionally) from one of Nabokov's stories.
Lorrie Moore has never let me down (,: this was a delicious collection of short stories, a good taste of her more creative writing but also very mundane writing Moore is so rooted in and good at. i described this collection as stories of people in crises, which might be the only kind of stories Moore writes, but i think this was pretty pinnacle. maybe her most consistently pessimistic!??? there are some beautiful love stories, some ironic stories that made me giggle to myself, and several tragic pieces of life. majority of the stories were bite size and could be read in one sitting (had some incredible morning teas enjoying this book, moments of pure bliss). and only two were around fifty pages (the things Lorrie Moore can do with fifty pages). all in all a wonderful reminder why i love this author so much. easy recommend!!
“It was April and the weather had changed into something oppressively lovely, with an urban breeze of garlic, diesel, and hyacinth.”
“It was April and the weather had changed into something oppressively lovely, with an urban breeze of garlic, diesel, and hyacinth.”
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I will read anything Lorrie Moore writes. The fact that she's from Wisconsin only sweetens the experience.