A review by cristella
A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore

4.0

This book is both hilarious and heartbreaking. It took a while for me to get through it after flying through about 2/3 of it. I won't give anything away but there are two rather devastating events toward the end of the novel. It's the first I've read by Lorrie Moore. Her writing here is marked by acute observation and strong imagery. Tassie Keljin is what you might annoyingly call 'quirky,' but not in an artificial way that I find in stories like those of Miranda July where I feel like she is trying to be as weird and amusing as possible. (I tried reading No One Belongs Here More than You , and felt like each story was trying to out-quirk the next.) I wouldn't recommend this to everyone because I found it put me in a rather melancholy mood at times, but there are some very humorous passages. Tassie's Mom is a riot as is here Dad. Loved the passage where her Mom is commenting on their small town's alleged visits from extraterrestrials.