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

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

A coming-of-age story. I really enjoyed the narrator, Tassie--her sense of humor, her tendency to over-think and philosophize. In some ways, this is a retelling of Jane Eyre. A girl leaving her childhood behind takes a job as a childcare provider with a semi-mysterious employer. Rochester's ward is replaced by Edward (the name another nod to Jane Eyre) & Sarah's soon-to-be-adopted Mary- Emma. Their last name, Thornwood, invokes Thornfield Hall. Mary-Emma can also be viewed, however, as Bertha, significantly the middle name that Sarah gives her,--an Other who is

in some ways entrapped and victimized.

Mary-Emma's room is even in the attic of the Thornfield house. 

The employer's dark secret comes out into the open and our Tassie/ Jane figure parts ways with the household. Ultimately, where Jane Eyre ends with

Rochester and Jane reconnecting and the line, "Reader, I married him," A Gate at the Stairs ends with Edward calling Tassie to ask her out and Tassie telling us, "Reader, I did not even have coffee with him." LOL.

 

Sarah was also a compelling character, and I would have been interested to see (that part of) the story from her perspective, too. 

Moore explores racism and the post-9/11 world: Mary-Emma is half-black; Sarah starts a support group for other parents of minority children; Tassie dates a secret

Muslim extremist

; Tassie's brother, Robert, joins the military directly out of high school and is immediately sent to Afghanistan after Basic Training.