A review by megjshark
Anagrams by Lorrie Moore

funny sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I love this book. So many lovely underlineable turns of phrase & witticisms & meditations on loneliness and love and life. I love a good overarching metaphor; the way the first 4 “stories” are anagrams of the last (“real”?) story really works for me. I hesitate to call them stories: I think “The Nun of That” puts the whole thing in perspective—just like Eleanor and George are Benna’s inventions, so are the first few chapters. Benna can’t see her life as it is, can’t acknowledge her loneliness and failures head-on, so she’s continuously rewriting it. She’s one of the most tragic characters I’ve read, but also the most imaginative and hopeful and beautifully stubborn, and I see bits and pieces of myself in her all over (for better or worse). This is the second time I’ve read this and I know I’ll pick it up again and again and again and again and again.