A review by coralrose
Anagrams by Lorrie Moore

3.0

I thought that this was a book with a wonderful premise that was somewhat unevenly executed. I thought that the characters were heart-breaking and engaging, but barring the last (story? vignette?) they lacked a lot of development. The stories start short and get progressivelly longer, with the natural result that the last, longest story is the one that we feel the most invested in, although some of the earlier ones are just as intriging. I think that it was obvious that Lorrie Moore deals primarily in short stories, and I'm not sure I would have classified this as a novel, but more as a highly integrated selection of short stories. Perhaps it is called a novel to draw our attention more strongly to the "anagram" nature implied in the title, but...I find that hard to justify.