beritt 's review for:

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore

2.0

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While the story was very amusing and kept me reading the whole time, I felt as if the focus of the tale was lost near the end. The original story merely withered away. I am a fan of open endings, but in this case it just seemed unfinished, as if she did not know how to end the tale. Stylistically, while there were a couple of nice metaphors, a lot of the alliteration seemed forced, and the subplot (about Tassie's boyfriend) seemed unnecessary and unlikely.

All in all, it's a pretty fun read, but I would not consider it the masterpiece some reviewers have made it out to be.