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bookguyeric 's review for:
A Gate at the Stairs
by Lorrie Moore
At first this book seems like one of those indie comedy films. Like Juno or Little Miss Sunshine. Collisions of skewed, oddball characters in situations that tease at tragedy but resolve into happy endings. Tassie Keltjin, a dry-witted yet naive college student, becomes the nanny for a middle aged couple who are adopting a child. In the wake of 9/11, she takes on a dubiously Brazilian boyfriend. As the story continues, things get a bit disturbing. The adoptive parents are brittle and damaged by a secret tragedy. Tassie's brother joins the army. People and relationships are not what they seem.
This is a coming of age novel, but not one in the usual mode, where a naively optimistic youth learns through experience to adopt a more cautious optimism. Tassie isn't all that optimistic to begin with, and her experiences net her the knowledge that life is cold and uncertain. There are no easy answers. Indeed, there are no answers at all.
Still, there is a dry humor that keeps despair from swallowing the ending.
This is a coming of age novel, but not one in the usual mode, where a naively optimistic youth learns through experience to adopt a more cautious optimism. Tassie isn't all that optimistic to begin with, and her experiences net her the knowledge that life is cold and uncertain. There are no easy answers. Indeed, there are no answers at all.
Still, there is a dry humor that keeps despair from swallowing the ending.