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Review
'A GATE AT THE STAIRS is hilarious and distressing, entertaining and wise, and further proof that Lorrie Moore is one of the very best American writers working today. I wish she was Irish.' Roddy Doyle --Roddy Doyle
'Moore may be, exactly, the most irresistible contemporary American writer; brainy, humane, unpretentious and warm; seemingly effortlessly lyrical, Lily-Tomlin funny. Most of all, Moore is capable of enlisting not just our sympathies but our sorrows.' Jonathan Lethem, New York Times Book Review --New York Times Book Review, Jonthan Lethem
`Just a page into STAIRS and it's clear the wait was worth it ... Tassie is achingly real, and thanks to Moore's nimble prose, an unbeatable guide through the thicket of early adulthood.' PEOPLE
--People
'Moore may be, exactly, the most irresistible contemporary American writer; brainy, humane, unpretentious and warm; seemingly effortlessly lyrical, Lily-Tomlin funny. Most of all, Moore is capable of enlisting not just our sympathies but our sorrows.' Jonathan Lethem, New York Times Book Review --New York Times Book Review, Jonthan Lethem
`Just a page into STAIRS and it's clear the wait was worth it ... Tassie is achingly real, and thanks to Moore's nimble prose, an unbeatable guide through the thicket of early adulthood.' PEOPLE
--People
Book Description
In her dazzling new novel - her first in over a decade - Lorrie Moore turns her eye on the anxiety and disconnection of modern America.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
'The difference between opera and life, I'd noticed, was that in life one person plays all the parts'
17 Mar 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
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`The cold came late that fall and the songbirds were caught off guard'.
The image at the start of her first novel for years is pure Lorrie Moore. She sets the scene, the birds have been `suckered' into staying too long. As our student narrator, Tassie, tours the neighbourhood in search of babysitting work she sees the birds everywhere until after a week or so they have disappeared - and she imagines them not migrating late but in some `killing corn field' outside town. The mix of the ordinary and the macabre is very Moore.
Lorrie Moore is one of my favourite writers. She is witty, her dialogue is superb, she observes with scary clarity. She writes about small town America and her narrators tend to be a little quirky as well linguistically able. Tassie has a laughable set of classes in Troy, the Athens of the mid West; Intro to Sufism, Soundtracks to War Movies and Wine Tasting. She is selected to be the baby-sitter of a mixed race baby who hasn't even been adopted yet. Moore can examine whole aspects of this family as well as her own through this device but the relationship between Tassie and Mary Emma is credible, moving, tender and heartbreaking, not some sociological tract.
Lorrie Moore is a known master of the short story form. This is her first substantial novel (321 pages compared to the slim volume of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?) and it is flawed - it's as if by setting it post 9/11 Moore thought it would gain more gravitas. But, it's also funny, sad, enthralling and glorious.
The image at the start of her first novel for years is pure Lorrie Moore. She sets the scene, the birds have been `suckered' into staying too long. As our student narrator, Tassie, tours the neighbourhood in search of babysitting work she sees the birds everywhere until after a week or so they have disappeared - and she imagines them not migrating late but in some `killing corn field' outside town. The mix of the ordinary and the macabre is very Moore.
Lorrie Moore is one of my favourite writers. She is witty, her dialogue is superb, she observes with scary clarity. She writes about small town America and her narrators tend to be a little quirky as well linguistically able. Tassie has a laughable set of classes in Troy, the Athens of the mid West; Intro to Sufism, Soundtracks to War Movies and Wine Tasting. She is selected to be the baby-sitter of a mixed race baby who hasn't even been adopted yet. Moore can examine whole aspects of this family as well as her own through this device but the relationship between Tassie and Mary Emma is credible, moving, tender and heartbreaking, not some sociological tract.
Lorrie Moore is a known master of the short story form. This is her first substantial novel (321 pages compared to the slim volume of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?) and it is flawed - it's as if by setting it post 9/11 Moore thought it would gain more gravitas. But, it's also funny, sad, enthralling and glorious.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I had mixed feelings about this book - whilst some of the writing was witty, some was just down right ridiculous. There was no real story to write about and the central character, Tassie, was at times incredibly juvenile and irritating; her thoughts branch off at weird tangents which I'm sure were intended to be incredibly funny but somehow failed to hit the mark. Perhaps as one reviewer said, the book is "too American" and many of the jokes were lost on me.
For me, the plot centred squarely on Edward and Sarah and their adoption plans - it is to them that things happen, yet their characters were one dimensional and their story was never really fully told. Once Tassie leaves their employ and returns home for the holidays her story becomes so far fetched that it was a struggle to finish the book.
I had such high hopes for this, but it really failed to deliver. As a short story I think it would have had much more impact, but as it was, it was not so much a story as a random sequence of events.
For me, the plot centred squarely on Edward and Sarah and their adoption plans - it is to them that things happen, yet their characters were one dimensional and their story was never really fully told. Once Tassie leaves their employ and returns home for the holidays her story becomes so far fetched that it was a struggle to finish the book.
I had such high hopes for this, but it really failed to deliver. As a short story I think it would have had much more impact, but as it was, it was not so much a story as a random sequence of events.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
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I confess with not a little pride that I was a Lorrie Moore 'early adopter', having bought her first collection of stories way back when. I liked them so much I went on to buy her second collection too.
Now we have a novel and I'm perplexed. This is heavy-going. Instead of a brisk, energising shower it's like the author has now decided to stretch out in a long hot bath and one, moreover, that stays hot indefinitely so there's no incentive to ever get out.
Of course (and as always) Lorrie Moore can craft exquisite sentences and turn an elegant phrase. But here these are devices in the service of a boring story that seems to go nowhere. It perks up, suddenly and dramatically (thrillingly even) around two hundred pages in before once again dissipating into luxurious language and aimless description. But that's just too little too late. What would I have given for some propulsion, fewer clever metaphors (there're simply far too many of them) and the omission of the Wednesday-night meet-ups: again too many of them for a story device that is as irritating as its intention is laudable.
Lorrie Moore is a splendid writer. So is Alice Munro. But whereas the latter has (to my knowledge) never written a novel, only stories, Lorrie Moore, conversely, has fatally decided to stray from the territory of which she is one of the supreme masters.
I removed the bath from my apartment when I had it refurbished. I'd advise Lorrie Moore to do the same; for when it comes down to it nothing, as we know, beats an invigorating shower.
Now we have a novel and I'm perplexed. This is heavy-going. Instead of a brisk, energising shower it's like the author has now decided to stretch out in a long hot bath and one, moreover, that stays hot indefinitely so there's no incentive to ever get out.
Of course (and as always) Lorrie Moore can craft exquisite sentences and turn an elegant phrase. But here these are devices in the service of a boring story that seems to go nowhere. It perks up, suddenly and dramatically (thrillingly even) around two hundred pages in before once again dissipating into luxurious language and aimless description. But that's just too little too late. What would I have given for some propulsion, fewer clever metaphors (there're simply far too many of them) and the omission of the Wednesday-night meet-ups: again too many of them for a story device that is as irritating as its intention is laudable.
Lorrie Moore is a splendid writer. So is Alice Munro. But whereas the latter has (to my knowledge) never written a novel, only stories, Lorrie Moore, conversely, has fatally decided to stray from the territory of which she is one of the supreme masters.
I removed the bath from my apartment when I had it refurbished. I'd advise Lorrie Moore to do the same; for when it comes down to it nothing, as we know, beats an invigorating shower.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
I Loved It (With Reservations) - Enjoy the Writing and Wit, but...
This review reveals elements of the plot.
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Soaplike progression of a plot which involves an unconfessed terrorist, the unmasking of fake identities, a misguided little... Read more
Published 9 months ago by A. Benmakhlouf
Trying too hard?
I like to have a variety when it comes to what I read; a smattering of classics, contemporary fiction, horror, sf, comedy and even some chick-lit, so I always try to go into any... Read more
Published 19 months ago by T. SMEDLEY
Why a gate? Why at the stairs?
Lorrie Moore is a good short story writer, but this is a strangely unsatisfying novel. The way she has of dotting her stories with little jokes does not work on this scale and... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Jim O'Donoghue
Is it me?
I was looking forward to reading this book because I had heard that Lorrie Moore was one of the best (the best?) American short story writers of the current crop. Read more
Published 22 months ago by John Williams
What's the fuss
I started reading this book long before it was nominated for (and won, I believe) various prizes, so wasn't swayed by its fame, as it were. Read more
Published 23 months ago by R. A. Mansfield
A powerful book
Tragic consequences of inattention or indifference to our nearest and dearest. A sad book, beautifully written and with bits of humour.
Published on 26 April 2010 by Anthony
Adopting a Jaundiced View
No question, Lorrie Moore's a talented writer. But as one of many adoptive parents who approach adoption as a joyful, life-enhancing way to create strong and loving families, I was... Read more
Published on 20 April 2010 by PageTurner
Is It Me?
I couldn't finish this book. I abandoned it about three quarters of the way through, bogged down in poetic prose and unlikeable characters.
The book became unpickupable. Read more
The book became unpickupable. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by J. Skade
Less would be Moore
I did not like the main character in this book, which is a bit of a toughie, especially when she annoyed me so much that I gave up reading halfway through the book. Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2010 by Mrs. T. Mannell
shocking
A Gate at the Stairs I love Lorrie Moore and have read all her books, enjoying and identifying with her feelings . So I did with 'A Gate at the Stairs'. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2010 by Tashi
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