A Gate at the Stairs
Ratings9
Average rating3.1
15
Ratings9
Average rating3.1
In her best-selling story collection, Birds of America ("[it] will stand by itself as one of our funniest, most telling anatomies of human love and vulnerability" --James McManus, front page of The New York Times Book Review), Lorrie Moore wrote about the disconnect between men and women, about the precariousness of women on the edge, and about loneliness and loss.Now, in her dazzling new novel--her first in more than a decade--Moore turns her eye on the anxiety and disconnection of post-9/11 America, on the insidiousness of racism, the blind-sidedness of war, and the recklessness thrust on others in the name of love.As the United States begins gearing up for war in the Middle East, twenty-year-old Tassie Keltjin, the Midwesterndaughter of a gentleman hill farmer--his "Keltjin potatoes" are justifiably famous--has come to a university town as a college student, her brain on fire with Chaucer, Sylvia Plath, Simone de Beauvoir.Between semesters, she takes a job as a part-time nanny.The family she works for seems both mysterious and glamorous to her, and although Tassie had once found children boring, she comes to care for, and to protect, their newly adopted little girl as her own.As the year unfolds and she is drawn deeper into each of these lives, her own life back home becomes ever more alien to her: her parents are frailer; her brother, aimless and lost in high school, contemplates joining the military. Tassie finds herself becoming more and more the stranger she felt herself to be, and as life and love unravel dramatically, even shockingly, she is forever changed.This long-awaited new novel by one of the most heralded writers of the past twodecades is lyrical, funny, moving, and devastating; Lorrie Moore's most ambitious book to date--textured, beguiling, and wise.From the Hardcover edition.
Reviews with the most likes.
Though she mostly writes short fiction, Lorrie Moore is one of the greatest living writers I've come across. This might be her best work, though I'm also partial to “Anagrams.”
Like the rest of Moore's work, you'll find quirky characters, a sharp wit, and excellent prose. Tassie is an endearing character even though she is awkward, introverted, and often says the wrong thing. Actually, that's part of her charm.
The novel hits on a number of hot-button topics, including racism, mortality, government bureaucracy, and adoption, but because Tassie is so innocent and charming, seeing these issues through her eyes allows the novel to explore those topics without getting too dark or pedantic.
Some people find Moore's writing a bit pretentious, but this is way more grounded than something like “Anagrams.” Moore's strength is in creating characters we want to spend time with and describing the mundane in ways that instill a sense of beauty. At times heartbreaking, at other times hilarious, I recommend this to anyone who is into character-based fiction or appreciates artistic prose.
Chapter One did not impress me. I set it aside for several days only to pick it back up after seeing it on fifty recommended reads lists of 2009. Okay, let me give it another chance.
Glad I did. The story is a thoughtful one. Parenting. Caring for others. Coming of age. Atonement. Loss. Carelessness. Lots to think about here.
I loved the story, but I loved, more than that even, how much Moore enjoyed word play. All her characters, even the most dour, can't seem to help themselves, throwing a pun or a crazy story about words in their conversations. I must have read some paragraphs three or four times, loving the way Moore decorates her tale.
