Sunday, January 17, 2010

A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore


I just finished reading this book today. I decided I'm going to review all the books I read this year. So, if you're my father-in-law or my husband don't read this post (or do). I just want to give you fair warning, so as not to spoil the reading for you. I'll try not to give too much away.


This book is good. I sought it out because in was on the NY Times 2009 Top Ten Books of the Year list. It is a book for the times--dealing with everything from the slow food movement to fertility and race issues to terrorism (and more). It addresses these current issues indirectly, ingrained into the everyday. The protagonist and narrator is a young female college student in the fictional Troy, Wisconsin. If you're familiar with WI-- Troy, "the Athens of the Midwest", represents Madison, the writer's hometown. Troy is as Madison, a reef of liberalism in a sea of country living. I love Moore's writing; she creates metaphors that are surprising, yet make sense. This modern novel deals with the hardships and reality of love (or in some instances the idea of love)- passionate love, maternal love, brotherly love, and friendship. Many of the characters Moore creates have nicknames or pseudonyms. These, to me, serve as a way to hide. Her characters immerse themselves in the affairs of modern culture, hiding themselves from those universal pains that find us all, eventually.

A must read.




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