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11th out of 88 books
—
18 voters
Alligator
by
Lisa Moore
Lisa Moore's wickedly fresh first novel, a Canadian best seller, winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Canadian and Caribbean region), and a Globe and Mail Book of the Year moves with the swiftness of an alligator in attack mode through the lives of a group of brilliantly rendered characters mingling in contemporary St. John's, Newfoundland. St. John's is a city whose
...morePaperback, 306 pages
Published
August 16th 2006
by Grove Press, Black Cat
(first published September 1st 2005)
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A novel of a first novel! Love the style, the writing...more later! In the meantime, highly recommended.
Too choppy, too disconnected, too many stories, too many characters. The book jumped around far too much to hold my attention, and the less attention I paid the less I liked it. My memory of it now is much like a black-and-white newsreel on fast forward, with no chance to grasping enough of any one scene to understand what was happening. Perhaps the author described her own writing technique when she described the process of acting, on page 294: “That is acting: the alchemy of absence and presen...more
Apr 02, 2008
Crystal Allen
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Crystal by:
Barb
Shelves:
4mybookclub,
fiction
I read this book while I had the flu and actually found it to be a pretty quick read. I like Lisa Moore's writing however this book didn't feel like a complete novel to me but rather a series of short vignettes. It was told from at least 7 different peoples' points of view and while I normally love that type of style this book never really came together for me. I enjoyed reading from Coleen and Frank's point of view the most and wish that Moore would have focused on just their points of view and...more
Picked this book from the library shelf because of it's alluring cover. Lisa Moore is a very skilled writer. Her ability to describe the details of ordinary things is amazing. Many authors can do this, and somehow Moore describes things you have seen yourself, can identify with immediately, so it feels almost as if you are reading about your own memories. For example, at the beginning of the second chapter: "...the warm night breeze jostles the handful of forget-me-nots sitting in a Mason jar of...more
Since I cried and snuffled my way through February, I was really looking forward to reading Alligator, and perhaps I was expecting too much, especially since this book was Lisa Moore's first novel. I didn't find the multiple first person narratives and time jumping particularly confusing (which seems to be the chief complaint from other readers), in fact the time shifting in February and Open was a definite stylistic point in their favour, but here the complicated structure came off as masking m...more
No plot-- just a bunch of backstory interfering with current goings-on of various characters. Some of the writing is very strong, and some is very confusing, jumping back and forth in the same paragraph. She also doesn't use quotes when characters are speaking.
An example of her choppy, disjointed writing from page 179: "Lately, Madeleine listens. Or rather, she doesn't speak as much. Part of it is that she's too tired to talk. She's got the phone pressed to her ear and the aluminum tree branches...more
An example of her choppy, disjointed writing from page 179: "Lately, Madeleine listens. Or rather, she doesn't speak as much. Part of it is that she's too tired to talk. She's got the phone pressed to her ear and the aluminum tree branches...more
This author has a true gift for place description and feelings laid out so evocatively, but her style of chapter intercutting is too annoying. I really would love to read a novel she writes fluidly, rather than jumping around back and forth, person to person, year to year. It is frustrating and I am not sure why I cannot accept her strategy except that I see it as a weakness in a writer, rather than a strength.
These characters were more interesting than February but I am curious whether I would...more
These characters were more interesting than February but I am curious whether I would...more
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This was a pick for my real-life book club, which I was quite excited about because I had read and loved Moore's February. I have much more mixed feelings about Alligator.
It has the same beautiful language as February: Moore is very good with painting lovely word pictures. But the structure of this one left me feeling confused and disjointed, and the characters didn't draw me in to make that better. There wasn't much in the way of a plot until the last quarter.
I can see why this was an impress...more
It has the same beautiful language as February: Moore is very good with painting lovely word pictures. But the structure of this one left me feeling confused and disjointed, and the characters didn't draw me in to make that better. There wasn't much in the way of a plot until the last quarter.
I can see why this was an impress...more
So, I really liked this and I wish I'd liked it more. Alligator started out as a series of snapshots, tenuously connected snippets of life in small-town Newfoundland. I was on board with that. I loved it. I felt like the characters were interesting, if not entirely believable all the time, and I enjoyed Moore's well-constructed, often surprising prose. But then, towards the end, she seemed to feel the need to tie everything together much more closely than she had in the beginning. So it eneded u...more
12/31/2010: Because I loved Lisa Moore's second novel (February) so much, I wanted to read Alligator, her first. (Before Alligator, she published two volumes of short stories.) And I'm glad I did, as I loved seeing not only how much Moore has grown and developed between the two novels, but also what has remained consistent.
Alligator is told by multiple narrators who are each somehow linked to at least two of the other narrators. This narrative form can sometimes be confusing, especially if you'...more
Alligator is told by multiple narrators who are each somehow linked to at least two of the other narrators. This narrative form can sometimes be confusing, especially if you'...more
This book should have been good. It had a great storyline, interesting characters, vivid imagery...but so disjointed. I wanted to like this book, but it keep going back and forth from character to character from present to past and back again, sometimes changing from one paragraph to the next. I had to stop half way through and try to start again to keep everything straight. Then after working so hard, I found that the ending just left you hanging. I just had to purge this book from the library...more
I listened to this on the Between the Covers podcast. The narrator was excellent.
While this book is well-written, I had a hard time connecting to the characters, except for Frank. He was the most likable character. The rest seemed either too selfish or one-dimensional.
The story is mostly setting up the circumstances, building until they quickly crash together and end. The end of the book comes very quickly after, without much of a wrap-up of the characters, their impacts on their environments,...more
While this book is well-written, I had a hard time connecting to the characters, except for Frank. He was the most likable character. The rest seemed either too selfish or one-dimensional.
The story is mostly setting up the circumstances, building until they quickly crash together and end. The end of the book comes very quickly after, without much of a wrap-up of the characters, their impacts on their environments,...more
Feb 18, 2009
Jennifer
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who is curious why a book called Alligator is set in Newfoundland
Recommended to Jennifer by:
Kelly (sort of)
Shelves:
read-2009
This book was loaned to me by a friend who attached a post-it that said the following: "I made it through page 7 and just did not want any more images in my head. If you read it and it turns out good, let me know." Here goes . . .
Lisa Moore's novel does begin with some rather gruesome images--one of the main characters, Colleen, a teenage eco-terrorist in training, watchs some video footage taken by her filmmaker aunt, Madeline. The clip shows a man down in Florida (who puts his head into the ja...more
Lisa Moore's novel does begin with some rather gruesome images--one of the main characters, Colleen, a teenage eco-terrorist in training, watchs some video footage taken by her filmmaker aunt, Madeline. The clip shows a man down in Florida (who puts his head into the ja...more
It's all beautiful bits of writing. Each chapter a finely wrought gem. There's a beautiful chapter on a failed marriage, a forgotten bottle of champagne, scribbling a script at stop lights and a car dying in the snow with her son in the back. The pages are filled with cyphers and symbols. As a whole it just doesn't feel like it's moving anywhere. Titling it Alligator and opening with the image of the alligator farmhand left me holding onto that thread for most of the book waiting for the payoff....more
This was a chance pick-up from the library - I'd never heard of Lisa Moore before. After a powerful opening chapter, this settles into shortish chapters from several characters' points of view. At first, I was a bit unsure that I could stick with her particular syntax for a whole book, but after that initial burst of fireworks, she toned it down a bit. It's really more a series of loosely vignettes than a 'complete' novel, but I enjoyed the characters' stories and admire her writing. It really o...more
This book is full of beautiful prose and characters that are full of vibrancy. I loved the style; the way it bounced back and forth through memories and moments the way your mind runs off on a tangent when you are thinking of something. I might have preferred the book to have 1 or 2 less characters and more of a focus on the people who are in it from the beginning but it seemed that the more I read about some of them, the less I knew about their characters. People became defined by sets of actio...more
A novel about damaged people. This author is very skilled at describing the feelings of the characters and the surrounding scenes. As much as you might think you would never in your life meet such an assortment of losers and sad people, the author reels you into their lives until you know it could be you she is talking about.
I would have given it ten stars but they only allow me to use five.
Cannot say enough good things about this book. Phenomenally well written.
Great sense of setting (St. John's, Newfoundland, modern day) with
characters that just leap off the page and right into your lap.
Loved it.
Cannot say enough good things about this book. Phenomenally well written.
Great sense of setting (St. John's, Newfoundland, modern day) with
characters that just leap off the page and right into your lap.
Loved it.
This did not work for me. Too many main characters, didn't really get to understand any of them. Unless you count the Russian mobster but that would only be superficial at best. Too many stories that didn't ever tie back together. A hodgepodge of stuff thrown together.
So half-decent writing but clearly no plot, which Moore tries to hide but switching time times, at times, from paragraph to paragraph.
Some almost interesting characters but with no story for them to live in the reader is left desperately bored.
Stopped 49.6% of the way in, which was too long.
Some almost interesting characters but with no story for them to live in the reader is left desperately bored.
Stopped 49.6% of the way in, which was too long.
Ms. Moore's novel 'Alligator' has moments of brilliance. She creates a cadre of memorable characters and then proceeds to playfully dance around them with exceptional language. She creates scenes and images with a vigour that I haven't read in quite some time. For a first novel it is brilliant inspite of a slightly ho-hum ending.
I just found this book hard to follow. I read this book for book club - I would not have chosen it myself if it wasn't for that. But I'm always up for new authors and new types of books but sorry I wouldn't recommend this one.
I really enjoyed the semi-disconnected vignette style. Reminded me quite a bit of modernist literature in that way. I flew through this book so fast because I loved it and could not put it down. Highly Recommend.
Aug 02, 2011
Barb
added it
sorry not my favorite book...i lost interest and it was a long read...i never did finish it...left it at the hair salon....and never went back to get it....i could not connect to the story...
I enjoyed the references to St Johns, since I have driven or walked on many of the streets mentioned. I am happy that I own this book; the story is complicated because of the many points of view. It will be easier to understand on the second reading. Good writing, complicated story!
There were certainly some enjoyable parts, but overall the book felt too disjointed to be a good read. I even skipped over parts, which I rarely do, just to see how she ended the book.
Better than the first time I read it. A book that depicts reality very effectively. Life sets a person up with expectations that often aren't met or are rejected. Things are unfair. There aren't always ideal and happy endings.
This was pretty good. Lots of interconnected characters. Rather convoluted, at times. I didn't feel a lot of affection for any of the characters, but didn't dislike them either.
Aug 03, 2012
Liz
added it
Really good book about a family and their various problems, set in contemporary St Johns NF. Very well-written, almost as good as her next novel February.
I wanted to like it, I really wanted to like it but I just didn't find any of the characters likeable. I think each chapter is very well written, and I think as a series of short stories it could be a decent collection but as a novel I found the lack of continuity between chapters jarring. The subject of each chapter shifts between characters, and because I really didn't like any of them, I found it difficult to keep track of what was happening to whom. I also felt let down by the lack of resol...more
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Lisa Moore has written two collections of stories, Degrees of Nakedness and Open, as well as a novel, Alligator.
Open and Alligator were both nominated for the Giller Prize. Alligator won the Commonwealth Prize for the Canadian Caribbean Region and the ReLit Award, and Open won the Canadian Authors' Association Jubilee Prize for Short Fiction.
Lisa has also written for television, radio, magazines (...more
More about Lisa Moore...
Open and Alligator were both nominated for the Giller Prize. Alligator won the Commonwealth Prize for the Canadian Caribbean Region and the ReLit Award, and Open won the Canadian Authors' Association Jubilee Prize for Short Fiction.
Lisa has also written for television, radio, magazines (...more
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“While he sat there he decided he would buy a waterbed. He had always imagined owning a waterbed when he was successful, but now it struck him that getting the bed might invoke the man he wanted to become. You bought a waterbed and so became the sort of man who owned a waterbed.”
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