Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award
Finalist for the Orange Prize for Fiction
Chosen as a Best Book of the Year by The New York Ti...
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reviews
Apr 04, 2011
Barbara
rated it: 
I was eager to read this book, especially because I have heard and read such special things about Lorrie Moore. I came to the conclusion that I really did not enjoy this, but I am hesitant to give it less than 3 stars.
Moore has presented us with a coming of age story about a young lady, Tassie, from the mid-west who has entered a small undistinguished college a few hours from her home. There were amusing moments, there were scenes of passionate sex and even a finely described dining More...
Moore has presented us with a coming of age story about a young lady, Tassie, from the mid-west who has entered a small undistinguished college a few hours from her home. There were amusing moments, there were scenes of passionate sex and even a finely described dining More...
22 comments
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(14 people liked it)
Aug 01, 2011
Josh
rated it:
The problem with this book is that it has no centre. Moore can't decide if she wants it to be about the travails of 20-year-old Tassie who grapples with being a country girl thrown into the big city campus (alarm bells rang in my head at the pointedness of making her half-Jewish as well) or about the 40- something chef Sarah, with a mysterious past and who adopts a little girl of mixed race parentage.
For a large part of the story, Sarah looms uncertainly as a close-to-central character, likeabl More...
For a large part of the story, Sarah looms uncertainly as a close-to-central character, likeabl More...
0 comments
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(6 people liked it)
Mar 11, 2011
Catherine
rated it: 
Some reviewers are responding to this novel much as I expected: "Moore is too clever by half, the voice of her narrator is too mature, the plot is unbelievable." My response is that she IS too clever by half, and -- so what? The narrator has the voice of a 50-ish academic professor because that is who is speaking ; she makes references to "later I would find out," or "another boyfriend would later tell me." As for the plot and its spotty verisimilitude, I would sug
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3 comments
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(10 people liked it)
Dec 08, 2009
Amber
rated it: 
I love Lorrie Moore's writing. I love it so much that I spent my college years ripping her off (well, trying to anyway) in fiction writing workshops. Her short story collections rank high among my favorite books. But I've never fallen in love with any of her novels in the same way. All of those wonderful little moments of wry humor amidst sadness are there, but the structure of it just doesn't quite work for me. There's a bit with a college boyfriend who isn't what he appears that gets handled i
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2 comments
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(15 people liked it)
Mar 28, 2010
Shasta8sisyphus
rated it: 
gems so far:
A dialog between a young college student and her new employer:
"'Bach's first French suite. Do you know it?'
After some clicking and static, [the cd:] began, stately and sad. 'I think so,' I said, not sure at all. My friends had already begun to lie, to bluff a sophistication they felt that at the end of the ten-second bluff they would authentically possess. But I was not only less inclined this way but less skilled. 'Maybe not, though,' I added. More...
A dialog between a young college student and her new employer:
"'Bach's first French suite. Do you know it?'
After some clicking and static, [the cd:] began, stately and sad. 'I think so,' I said, not sure at all. My friends had already begun to lie, to bluff a sophistication they felt that at the end of the ten-second bluff they would authentically possess. But I was not only less inclined this way but less skilled. 'Maybe not, though,' I added. More...
0 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 05, 2010
DLKeur
rated it: 
Try angsty, "atmospheric", and utterly self-indulgent, never mind the fact that it's too obvious that her editor must be illiterate. Either that or she knows someone or is related to someone to get this kind of bottom-of-the-pit novel published by a major publishing house.
7 comments
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(16 people liked it)
Jan 23, 2011
Ravi
rated it:
I came to this novel with great expectations, considering the praise heaped on it (dozens of top 10 and bestseller lists). And indeed from the first few sentences you had the feeling you were in the hands of a sure, masterful storyteller. But over the course of the novel it unraveled and became an inchoate mix of sophomoric polemic, coming-of-age story, carictaurish depictions of terrorists, and clever wordplay.
The story's vehicle is Tassie, a 20-yr old college freshman who becom More...
The story's vehicle is Tassie, a 20-yr old college freshman who becom More...
Mar 25, 2010
Ed
rated it:
I picked up Lorrie Moore's "A Gate At The Stairs" based on the many appearances it made on the best-of/year-end book lists for 2009. Although, while I do my best to avoid reading reviews beforehand, I couldn't help but notice the star-ratings were pretty muddy on it.
While the book was readable, I felt there was just always something very odd/off about it. Some books you know are great from the first page (or even sentence!), but "Gate" had me still hanging when More...
While the book was readable, I felt there was just always something very odd/off about it. Some books you know are great from the first page (or even sentence!), but "Gate" had me still hanging when More...
4 comments
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(14 people liked it)
Oct 31, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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2 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Dec 04, 2009
Lauren
rated it:
The end sequence took hold of me. One hundred pages into it, I hated this book. The last twenty pages actually seemed like something that might happen, and it resonnated with somethings happening in my life. Moore is out of her league her, writing about things that she does not know. Loorie Moore is 52. She has not been an undergraduate in college for 30 years and it showed in this book. When she used the band name Modest Mouse, it sounded clunky, fake, phony as my good friend Holden might
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7 comments
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(21 people liked it)
Aug 30, 2009
Sara
rated it:
I read an uncorrected proof of this and the experience was slightly jarring - typoes, sections that repeated themselves that I wasn't sure were intentional, etc. I can't say how close my copy is to the final published version but what I read was what I've come to expect from Moore - it's funny, it's emotionally complex, the prose is easily readable while also remaining incredibly rich, and the narrative voice is compelling to follow. It details roughly one year in the life of Tassie Keltjin, a t
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4 comments
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(10 people liked it)
Aug 06, 2011
I've read one Lorrie Moore short story collection and her other novel, Who Will Run the Frog Hospital. She's a great writer. While often she creates characters with interesting quirks, she's really at her best when she's depicting everyday stories and everyday people.
I enjoyed this book a lot. This is the story of Tassie Keltjin, a Midwestern college student in the throes of no ambition and general boredom, who is hired by a couple to watch their baby. As anyone who has had a nanny, babysitt More...
I enjoyed this book a lot. This is the story of Tassie Keltjin, a Midwestern college student in the throes of no ambition and general boredom, who is hired by a couple to watch their baby. As anyone who has had a nanny, babysitt More...
Aug 02, 2011
If you read critics reviews of this book, they generally say the same: they love it. Reader’s reviews are much more diverse, with equal amounts of 1 star ratings to 5 stars. The person who lent me this book raved about it highly, so I was keen to read it and find out what it was about as she ‘didn’t want to spoil it’.
The Gate at The Stairs is a clever book and one which touches on some very thought provoking themes.
The story is primarily about Tassie Keltjin, the narrator of the story, a 20-yea More...
The Gate at The Stairs is a clever book and one which touches on some very thought provoking themes.
The story is primarily about Tassie Keltjin, the narrator of the story, a 20-yea More...
Jan 03, 2012
Terry94705
rated it:
I had much impatience with this book --as you might if you were sharing your apartment with a bright but chatty college freshman. Tessa bubbles along in this book and seems sure that you will appreciate her every discovery and turn of phrase. I did not, but persevered because I thought she (and the author) were reaching for something larger. Even late in the book, when I felt committed to the narrative, there were scenes that seemed silly and annoyed me. But I was glad I stuck with it. What se
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Dec 27, 2011
Evelyn
rated it:
Once more, goodreads' whole-stars-only rating system gets in the way of an honest review, for if I could have, I would have given this much heralded book no more than 1.5 stars. However, since there are no halfway measures, and to show how totally disappointed I was by this book, I opted to rate it down rather than up.
Over the past few months I'd seen many reviews of this book in publications I usually trust, such as The New Yorker and the NYT, all lavishly praised the author, the writ More...
Over the past few months I'd seen many reviews of this book in publications I usually trust, such as The New Yorker and the NYT, all lavishly praised the author, the writ More...
Dec 04, 2011
Nykki
rated it:
I liked the basic storyline of the white couple adopting a black child and the cultural problems this could bring them and also the racism they may bare the brunt of because of this. The view through the main character of the childminder was a great narrative to take but was bizare, especially as she attended the pre-adoption sessions as invited by the parents - I could just not see this happening at all. Add to this the twist of the adoptive parents being charged with negilence over their o
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Dec 03, 2011
CC
rated it:
Keep in mind I read over 2/3rds of this novel while stuck in the hopeless abyss that is Jury Duty, and though I'm certain I would've disliked it anyway, that sure didn't help.
It's a coming-of-age novel about Tassie, a 20 year-old student from "the country" who attends a university, and gets a job as a nanny. The couple she works for adopts a bi-racial baby. Tassie also dates someone of a different race. This seems to be the theme, which may be the problem -- it's a book abo More...
It's a coming-of-age novel about Tassie, a 20 year-old student from "the country" who attends a university, and gets a job as a nanny. The couple she works for adopts a bi-racial baby. Tassie also dates someone of a different race. This seems to be the theme, which may be the problem -- it's a book abo More...
Nov 28, 2011
Jane
rated it:
What a quirky and rambling novel. The narrator, Tassie, goes to college, baby sits for a mismatched couple who adopt a biracial daughter, has an affair, suffers the death of her brother, and has a couple of roommates in addition to working on her parent's farm. I wish Moore had focused the novel on fewer events, but on the other hand, Tassie's year was a lot like life for most of us, living several plot lines at any given time. Had I been Moore's editor, I'd have suggested cutting, trimming, c
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Oct 06, 2011
There's so many elements that could make this an excellent novel and yet they all fail to do so. The novel introduces us to a college aged student from a small farming community and while it could be an exploration of her impressions of that bigger town's university lifestyle it only touches on that aspect. Further, once the narrator agrees to become a nanny for a family that is in the process of adopting a child, their story hijacks the narration and pulls the novel into what apparently the aut
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Sep 26, 2011
Maria
rated it:
This book has the weaknesses of a contemporary novel. Moore depends too much on the theme of politics of the time covered in the space of the novel to hold the story together and not enough on the actual plot and characters to push the story forward and create action and reaction. The end is very heavy and doesn't seem to occur naturally. Some things are drawn out while other major story lines are dropped. The main story line for the first half of the book was engaging and I found it hard to bel
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Sep 12, 2011
Carolyn
rated it:
I bought this book on the spur of the moment, at a Walden's that was closing in 2 hours. I knew nothing of the story beforehand, never heard of Lorrie Moore (although it looks like I should have) and just plunged in, reading it over two days of travel and finally at home.
The writing itself, the use of language, is sometimes a bit too much. In fact, it's often a bit too much, but rarely WAY too much. It's dense, packed, you have to step carefully through the paragraphs. As for the st More...
The writing itself, the use of language, is sometimes a bit too much. In fact, it's often a bit too much, but rarely WAY too much. It's dense, packed, you have to step carefully through the paragraphs. As for the st More...
Sep 07, 2011
Lorraine
rated it:
After being introduced to Lorrie Moore with her short stories (Birds of America), I was happy to have read “A Gate at the Stairs.” Moore’s prose is exquisite, almost rhythmic and the stream of consciousness voice could drive you crazy or entertain you. The novel seems to slowly drift along and move slowly, and then it goes forward, then backwards, and then sideways.
Tassie, the protagonist, is most likely in her late 40s as she looks back to her college days, particularly the year she w More...
Tassie, the protagonist, is most likely in her late 40s as she looks back to her college days, particularly the year she w More...
Sep 03, 2011
Sara
rated it:
In terms of just being a decent read, one that immerses you in a slightly different world and exposes you to an emotional experience slightly different (and yet not disturbingly alien) from your own, this book does the trick. Tassie, a somewhat disaffected midwestern college student rides out her sophomore year of college, the ill-fated 2001-02 American school year, and works as an au pair for a couple adopting a baby. Good enough.
As to the mounds of critical praise this book received More...
As to the mounds of critical praise this book received More...
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(1 person liked it)
Jul 31, 2011
Having not read ANY of the books that ended up on the Notable Fiction of 2009 NYT list, it is hard for me to compare to the competitors, but I am hoping this wasn't one of the 5 best things written last year--I thought Brooklyn was better than this, and it wasn't even on the list. The book is heartbreakingly beautifully written, but somehow the last quarter of it is really not nearly as good as the first three quarters--the re are two events that happen in close succession, and one of them invo
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Jul 01, 2011
Mkb
rated it:
This is a collection of journal entries in search of a novel. The search was unsuccessful. And the first person narrator, a college sophomore female from a small upscale edge of town farm in suburban Wisconsin, has that all too familiar wry and self-deprecating voice, quickly recognizable as the work of an amateur novelist. The narrator goes through a year of her life with many events happening to her but she doesn't really do anything about them or show growth; she just makes cute comments.
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(2 people liked it)
Jun 21, 2011
Jenny
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jun 10, 2011
A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore is a well-written, nostalgic piece of literature that captivates readers by it's topic and connection to the audience. The narrator, Tassie Keltjin, is a college student born in the midwest who has never been exposed to the big city life. When Tassie gets a job babysitting two year old Mary-Emma she bonds with the child almost instantly and is thrilled at the prospect of maintaining a special relationship with the child. Tassie goes on to grow and mature as s
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May 07, 2011
Lesley
rated it:
Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs a classic coming of age story, set in a Wisconsin college town in the year following 9/11. Tassie Keltjin is a naive 20-year-old, looking to make money babysitting. Her job with a couple of east-coast transplants and their newly adopted bi-racial daughter brings both love and heartbreak into her life. The fear, uncertainty and racial issues of the post-9/11 world and War of Terror have an unanticipated impact on her sheltered life, both through her romantic ex
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Apr 22, 2011
BC 3/14/2011
I have been hearing for years about what a great writer Lorrie Moore is, but have not read anything of hers, so I decided it was time.
Here is our book for Book Club - schedule for my house on March 14. I will add directions to the appointment.
Hope to see you there - Cheers!
CJ
A Gate at the Stairs
by Lorrie Moore
Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award
Finalist for the Orange Prize for Fiction
Chosen as a Best Book of t More...
I have been hearing for years about what a great writer Lorrie Moore is, but have not read anything of hers, so I decided it was time.
Here is our book for Book Club - schedule for my house on March 14. I will add directions to the appointment.
Hope to see you there - Cheers!
CJ
A Gate at the Stairs
by Lorrie Moore
Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award
Finalist for the Orange Prize for Fiction
Chosen as a Best Book of t More...
Apr 13, 2011
Lorrie Moore knits together the shadow of 9/11 and a young girl’s bumpy coming-of-age in this luminous, heart-wrenchingly wry novel—the author’s first in 15 years. Tassie Keltjin, 20, a smalltown girl weathering a clumsy college year in the Athens of the Midwest, is taken on as prospective nanny by brittle Sarah Brink, the proprietor of a pricey restaurant who is desperate to adopt a baby despite her dodgy past. Subsequent adventures in prospective motherhood involve a pregnant girl with scarcel
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