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56th out of 1,185 books
—
878 voters
Self-Help
by
Lorrie Moore
In these tales of loss and pleasure, lovers and family, a woman learns to conduct an affair, a child of divorce dances with her mother, and a woman with a terminal illness contemplates her exit. Filled with the sharp humor, emotional acuity, and joyful language Moore has become famous for, these nine glittering tales marked the introduction of an extravagantly gifted write...more
Paperback, 163 pages
Published
March 13th 2007
by Vintage
(first published 1985)
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Sep 30, 2007
Jessica
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who cry at puns
Shelves:
social-work-or-relevant
I can't remember which of her books it is, I think it's this one, in which a character observes: "This Danish is too Sweetish for me to Finnish!"
If you don't like that, you probably wouldn't like Lorrie Moore much.
And if you don't like Lorrie Moore, I probably wouldn't really like you.
If you don't like that, you probably wouldn't like Lorrie Moore much.
And if you don't like Lorrie Moore, I probably wouldn't really like you.
I'm having a hard time finding something to say about this collection except that I loved it. I'll soon be picking up Like Life, I think, as well as trying to learn more about Moore herself. I'm curious to know how autobiographical her writing is, because the emotions in each story just ring so true. Of course, that's what a good writer does -- taps into the commonality of human experience and shows us that we are not alone.
I really enjoyed the way Moore played with tense and point of view to t...more
I really enjoyed the way Moore played with tense and point of view to t...more
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You pick up Lorrie Moore’s collection of short stories called Self-Help because you’ve always admired her writing. Plus, your own writing is often compared to hers. Not because you are a master of the form, like Moore, but more because your short stories are peppered with a sort of sad and self-deprecating humor.
What you love about reading short story collections over short story anthologies is that you can pick up the threads that move throughout the stories. Moore has a thing for opera singers...more
What you love about reading short story collections over short story anthologies is that you can pick up the threads that move throughout the stories. Moore has a thing for opera singers...more
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Years ago I read Lorrie Moore's excellent Who Will Run the Frog Hospital for a grad school class (on memoirs?) and I have been a fan ever since. Every so often I will run across one of her essays or stories and find myself in stitches, although her humor almost always comes with a healthy dose of irony or solemnity to keep it from being a pure laugh fest. This semester I began my Creative Writing course with an out loud, round-the-class, reading of an essay (which turns out to be from Self-Help)...more
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This book was a lyrical masterpiece of interconnecting words, ideas, meanings, and emotions. It was the cat's pajamas, if the cat had just recently broken up with her boyfriend and was staying at home and watching old Ingrid Bergman movies, getting over it by darkly observing the world and making the saddest jokes a cat will ever say. That is an example of an overextended metaphor, and is not that accurate in describing the amazing, heartbreaking soulfulness that is this book.
It's funny, sad, da...more
It's funny, sad, da...more
This collection still seems as innovative and inventive as it did when I first read it in ’85. Her “How to…” stories had such a spark of originality about them that stylistically they couldn’t be copied. Second person point of view feels fresh again. Of course it’s not just the POV. She combines that with a unique syntax that makes ordinary words fresh. And the ironic and sarcastic humor, a loose mask for an incredible bitterness, a bitterness that really only comes out in the humor. In her late...more
The first story I ever read by Lorrie Moore was "How to Become a Writer," and I thought she was hilarious, that she must be a wonderful comic writer. After reading stories like "Go Like This," about a woman diagnosed with cancer choosing to end her own life, and "To Fill," about a woman who's teetering on the edge of a mental and emotional breakdown, it was clear Moore wasn't all about comedy.
The one guarantee you get with reading a Lorrie Moore story, whether it's primarily funny or primarily d...more
The one guarantee you get with reading a Lorrie Moore story, whether it's primarily funny or primarily d...more
“Self-Help" is an uneven collection of short stories I acquired this collection of short stories from a member of one of my book clubs and read them on a few lazy afternoons at the pool. They are musings on relationships that started off with a bang with the very funny opening piece entitled: "How to Be an Other Woman." Other woman” is the opening piece and an exceptional little short story. It is quite funny and Moore has a way of detaching herself from the characters and create a story that co...more
Read all but the last story... maybe my expectations were a little high. I've been wanting to read it ever since my friend Terry recommended it. Gawd. That was like six years ago.
And I did like the way she showed us how to use "you." The second person is so often debated in writing workshops. But on the whole, this 80s collection is probably just a few years ahead of my time. "How to Be an Other Woman" makes for a strong start: "Meet in expensive beige raincoats, on a pea-soupy night. Like a de...more
And I did like the way she showed us how to use "you." The second person is so often debated in writing workshops. But on the whole, this 80s collection is probably just a few years ahead of my time. "How to Be an Other Woman" makes for a strong start: "Meet in expensive beige raincoats, on a pea-soupy night. Like a de...more
This has to be one of the funniest books I've ever read. Whenever I think about which pieces to foist on my imaginary classroom of writing students, "How to Be A Writer" is the first piece that pops into mind. Here's the first paragraph of my favorite story. (I think you'll be intrigued enough from just that much):
How To Be A Writer, Or, Have You Earned This Cliche?
First, try to be something, anything, else. A movie star/astronaut. A movie star/ missionary. A movie star/kindergarten teacher. Pre...more
How To Be A Writer, Or, Have You Earned This Cliche?
First, try to be something, anything, else. A movie star/astronaut. A movie star/ missionary. A movie star/kindergarten teacher. Pre...more
The blurbs and reviews on this one praised its author's sense of humor and great writing style, but I should've paid more attention to the mentions of her ability to pick out the poignant, heartbreaking moments we all share--apparently, that means parents' divorce, bad relationships, and general inability to make good choices. Yes, she's very good at description, and can turn a nice phrase. "How to Be an Other Woman" caught me with evocative imagery and a cynical but true take on what it's like...more
This book is a collection of short stories -- all about broken relationships between men and women, with half of these stories creatively written in second-person narratives, like typical self-help books. One story is about a mistress dealing with her mixed emotions about being a mistress; another is about a woman who suspects her musically-talented husband is having an affair; another is about a woman who decides to end her life before her cancer does, and the effect that the announcement of he...more
After reading this collection of Lorrie Moore stories, you can see why so many writers frequently copy her style. For one thing she makes it look so easy. Her prose is so perfectly paced and all those tough things like character development, plot, and setting just seem to flow effortlessly and logically out of the story. "Look" you say to yourself, "if she can create a beautiful story peppered with puns and thieving wives, why can't I?" And then you try and then you see why you can't. And then y...more
I think the last story, "To Fill" is absolutely devastating. I knew it would be which is why I had to put the story aside midway because I knew I needed to read it only when I could stand hitting bottom with this remarkable character Riva. I only brought myself to finish today because I'm getting reminders from the library. I don't know why I hadn't read this book previously. I've been working backwards from "The Gate at the Top of the Stairs." I read "Anagrams" in August then last month Stephan...more
With much respect for Moore's compelling writing, I have found these stories difficult. I guess I am
psychologically too vulnerable.
psychologically too vulnerable.
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A quick read. I liked the first few stories best, but it may be because the later ones seemed to reiterate the early ones: there is not a lot of range in this collection, and the tone and style got old. There are some gems in here, though: reading "How," a story about a woman falling out of love, was an uncomfortable and devastatingly familiar experience. The following passage slayed me:
Pace around the kitchen and say that you are unhappy....more
But I love you, he will say in his soft, bewildered way,
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Lorrie Moore will make you laugh, break your heart, make you depressed, summon sympathy you didn't know you were capable of, and make you a character in every story in this collection.
In recognition of the book's title, most of the stories in Self-Help are written in second person. It is very rare that an entirely second person story accomplishes the author's intent, that is, to make the reader a part of the story. As if it is happening to you, you, you. Moore, however knocks it out of the park....more
In recognition of the book's title, most of the stories in Self-Help are written in second person. It is very rare that an entirely second person story accomplishes the author's intent, that is, to make the reader a part of the story. As if it is happening to you, you, you. Moore, however knocks it out of the park....more
I didn't realize until about halfway through it that this was her first collection, and then it all made sense! It all made sense, and three stars is probably more accurate but there are portions of some of these stories that just knock it out of the park so far it's not fair for me to round down. It just isn't.
Also I was reading this and someone said to me "oh...I read one of her stories...I don't think she's really for me" and I asked this person why and neither of us really wanted to get int...more
Also I was reading this and someone said to me "oh...I read one of her stories...I don't think she's really for me" and I asked this person why and neither of us really wanted to get int...more
This book is so beautiful I can't even stand it.
Choice quotes:
"Cold men destroy women," my mother wrote me years later. "They woo them with something personable that they bring out for show, something annexed to their souls like a fake greenhouse, lead you in, and you think you see life and vitality and sun and greenness, and then when you love them, they lead you out into their real soul, a drafty, cavernous, empty ballroom, inexorably arched and vaulted and mocking you with its echoes--you hea...more
Choice quotes:
"Cold men destroy women," my mother wrote me years later. "They woo them with something personable that they bring out for show, something annexed to their souls like a fake greenhouse, lead you in, and you think you see life and vitality and sun and greenness, and then when you love them, they lead you out into their real soul, a drafty, cavernous, empty ballroom, inexorably arched and vaulted and mocking you with its echoes--you hea...more
This collection of short stories, like all of Moore’s work, is beautiful in it’s hidden details of everyday life. It’s almost as if you are envious of the world she has created although it is so obviously far from fantasy. In Self-Help Moore models each story after a ‘How-To’, i.e. ‘How to Be the Other Woman’ and ‘How to Talk to Your Mother’. This is an encouraging and perfect example of using the second person point of view effectively and provocatively, and is fantastically impressive being Mo...more
Lorrie Moore is a gifted writer. Her humor and insight into the human condition make each of these stories a compelling and worthwhile read. Her themes of infidelity, terminal illness, and the complicated depths of human relationships resonate throughout the collection.
My only criticism is that many of these stories share so many similar elements that you often feel like you are not getting as many separate and distinct stories as the Table of Contents promised - a few feel like the same story,...more
My only criticism is that many of these stories share so many similar elements that you often feel like you are not getting as many separate and distinct stories as the Table of Contents promised - a few feel like the same story,...more
I'm not usually the type to review before finishing, but I gotta say about this one: it's gonna be good. The first story is called "How to be an Other Woman," which of course is a fantastic title. And, get this, the story is in the second person, people. (Julie Orringer did this to fantastic effect in "Note to Sixth Grade Self," but now I know where she got the idea.) In describing the strange and awkward first steps of initiating an affair with a married man, our narrator says: "After four movi...more
First of all, I should have given this book 4 1/2 stars... C'mon, Goodreads! Start allowing half stars! Anyway, "Self-Help" was really good. Really, really good. I love when I casually pick up a book at the bookstore, don't know what to expect, and then the next day I am completely engrossed in its pages. This is what happened with Moore's book.
Moore is such a fantastic, clever, heartbreaking wordsmith. I wish "moore" (sorry) people would read her. And maybe a lot of people do, but I never hear...more
Moore is such a fantastic, clever, heartbreaking wordsmith. I wish "moore" (sorry) people would read her. And maybe a lot of people do, but I never hear...more
Lots of great things about this book. At times, I was laughing out loud which rarely happens to me when I read literary fiction or any book for that matter. Interestingly, she uses the second person 'you' in most of the stories which would seem like it would be tiresome, but it's not. As I read along, the 'you's sounded strangely more like 'I's. Also, she swims through scenes fairly quickly unlike other authors who might stick to one single scene for ten or more pages. The effect is wonderful be...more
This is the first of Moore's books (short stories and novels) that I've read, and I have to say I've emerged with mixed impressions. The worldview here is rather bleak. What she gets right, I think, is complimenting it with a relatively spartan structural style and yoking these stories -- brilliantly -- under a collection title that relates them to each other in a way that seems to at least gesture toward some ray of sunshine. However, despite these strengths, the repetitive faults of her myriad...more
I wouldn’t say I’m an obsessive person, but I do go in spurts of fanatic interest, and well, Lorrie Moore is the victim of my latest rampage. Her books are stylized in such a delightfully hilarious and horrific way that almost anyone can identify with the trials her characters face. Even if you’ve never been face-down in your lover’s closet, smelling his wife’s clothes and wondering why he prefers a woman with monstrous feet, you will undeniably be able to pick out the hilarity in such tragic mo...more
Lorrie Moore continues to be one of my absolute favorite living American short fiction writers. I was reminded to pick up this book while I was reading Brian Richardson's Unnatural Voices, in which he discusses Moore's use of the second person narrative. Self-Help has a lot of second-person stories, and they never feel tired or manipulative. "How to Become a Writer" is, of course, a classic. "How" and "How to Be an Other Woman" are equally great uses of the form. While a few of the stories, lik...more
Every single short story I wrote in my undergrad creative writing workshops was a ripoff of Lorrie Moore in some way. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
We’ve no shortage of opinions here so have another—I admire the overworked sentence like one admires overrehearsed acting: it’s hitting all the marks. George Saunders at Columbia last Thursday, after saying that fiction that strives for a certain control of effect is doomed, invoked an editor for whom a successful short story is a string of sentences, each an access of some mysterious desire to read the next. Is this style of engineering exempt, then, from the Let-Go-Of-The-Reader’s-Throat Rule?...more
Lorrie? Lorrie..? If you can get here by Wednesday, we can curl up and watch The Five Lives of Criss Angel. He'll be walking through a field of landmines. He calls this, "Death Field". During the commercials I will do what I can to explain his previous trick, entitled "White Death". Angel was buried alive under a ton of Californian mountain snow (no, that's not code for cocaine). He became a snow Angel! Lorrie? Gosh. Heck. We don't even have to watch television. Just reel me off some puns from t...more
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Lorrie Moore was born in Glens Falls, New York in 1957. She attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where she tutored on an Indian reservation, and was editor of the university literary magazine and, at age 19, won Seventeen Magazine’s Fiction Contest. After graduating summa cum laude, she worked in New York for two years before going on to received a Masters in Fine Arts from Cornel...more
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“That is what is wrong with cold people. Not that they have ice in their souls - we all have a bit of that - but that they insist every word and deed mirror that ice. They never learn the beauty or value of gesture. The emotional necessity. For them, it is all honesty before kindness, truth before art. Love is art, not truth. It's like painting scenery.”
—
56 people liked it
“Love drains you, takes with it much of your blood sugar and water weight. You are like a house slowly losing its electricity, the fans slowing, the lights dimming and flickering; the clocks stop and go and stop.”
—
37 people liked it
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