Lorrie Moore creates a beautiful premise with Anagrams-- dissecting two characters into a puzzle mish-mash of lives, careers, relationships, directions, all asking the same ultimate question: "What is the essential difference between men and women?"

Unfortunately, Benna and Gerard never quite articulate that difference, although they live it in their everyday interactions-- whether it is one of student to teacher, neighbor to neighbor, boyfriend to girlfriend. The only way to describe Moore's characters is heart-breaking. They are sad, lonely people, stuck in a cycle that seems to never be able to break. I don't know quite what to think-- Anagrams made me howl with laughter (I love the surprises that pop up occasionally-- the consciously misquoted Shakespeare), tear up with loneliness (Benna has a repeated motif of living in a neighborhood full of children, yet the only one she has is imaginary), and become a bit depressed when thinking of the state of the world (can we ever be happy??), but nevertheless, it was a gorgeously written novel/short story collection (however you decide to classify it). I'm sure I'll pick up on more nuances the next time around.