Paula's Reviews > A Gate at the Stairs
My rating:
A Gate at the Stairs
by Lorrie Moore
by Lorrie Moore
I think Lorrie Moore’s story collection Birds of America is one of the best American short story collections of whichever century it was published in. So after waiting for years for her to write another book, I bought this one immediately. By the time I reached the last quarter of the book, I wished she had sent out a draft to her readers for our advice before publishing it!
I disagree with other writers here who feel that Tassie is a believable character, because for me, she was part of the problem with the book. Every single character (well, except maybe some of the women who work for the adoption agencies) speak in the same exact voice. I wish Moore had saved the wittiness for just a handful of characters, but instead I felt that 20-year-old Tassie and (40-something?) Sarah spoke exactly the same (not to mention Tassie’s dad, brother, boyfriend, roommate, Sarah’s husband and housecleaner…). This doesn’t help to define Tassie as an individual, especially when she sometimes comments that her own behavior or speech is typical of young women her age. Also, did anyone else find it distractingly implausible that a college student would have only one friend (who’s mostly absent)?
As a 40-something mother, I kept expecting that there would be more conflict in the relationship between Tassie and Sarah, especially given Tassie’s identification with the birth mothers before the adoption and her insistence on using Emma’s real name. Instead, it seemed that Tassie admired Sarah, whereas Edward is entirely one-dimensional. Just think how much weight the last two lines would have had if Tassie had really had reason to struggle with how to respond to him!
Without being able to see Tassie as a rounded, believable character, I felt that Sarah and Edward’s adoption of Mary-Emma and their backstory seem to be one book, while the story of Tassie and her boyfriend and brother seems to be part of another. Maybe I need to reread to see how the two comment on each other, and why Moore has chosen to intertwine them? But from other readers’ comments, I don’t seem to be alone in feeling this way. In an ideal world, Lorrie Moore would make some revisions and reissue this book, because it could be absolutely brilliant.
I disagree with other writers here who feel that Tassie is a believable character, because for me, she was part of the problem with the book. Every single character (well, except maybe some of the women who work for the adoption agencies) speak in the same exact voice. I wish Moore had saved the wittiness for just a handful of characters, but instead I felt that 20-year-old Tassie and (40-something?) Sarah spoke exactly the same (not to mention Tassie’s dad, brother, boyfriend, roommate, Sarah’s husband and housecleaner…). This doesn’t help to define Tassie as an individual, especially when she sometimes comments that her own behavior or speech is typical of young women her age. Also, did anyone else find it distractingly implausible that a college student would have only one friend (who’s mostly absent)?
As a 40-something mother, I kept expecting that there would be more conflict in the relationship between Tassie and Sarah, especially given Tassie’s identification with the birth mothers before the adoption and her insistence on using Emma’s real name. Instead, it seemed that Tassie admired Sarah, whereas Edward is entirely one-dimensional. Just think how much weight the last two lines would have had if Tassie had really had reason to struggle with how to respond to him!
Without being able to see Tassie as a rounded, believable character, I felt that Sarah and Edward’s adoption of Mary-Emma and their backstory seem to be one book, while the story of Tassie and her boyfriend and brother seems to be part of another. Maybe I need to reread to see how the two comment on each other, and why Moore has chosen to intertwine them? But from other readers’ comments, I don’t seem to be alone in feeling this way. In an ideal world, Lorrie Moore would make some revisions and reissue this book, because it could be absolutely brilliant.
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