Poll

I do not like Lorrie Moore's stories. I have not read "People Like That Are the Only People Here." I will if you tell me I should, but I know -- know -- I'm going to vote for "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." I love it. And I adore the 1962 French short film adaptation, La Rivière du hibou. When I taught rhetoric I'd use it to show different visual effects and how they make one feel, hoping students would see how that applies to the writer word as well.

I like An Occurrence, and I love Bierce's writing in general, but I loved People Like That Are the Only People Here, it was my first Lorrie Moore story ever - although I have one of her collections somewhere in my short story bookcase. A very well written story, and I'm impressed with her language, and kind of unique way of setting the scene. So People... gets my vote.

The only Lorrie Moore I had read prior to this was her novel A Gate at the Stairs which I half liked (because I think half of it worked and half didn't). I remember Kevin from Canada saying then that she is better at short stories, though my memory could be fooling me.

Moore gets my vote for this - both stories are about awful situations, so "enjoy" seems the wrong word, but I enjoyed Moore's more.

I have not read "People Like That Are the Only People Here", but I do not like Lorrie Moore stories I read and the novel A Gate at the Stairs I only read half of it

My nod goes to the Bierce. Lorrie Moore has some talent but her style did not seem well matched to the topic IMO.

Moore takes on an easy subject for profound emotion - a very sick baby. So a lot of the descriptions of the dramatic effect the situation has just seem so very familiar. But where the story really lost me was the father's reaction (side note: the baby's mother is referred to as "the Mother" and the baby's father is referred to as "the Husband", which seems odd) which is to obsess over making sure his wife takes lots of notes so she can write about this situation to make money to pay medical bills. That's just nuts.

Bierce has the disadvantage of time. The sort of style and the unexpected ending are now very commonly done. On the one hand, it might not seem fair to hold that against him, but that would be what I would say if this were a contest about the originality of authors. But it isn't. This story can't really have the impact it once did, but despite that it is still a very strong piece of writing. He has a powerful command of language that makes this a great read. I voted for "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."

Edit to add this: The more I think about it the more annoying the anti-male bias in "People Like That..." is. I mentioned the "Mother" "Husband" thing above, but the horoscope "joke" must have been a 12 year old brother or a father (not a teenage sister or a mother), and then Tiny Tim donates to the hospital, but all we get is criticism of him. Can I vote for "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" twice? No? Ok.

JFC, I cannot finish the Moore story. Prepared stand-up schtick is static and therefore entertaining for only 2-3 minutes because, during its delivery, the listener's brain is maturing. It adapts, inures, then sickens from the predictability, corniness.

Riffing song lyrics, or titles, or... from free association or heard phrases is a fun memory game, but I play it silently, in my head, or aloud only if I am alone. It would be unkind to subject others to it as Moore does.

But I did finish it this morning. Moore could have spared me the last six pages. She should take her tawdry show on the road. Bah-dum-bump.

And, if she thinks she's written a brilliant, clever character dealing with tragedy using humor, She's Got Another Thing Coming / That's right here's where the talking ends....