Darlings, I always used to set store by such things, but, as I grow older, cooler thoughts prevail. I am always interested in what the Times puts on its Ten Best Books List--or, specifically speaking, what they consider the five best works of fiction in a given year, this being my literary venue.
Well, one of the books that made the list in 2009 was "A Gate At The Stairs" by Lorrie Moore. Now, as stated, I had read her signature short story collection, "Birds Of America", and while I admired the writing on a technical level, the book did not blow me away.
So, when the 2009 list came out--with books I intended to read, but never did; Moore's book being among them, I chalked it up to fate. If the book were put in my path at any point, I would read it. Well, last summer, it was!!!!!
While walking along West 12th Street, en route to Monsieur's, someone was having a sale outside their apartment building, and one of the items catching my eye was Moore's book. So I purchased the paperback copy.
Having read the book recently, I can say Moore is fluid in her writing technique; the book has a very lyrical style that is smooth reading, and the language just flows off the page. What she cannot do is maintain narrative development, for this novel goes off in so many promising directions, without offering a payoff in any.
Set in the Midwest, the novel concerns a young college student, Tassie Keltjin, who hails from a farming family. She becomes both employed by and embroiled in, the lives of Sarah Brink, and her husband, Edward Thornwood. Both are problematic characters; Sarah seems desperate to have a child, to the point she adopts a Black child, Mary Emmie, with the expected racial controversies. Hubby Edward seems the corporate type who is having a field day with young college girls on the side. Things get dicey, when their marriage is revealed not to be what it seems, and Mary Emmie is taken away. All of which could send the story taking off in any number of exciting ways that could make this book so compelling as to be impossible to put down. But Moore's narrative style is as controlled as her technique--TOO controlled, if you ask me-- resulting that it builds in any number of ways, but there are never any payoffs. Even the ending is tepid. Though it confirms I was right about Edward.
The trouble is Moore constructs interesting potentials, then drops them altogether. We never learn as much about Sarah and Edward, no much how what is presented or revealed, and Tassie, at end, seems little changed by her experiences.
While, as stated, I was not blown away by "Birds Of America," maybe, I have to conclude, the short story is more her venue. "A Gate At The Stairs" often seems like a string of potentially interesting ones that are begun, but go nowhere.
What kept me going was the discipline of the writing, and Tassie's character. But I would never have put this on a Ten Best list. Would I give Moore another chance?? Yes, because I think she might write the book that could deserve a place on the Ten Best list someday!!!!!
But, girls, it is NOT "A Gate At The Stairs."
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