Bark: Stories Author: Lorrie Moore | Language: English | ISBN:
B00F1W0DWC | Format: PDF
Bark: Stories Description
A new collection of stories by one of America’s most beloved and admired short-story writers, her first in fifteen years, since
Birds of America (“Fluid, cracked, mordant, colloquial . . . Will stand by itself as one of our funniest, most telling anatomies of human love and vulnerability.” —
The New York Times Book Review, cover).
These eight masterly stories reveal Lorrie Moore at her most mature and in a perfect configuration of craft, mind, and bewitched spirit, as she explores the passage of time and summons up its inevitable sorrows and hilarious pitfalls to reveal her own exquisite, singular wisdom.
In “Debarking,” a newly divorced man tries to keep his wits about him as the United States prepares to invade Iraq, and against this ominous moment, we see—in all its irresistible wit and darkness—the perils of divorce and what can follow in its wake . . .
In “Foes,” a political argument goes grotesquely awry as the events of 9/11 unexpectedly manifest themselves at a fund-raising dinner in Georgetown . . . In “The Juniper Tree,” a teacher visited by the ghost of her recently deceased friend is forced to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in a kind of nightmare reunion . . . And in “Wings,” we watch the inevitable unraveling of two once-hopeful musicians, neither of whom held fast to their dreams nor struck out along other paths, as Moore deftly depicts the intricacies of dead-ends-ville and the workings of regret . . .
Here are people beset, burdened, buoyed; protected by raising teenage children; dating after divorce; facing the serious illness of a longtime friend; setting forth on a romantic assignation abroad, having it interrupted mid-trip, and coming to understand the larger ramifications and the impossibility of the connection . . . stories that show people coping with large dislocation in their lives, with risking a new path to answer the desire to be in relation—to someone . . .
Gimlet-eyed social observation, the public and private absurdities of American life, dramatic irony, and enduring half-cracked love wend their way through each of these narratives in a heartrending mash-up of the tragic and the laugh-out-loud—the hallmark of life in Lorrie-Moore-land.
From the Hardcover edition.- File Size: 1644 KB
- Print Length: 208 pages
- Publisher: Knopf (February 25, 2014)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00F1W0DWC
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,277 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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I love short stories but am never entirely sure how to review books of them. Giving the plot or a brief summary for each story seems kind of pointless and often redundant given that that information is usually available on the site anyway. In this case, I've decided instead to respond to some of the points others have made in their reviews.
Some have noted that some of the stories seem dated. Yes, they do. It's a fair point. Stories of the Democratic convention of 2008 or the war in Iraq may eventually pale, but I think they're still fresh enough not to seem hopelessly antiquated.
It's been noted that the book is short. Yes, and I wish it were longer. But I don't know that it's fair to knock a book for its length if the quality is there. I believe it is here.
The endings have been faulted here. I have to confess that I don't really understand this complaint. One of the many beauties of the short story is the diversity of endings. Sometimes, short stories wrap everything up with a nice bow. Other times, they simply end. And there are a variety of possibilities in between. I did not have a problem with the endings.
Some have said that these stories don't represent Moore at her best. Agreed. But even Moore at less than her best is wonderful to read. Indeed, her stories always (including here) seem welcoming. As someone else put it, and I second the point, Moore is a master at drawing you in, at giving you a full character in a paragraph. A student of the craft of short story writing would do well to study these, and those who simply enjoy reading should be rewarded.
I have read all of Lorrie Moore's short story collections and have enjoyed them greatly, except for this book. I love her novels, especiallyA Gate at the Stairs (Vintage Contemporaries) and Anagrams. This collection, however, seems postured and very self-aware. It feels like the words were chosen so carefully that they lose their organic feeling. At times, I felt impatient to finish the story I was reading.
Many of the stories deal with themes of isolation, loneliness, anger, and bitterness. There are betrayals in relationships and self-soothing with alcohol. So many of the people, especially women, have been burned by their partners that I wonder if Ms. Moore thinks intimacy between the sexes is at all possible. The relationships portrayed in this book are so banal and shallow that I finished it with a feeling of hopelessness.
In 'Debarking', Ira is recently divorced from Marilyn and feels very hateful towards her for breaking up their marriage. He begins dating a woman named Zora who has a bizarre relationship with her son, making intimacy with Ira impossible. The backdrop of the story is the Gulf War. Ira feels that in wartime it is better to be with someone than to try and deal with the world on your own. 'Referential' deals with a woman whose 16 year-old son has manic depressive illness and her lover is pulling away from her and her son. 'Wings' is about KC, a woman whose band has fallen apart. She lives with Dench in a very meaningless relationship. She meets an elderly man named Milt with whom she begins a friendship.
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