Birds of America : Stories

Rating:
Summary: She's a genius, pure and simple
Review: There isn't a better short story writer working in the United States today. Lorrie Moore is a genius, pure and simple, who, like Chekov, understands that the tragedies in life are often followed by its funny, absurd moments. Sometimes they even exist simultaneously. Lorrie Moore's stories will last. Birds of America is Moore at the top of her form, with some stories that are instant classics.

Rating:
Summary: Don't believe the anti-hype
Review: What a dreary bunch, those one-star readers below, parading their urbane "disappointment" with Lorrie Moore's hilarious and touching "Birds of America." Am I alone in finding it hard to stomach such glib, smug accusations of glibness, smugness? It was inevitable that a book so well-reviewed as this one would be so reviled by the wilfully contrarian set, and here they are decked out in their usual regalia, accessorized with stale knocks at the New Yorker and the Academe. Phooey on them all: buy the book, not the backlash.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: Beautiful, clever, and engrossing. Great characters, great writing, and wonderful word play. How could anyone who loves to read not love "Birds of America"?

Rating:
Summary: Some of these stories make the whole book worthwhile!
Review: I found that some of these stories were so warm and human they moved me to tears, while others left me somewhat lukewarm. Don't miss "Which is More Than I Can Say About Some People" for a wonderful depiction of a child coming to understand a parent, or "Charades" for an all too acccurate disastrous holiday with the family. And "People Like That Are the Only People Here" was deservedly anthologized in the Best American Stories of 1998.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, Beautifully Written
Review: I don't understand some of the criticisms below. The author is clearly writing a kind of satirical realism and the settings she criticizes so richly deserve it. It seems to me that a reader should not confuse the values, behaviors, and beliefs of the characters in these settings with those of the author. Lorrie Moore is a great observer--only occasionally overly compassionate. Should she be faulted for her acute ear, eagle eye, and faithful rendition of funny people? This book is a must read for anyone wanting to be a literate person. Really.

Rating:
Summary: Glib exercises from a fashionable hack.
Review: Always beware of writers who earn their living inside the walls of academe. Ms. Moore shows all the shortcomings of a writer who uses her students as bouncing boards for her tedious vignettes, none of which deal with people very far from university life and none of which are in any real sense true short stories. The "in" jokes among her vapid characters may amuse the poor freshmen stuck with the task of wading their way through "Of Grammatology" or any of a number of tawdry theses written by the post-modern pack, but there is not a shred of authenticity to be found in any of these bloodless rambles. And the true shame of it is that Ms. Moore can write--but she chooses to offer us nothing that holds any attention beyond a clever sentence. In the end all she does is pose and invite us to think how clever she is. What writer would not seem clever, working with the stick figures and puppet stereotypes she presents...

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I had read and heard so much about Birds of America that I couldn't wait to read it, but I was extremely disappointed with the stories. Too much bleakness, too much self-absorption by the protagonists with secondary characters who were dullards. I remain puzzled why it garnered such rave reviews. I'm missing it on this one.

Rating:
Summary: I love Lorrie Moore
Review: Lorrie Moore is a true genius with the short story. She writes with a precision and a penetration that is staggering. I am delighted to have discovered her. I believe she is in the same league as Alice Munro. I read them both the same way. I read a story and close the book. I must recover for awhile before I can read the next story. Delicious stuff.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite book of 1998
Review: I'm not a fan of short stories, but I thought Birds of America was exquisite. Lorrie Moore captures all our flawed souls with such wit and compassion. And the writing! I've had trouble picking up another book--nothing holds a candle to her prose.

Rating:
Summary: I've never laughed so hard as I was slitting my wrists
Review: I'm not sure anyone does nihilism better. I was laughing, over the abyss. Some paragraps left me stupified with giggles. Her similes are simply beautiful: elegant and substantial. Her plotting is slow, because her characters are so precarious, because they deserve so much attention. Moore has her finger on the pulse of this age's neurosis. Better hers than mine.