Rating: 
Summary: Like a box of...
Review: "Birds of America" was very difficult to get into at first -however, I decided to pick it up and delve further. I felt Lorrie Moore was harsh with the characters outside the protagonist's self involved world - when the people around them don't get the main character's "meaning" quickly or expertly enough,- they are cut down at the knees. However her forgiving story - "Charades" - made me a fan. This book is like a box of chocolates...you have to delve into the center to find the good stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: Bird Droppings
Review: I read and liked Who Will Run The Frog Hospital, -- but what happened here w/ Birds of America?? I was told she was a master of the short story, but I found myself quitting half way through the book, despite the fact that I ALWAYS try to read through to the last page. I just didn't feel like turning the page, and thought that all the characters seemed to be in some sort of wit contest from one story to the next. I've got kids to listen to if I want to hear a bunch of smart-alecs! (obligatory exclamation point)If you like short stories, you might want to check out Lynne Barrett's The Secret Names of Women -- I did, and couldn't stop turning the pages until I had finished the entire collection.
Rating: 
Summary: READ THIS BOOK NOW
Review: Lorrie Moore is one of the greatest living short story writers. If you don't read this book, you will have missed out on a part of our literary evolution. And if you don't read the best story in it ("People Like That Are The Only People Here"), you will have missed being entertained, moved, and ultimately shattered by a work that has already entered the canon of all that defines us--as writers, as parents, as people. IT'S THAT SIMPLE.
Rating: 
Summary: tried, again, to like this book. failed again.
Review: after the scolding those of us who didn't "get" birds of america took from the reader from cleveland I dutifully (nay, cheerfully) went back to reread this collection. i hated this book even more than i did the first time. smug Yuppie lives by a smug Yuppie writer to be read by smug Yuppies with New Yorker subscriptions (who I might add fit the magazine's demographic.) ugh.
Rating: 
Summary: Mind Cinema
Review: "Birds of America" was my first Lorrie Moore experience and I am so thankful for these stories! I did not like the first story at all and was tempted to take it right back to the library so I could get on with something else. I am glad I continued on to number two. So many people, so much emotion, and so dark at times. This is the first book in a few dozen that I snorted out loud with laughter. It has it all. The ending of"Real Estate" is shocking. The ending to "What You Want to Do Fine" is touching and funny. "Terrific Mother" starts you out with a sad jolt. The book could have done without "Willing". Almost perfect!
Rating:
Summary: not as good as i thought it'd be
Review: what a mix of opinions there are on moore's latest book of well-intended, quirky stories. i have to say that i was disappointed. not half as good as i'd expected. her phrasing, and her use of exclamation marks as critical punctuation (when they should really only be used in dire cases of emergency), was enough to put me off. i do think that her stories had strong foundations of plot to begin with, but the execution was a lot poorer than i'd hoped for. maybe next time.
Rating:
Summary: An American classic
Review: There need be no hype on this book. Lorrie Moore is the best short story writer in the world under the age of 55, and that some readers on this site don't get it reminds me of my undergrad students not liking Faulkner or Joyce or Woolf just because they don't get it. This is a funny, entertaining, smart, excoriating and amazing book that your great-grandchildren will be reading with pleasure. People didn't get Moby Dick at first, either. Except other writers. Believe me, ask any real writer what he or she thinks of Lorrie Moore and prepare to hear a litany of awe. I heard John Updike speak last year, and, when asked what living American writers he admired, the only person he mentioned who was under 60 was Lorrie Moore. I'm about LM's age myself, and have published 6 books w/NY houses, and I'm here to tell you: Moore is the only writer of my generation I'm willing to admit is better than I am.
Rating:
Summary: Lorrie Moore is wonderful. I just loved this book.
Review: These stories are funny, sad, intelligent, angry, bitter, dysfunctional and brilliant all at the same time. This is a book I will treasure. I laughed and I cried - but mostly I underlined wonderfully memorable sentences. Moore is a fantastic writer - I love her insight and compassion. I love her vision and use of language. This all may sound a bit over the top but I recommend 'Birds of America' highly. (I just wish I could write like her). :)
Rating:
Summary: after her other books I was disappointed and depressed
Review: I enjoyed Lorrie Moore's other books -- especially "Self Help" and "Anagrams" so much but this one was not for me. I found a few moments in a few stories that I enjoyed, but for the most part found the stories depressing or I just didn't want to read them. Especially the last three (which I see one of the reviewers loved!)
Rating:
Summary: For the birds!
Review: Lorrie Moore began her career with a wonderful collection and it's only gone down since then, as if she's permanently tapped out. Frog Hospital was an embarrasment. Birds of America has one and one half of a good story. A couple of mediocres. The rest are utterly shameful and pretty much unreadable. All in all, Birds is like buying a CD with one good cut on it. Play it a few times and what you have left is a frisbee. She just ain't got it. I don't understand the hype.
| 
