Bark

Lorrie Moore’s collection of short stories is a series of tales that explore the messiness of relationships and melancholy of adult life. My favorite stories in this collection are “Wings” and “Thank You for Having Me.”

I don't normally like short stories, but this book was amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it.

Hmmm. Hmm. I enjoyed reading this, and Moore is definitely a masterful writer. Each of these stories contains beautiful sentences, and it's worth reading them just to admire the way they're crafted. None of these stories resonated with me the way that most of the ones from [b:Birds of America 19631 Birds of America Lorrie Moore https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388641896s/19631.jpg 1769] did. I suspect that might have to do with the fact that Moore published Birds of America in 1999, and the stories collected in Bark represent more middle aged concerns? Perhaps I should revisit Bark in 10 years or so.

I've loved Lorrie Moore since college when we read a bunch of her shorts from Self-Help. I read this over eight days, a story a day. Her stories always suck you in and then kind of end with a smack in the face like a wake up call you didn't want. I was especially skeeved by Debarking and Referential. The Juniper Tree was powerful and is easily to identify with. Who hasn't had a good friend who you haven't seen in awhile? What if that friend died, and you were forced to visit her ghost and perform for her with no advanced warning? Lorrie Moore's stories are haunting, pointing out the horror of real life. Highly recommended.