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seefongread's review against another edition
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
cklock's review against another edition
This book is a surrealist mess. The main protagonist, Finn, starts out as a thinly veiled device for Moore's rant against conspiracy theorists (I read to get AWAY from conspiracy theorists) and goes downhill from there. The book is interspersed with letters from a woman who runs a boarding house 150 years ago. Strange and not easy to understand. Pretentious. DNF'd at about a quarter in.
maiamorgue's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Suicide
zesmerelda's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Odd ghost story/coping with grief tale. I did not understand the John Wilkes Booth subplot or how it related. It WAS trippy, though.
marilina's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
4.0
wayward's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
norameid's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Very bizarre premise and heavyhanded writing. Not at all like Birds of America, one of my favorite books ever. As much as I love Lorrie Moore, she should stick to short fiction.
skwinslow's review against another edition
4.0
This has Lincoln in the Bardo vibes, but it's also distinctly Lorrie Moore. I'm not sure how to describe it; a love story? A story about grief and loss? A road trip? A story of a man's dying brother and his (probably?) dead girlfriend? It's a strange one, but I love Lorrie Moore, and she can make strange work.
nancf's review against another edition
3.0
While I could appreciate the evocative writing, this story was a bit too strange for me.
The book starts with a letter written from Elizabeth/Libby, a civil war era innkeeper, to her deceased sister. Such letters are interspersed throughout the book. The current-day storyline concerns Finn, a teacher, who is in New York, sharing last days with his brother, Max, in hospice. Finn, is then called home to tend to Lily, his some time lover.
While I was reading, I had no idea of where the story was going. However, it did sort of come together in the end.
"Finn did not believe in good anything. He believed in Interesting, Serviceable, Dangerous, Providential, Unlucky, Cruel, Mercurial, Funny, Unreal. He believed time was a strange ocean through which we imagined we were swimming rather than understanding we were being randomly tossed." (24)
"Sickness detached a person from the world and at the end shrank that world down to the size of a room, the walls of which vibrated and stepped slowly, slowly forward." (48)
"The photos of them together - smiling, entwined, behatted, insouciant - were like all photos: weak lies at the time, but full of truth and power later on. A weird form of time travel." (61)
"His life became a halting imitation of personal choice." (148)
"His old life seemed a swirl of smoke in a jar. He saw that no longer caring about a thing was key to both living and dying. So was caring about a thing." (191)
The book starts with a letter written from Elizabeth/Libby, a civil war era innkeeper, to her deceased sister. Such letters are interspersed throughout the book. The current-day storyline concerns Finn, a teacher, who is in New York, sharing last days with his brother, Max, in hospice. Finn, is then called home to tend to Lily, his some time lover.
While I was reading, I had no idea of where the story was going. However, it did sort of come together in the end.
"Finn did not believe in good anything. He believed in Interesting, Serviceable, Dangerous, Providential, Unlucky, Cruel, Mercurial, Funny, Unreal. He believed time was a strange ocean through which we imagined we were swimming rather than understanding we were being randomly tossed." (24)
"Sickness detached a person from the world and at the end shrank that world down to the size of a room, the walls of which vibrated and stepped slowly, slowly forward." (48)
"The photos of them together - smiling, entwined, behatted, insouciant - were like all photos: weak lies at the time, but full of truth and power later on. A weird form of time travel." (61)
"His life became a halting imitation of personal choice." (148)
"His old life seemed a swirl of smoke in a jar. He saw that no longer caring about a thing was key to both living and dying. So was caring about a thing." (191)