Lorrie Moore reading from A Gate at the Stairs | October 6 at the Brookline Booksmith
Loorie Moore speaking at Book Expo America
This season's "Writers & Readers" series has promised and delivered some heavy-hitters to both the basement of the Brookline Booksmith and its larger, glitzier counterpart, the Coolidge Corner Theatre . Tucked in a calendar of events among household names like Nick Hornby, Jonathan Safran Foer, and John Irving is Lorrie Moore ,
a Midwestern gem known across a growing number of literary
circles, primarily for her short stories. This time around, Moore's
taking a break from the short stories and making what appears to be a
triumphant comeback with her third novel. On
Tuesday night, the 52-year-old Moore was met by a packed house at the
Booksmith, whose overflow was obliged to listen to the basement reading
broadcast up to the store's main floor. Perhaps the anticipation
brewing during Moore's 11-year book-writing hiatus had reached its
peak: fans were chomping at the bit to catch soundbites of the author
reading from her latest work, A Gate at the Stairs , the coming-of-age tale of a clever but confused college girl, set immediately post-9/11 . Moore
recited an excerpt from the novel in which 20-year-old Tassie Keltjin
is interviewed by her future employer, an excited restaurant owner and
soon-to-be adoptive mother in need of a babysitter. As the conversation
between the two women progresses, it becomes clear that the meat of A Gate at the Stairs is not found in the tragedies that strike Tassie and those close to her -- the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, her brother's decision to join the Army, a sudden loss of
love, or the dissolution of a marriage -- but in their more subtly
disturbing and hilarious underpinnings. The job-interview scene shows Moore's knack for honing in on the self-consciousness that infects her protagonist's world ,
as Tassie and her future employer awkwardly strive to reach common
ground: "I accidentally nodded. I had no idea, conversationally, where
we were,"
Moore read, speaking as Tassie. "I searched, as I too often found
myself having to do, to find a language, or even an octave, in which to
speak. I wondered how old she was." But Moore seemed to have little difficulty in finding a language in which to address her audience. Infused with a Juno -like snappiness and sarcasm , the sort of dark and feminine humor that characterizes Tassie Keltjin and A Gate at the Stairs is
evidently an offshoot of Moore's own persona. Speaking with a sly grin,
the author repeatedly reverted to the type of self-deprecation that can
lighten, sometimes frustratingly, the most serious of inquiries. When
asked if she prefers to identify herself primarily as a writer (as
opposed to a mother or a teacher, roles she's assumed during her
decade-long hiatus) ,
Moore explained: "It could jinx you, I suppose ... but I'm not big on
self-identification. I have no sense of self." Next question, please.
-Carrie Battan