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mepresley's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
A coming-of-age story. I really enjoyed the narrator, Tassie--her sense of humor, her tendency to over-think and philosophize. In some ways, this is a retelling of Jane Eyre. A girl leaving her childhood behind takes a job as a childcare provider with a semi-mysterious employer. Rochester's ward is replaced by Edward (the name another nod to Jane Eyre) & Sarah's soon-to-be-adopted Mary- Emma. Their last name, Thornwood, invokes Thornfield Hall. Mary-Emma can also be viewed, however, as Bertha, significantly the middle name that Sarah gives her,--an Other who is in some ways entrapped and victimized. Mary-Emma's room is even in the attic of the Thornfield house.
The employer's dark secret comes out into the open and our Tassie/ Jane figure parts ways with the household. Ultimately, where Jane Eyre ends with Rochester and Jane reconnecting and the line, "Reader, I married him," A Gate at the Stairs ends with Edward calling Tassie to ask her out and Tassie telling us, "Reader, I did not even have coffee with him." LOL.
Sarah was also a compelling character, and I would have been interested to see (that part of) the story from her perspective, too.
Moore explores racism and the post-9/11 world: Mary-Emma is half-black; Sarah starts a support group for other parents of minority children; Tassie dates a secret Muslim extremist ; Tassie's brother, Robert, joins the military directly out of high school and is immediately sent to Afghanistan after Basic Training.
The employer's dark secret comes out into the open and our Tassie/ Jane figure parts ways with the household. Ultimately, where Jane Eyre ends with
Sarah was also a compelling character, and I would have been interested to see (that part of) the story from her perspective, too.
Moore explores racism and the post-9/11 world: Mary-Emma is half-black; Sarah starts a support group for other parents of minority children; Tassie dates a secret
chloekg's review against another edition
1.0
In this New York Times bestseller with unnecessary post-9/11 ghosts, the book's quirky-yet-featureless protagonist bumbles through a series of uncomfortable and unsuccessful relationships that could have interesting social commentary except for each of them ending with incoherent and abrupt tragedy. Everything turns out poorly, and the only lesson of it is a bleakly unrealistic, "that's just how it is sometimes."
liambetts's review against another edition
4.0
Phenomenal on a sentence / paragraph level but the structure / plot was really all over the place and it felt like it was trying to do too much and not giving enough time or focus to any particular thread
telemanusjellybeanco's review against another edition
1.0
Did not enjoy at all. I have no clue what the book was supposed to be about. There were too many little stories within this one novel, and they weren't even good. I enjoyed the main character, but everything else was just dull. I skipped most of the last 10 pages, just reading dialogue so I could get through it. That was pointless...I could have put the book down 200 pages ago...
hectaizani's review against another edition
2.0
What did I just read? I really can't figure out why some books are picked for the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. In A Gate at the Stairs, a fiftyish author is trying to write about a twenty-year-old co-ed and failing miserably. Tassie wasn't really sympathetic or believable to me. Her job as a nanny seemed thrown in because there wasn't any closure with her experiences with Sarah and Mary-Emma. Edward's characterizations were flat and he turned out to be a
Oh well, I can put another checkmark in my 1001-Books and hope that the next one is better. I hesitated between 1 and 2 stars. Many people did like this book and it wasn't completely unredeemable but it really wasn't for me. Honestly, a 1.5 is my real rating. I personally didn't like it but the writing wasn't horrible. It just didn't reel me in.
Spoiler
pervert. Who calls the 20-year-old nanny after the divorce to ask her out to dinner? That was absolutely unnecessary and a terrible ending.Oh well, I can put another checkmark in my 1001-Books and hope that the next one is better. I hesitated between 1 and 2 stars. Many people did like this book and it wasn't completely unredeemable but it really wasn't for me. Honestly, a 1.5 is my real rating. I personally didn't like it but the writing wasn't horrible. It just didn't reel me in.
daisymai's review against another edition
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
somanybookstoread's review against another edition
5.0
This one I'd give four and 3/4, so I'll round up.
Lorrie Moore's prose is gorgeous. She somehow manages to tell an incredibly sad story with tremendous humor. That's no small feat! I read this book hungrily, loving the language just a bit more than the storyline. My only complaint is that I got so invested in the main storyline that I felt a bit cheated when it ended rather abruptly. Fortunately, Moore's prose is gorgeous enough to have kept me engaged anyway. I definitely recommend this one!
I have to preserve this excerpt of Moore's brilliant and funny prose that I love so much, so here it is:
"...I'd brought only one book, the Zen poems, and was finding their obliqueness fatiguing and ripe for parody. I decided instead to investigate the official Judeo-Christian comedy, and pulled the Gideon Bible from the nightstand drawer. I started at the beginning, day one, when God created the heavens and the earth and gave them form. There'd been no form before. Just amorphous blobbery. God then said let there be light, in order to get a little dynamic thing going between night and day, though the moon and stars and sun were not the generators of this light but merely a kind of middle management, supervisors, glorified custodians, since they were not created until later -- day four -- as can happen with bureaucracy, even of the cosmic sort. Still, I thought of all the songs that had been written about these belated moon and stars and sun, compared to songs about form. Not one good song about form! Sometimes a week just got more inspiring as it went along. Still, it was truly strange that there was morning and night on day one but the sun wasn't created until day four. Perhaps God didn't have a proofreader until, like, day forty-seven, but by that time all sorts of weird things were happening. Perhaps he was really, completely on his own until then, making stuff up and then immediately forgetting what he'd made up already..."
Lorrie Moore's prose is gorgeous. She somehow manages to tell an incredibly sad story with tremendous humor. That's no small feat! I read this book hungrily, loving the language just a bit more than the storyline. My only complaint is that I got so invested in the main storyline that I felt a bit cheated when it ended rather abruptly. Fortunately, Moore's prose is gorgeous enough to have kept me engaged anyway. I definitely recommend this one!
I have to preserve this excerpt of Moore's brilliant and funny prose that I love so much, so here it is:
"...I'd brought only one book, the Zen poems, and was finding their obliqueness fatiguing and ripe for parody. I decided instead to investigate the official Judeo-Christian comedy, and pulled the Gideon Bible from the nightstand drawer. I started at the beginning, day one, when God created the heavens and the earth and gave them form. There'd been no form before. Just amorphous blobbery. God then said let there be light, in order to get a little dynamic thing going between night and day, though the moon and stars and sun were not the generators of this light but merely a kind of middle management, supervisors, glorified custodians, since they were not created until later -- day four -- as can happen with bureaucracy, even of the cosmic sort. Still, I thought of all the songs that had been written about these belated moon and stars and sun, compared to songs about form. Not one good song about form! Sometimes a week just got more inspiring as it went along. Still, it was truly strange that there was morning and night on day one but the sun wasn't created until day four. Perhaps God didn't have a proofreader until, like, day forty-seven, but by that time all sorts of weird things were happening. Perhaps he was really, completely on his own until then, making stuff up and then immediately forgetting what he'd made up already..."
corteccia's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
anniebh's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
juliardye's review against another edition
1.0
I kept hoping this book was going to go somewhere. It didn't.