A review by smusie
A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore

4.0

I couldn't help comparing it to Freedom as I read--the white midwestern kids at college similarity, I guess. Its lightness of touch, the wit that sometimes just shimmers off the page, the wistfulness--all in all, I have to say I enjoyed it more than Freedom as a reading experience. The passivity of the main character was at times troubling, but after all that is the point. Better to keep those bright young people distracted by their college courses in sufism, winetasting and soundtracks to war movies, so that you can get their kid brothers to enlist to go die in pointless wars.