A review by emlocke
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore

3.0

Huh. Sort of a downgrade upon a complete reading. The best stories are "Willing," "Community Life," and "Agnes of Iowa," which are all somewhat similar, now that I think about them, and are all in the first half of the book. Once, I liked "Charades" best, but the prat fall didn't crack me up this time. I couldn't read "Dance in America" without hearing Louise Edrich gasp and croak it out loud, which she did for a New Yorker Fiction podcast a few months ago. "Don't let the emphysematic narrator near the sickly child!" And I guess once you've already heard the most climactic line in the story, it will never have the same impact. "Beautiful Grade" was funny but became so confusing it was dull.

I still love Lorrie Moore. I just shouldn't read her more than once. Her characters speak like I do and her similes, though they tend to stand up and wave frantically at you, maybe in a t-shirt that says "SIMILE" with a big smile caricature or something ridiculous like that, make me think. I appreciate that.