bark is the third book i have read by lorrie moore for my personal goal of reading all of her books. it is also moore's most recent book. and though i am not familiar with her entire catalog, so far this is my least favorite. i didn't enjoy this collection of short stories as much as i did self-help and birds of america. the stories are melancholy, but then again my favorite story in birds was, so i am also going to blame it on age. moore's characters are divorced or in trial separations, or struggling to connect to their teenage kids or connecting too well. i couldn't relate to them because i haven't been through their life experiences (btw, i need to google but with all of the divorcees in this book, i wonder if moore went through one.) though i must admit that that wasn't the complete problem for the most part i felt that moore's witty that i enjoyed in her previous works was missing in this one.
i will give her kudos for the clever title. bark, a multiple meaning word, is utilized in every story somehow. my favorite use of bark was in the last story, thank you for having me, in which it is explained that the bark of the brain (which does look like bark) is grey but the inside is white. i never knew that the outside of layer of the brain was called bark!
of all the stores, i enjoyed "the juniper tree" the most. it is the story of woman who does not visit her friend, robin, on the eve of robin's death. i was disappointed with that character for not going, it was extremely selfish of her to not put forth the effort. as result of her not seeing robrin before she died, she then has a dream in which she is reunited with robin's ghost. an obvious display of her needing to settle her conscience. the exchange with the robin's ghost and the friends was odd. however, what stood out for me was the story at the end. the woman shared how she visited robin at her home one day and when she left, robin smashed her own face into a pie. robin explained "i always wanted to do that, and now i have." i admired robin for that, you have to do what you want in life regardless of how silly or messy it might be. better to live than to regret. this story is also dedicated to nietzchka keene, who i hope did the pie thing in real life.
and i guess the overarching theme of bark is regret. all of the characters are dealing with some form of regret and guilt. and i guess moore wants us to know that is tarnishes the soul, which explains why i found these stories depressing. one of moore's characters addressed regret directly in the story, "subject to search". the story is a conversation between a spy and his lover before he leaves for a mission. i didn't find the story particularly interesting but there was a great quote in the flashback at the end of the story. at a christmas party when the spy and his lover were still with their spouses (actually they might still be with them), the woman tells the spy "unless you have a life of great importance . . . regrets are stupid, crumpled-up tickets that has already left town." and i think this is the heart of this collection. we are to see the errors of the characters and their regrets and learn to not regret and to move out. all of these individuals are stuck somehow and holding onto something that can now never be realized and instead of moving on, they simply stay wallowing in their regret. though i should clarify that i think moore wants us to regret what we never did not regret what we have done. we should hit ourself with the pie and regret, not regret that we never hit ourself with a pie. actually maybe instead of a divorce, moore just went through a mid-life crisis like the gentleman in the first story.
in this light, i appreciate the life lesson that moore is expressing but at the end of the day, i just wasn't entertained by her stories.
other than the brain bark, the circus/regret quotes, the only other entertainment i found was in foes, the exchange between the elderly couple in the story:
"let's make a dash for it now!"
"let's scream 'fire!'"
"let's fake heart attacks!"
"do you have any pot?"
"we flew here--remember? i wouldn't bring pot on an airplane."
"we're losing our sense of adventure. in all things."
"this is an adventure!"
"you see, that's what i mean."
how great is that? that is the moore wit i love but was absent in this book. i mean maybe i will read it in 15 years and i will be in tears but right now, it wasn't for me. but i will take the pie lesson to heart and do what i always want to do.
oh and ps i was totally grossed about by the mom and son in debarking. ewwwwww.
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