after reading lorrie moore's self-help earlier this year, i decided to read the rest of her works. i then saw that bj novak mentioned birds of america in an interview, so decided to start there for my next read. and yes bj novak aka @picturesoftext totally liked my picture on instagram (he follows me!)
i must admit that birds of america did not wow me right off the bat like i had expected. i was really wow-ed by self-help, and though the writing is great but spoke to me.
i valued the mother-daughter dynamic of which is more than i can say about some people, i allowed me to step back and see my mother as a person versus an annoyance. that sounds harsh but it is true, we are often overwhelmed by our parents that we forget that they are human too with fears and needs. we, children are so selfish assuming that they are their simply to provide for us since that is the role they have had since birth, we never think of their life before their title as mother.
i enjoyed the raccoon story of dance in america:
"we have raccoons sometimes in our chimney," explains simone . . . "and once we tried to smoke them out. we lit a fire, knowing they were there, but we hoped that the smoke would cause them to scurry out the top and never come back. instead, they caught on fire and came crashing down into our living room, all charred and in flames and running madly around until they dropped dead." simone swallows some wine. "love affairs are like that," she says. "they are all like that."
so true about love affairs, sometimes people tell us they don't want us and yet we go crashing full head into heartache and rejection. i am usually the raccoon, professing my love that someone doesn't want, but still tries to pursue them and ending up killing my heart.
i adored the introduction to community life because up until high school, i would mispronounce library.
"when olena was a little girl, she had called them lie-berries--a fibbing fruit, a story store--and now she had a job in one." and how cute, a story store! i also enjoyed the tom swifties (which i had never heard of prior to this story) that olena and her co-workers came up with:
"i have to go to the hardware store, he said wrenchingly."
"would you like a soda? he asked spritely."
"this hot dog's awful, she said frankly."
"she's a real dog, he said cattily."
"i like a good sled dog, she said huskily."
so clever!
real estate was an odd little story but i did love that one of the characters sang "you are my lucky star" from singin' in the rain which is my favorite songs from that musical!
great writing but nothing that truly wow'd me . . . until i read people like that are the only people here. a tragic yet beautiful story of a mother and father dealing with their infant son's cancer. throughout the story the father tells the mother that she should take notes since she is a writer. due to this, i googled to see if this was based on moore's actual life (i know, i know, all novels and stories are semi-autobiographical) and it was based on her life. after i learned this, i recognized that the beauty of this piece is due to its honesty. the mother, father and baby are called just that which makes the story relatable and less specific to moore though it is a story straight from her life. she captured the confusion, pain, stress, and emotions of having a loved one in the hospital. i had flashbacks to when my grandma bea was in the heart hospital as i read. it really makes you wonder why we suffer so much as humans, how god can put anyone through any of this. not only the person that is ill but their family members as well. it seemed insensitive when the surgeon's explained that the mother would suffer more than the baby during this time, but it is true. i am not a mother but was able to empathizes with the mother in the story since moore did not shy away from all the thoughts that a mother in this situation, good and bad. thankfully the baby comes out of this story well. though i did feel as though moore sold her soul a bit with the ending, in which the story closes with "there are the notes. now where is the money?" which i mean if moore was being completely honest, let her sell this story for money for her son, i would contribute. and though it is difficult for anyone to be completely honest, i am glad that moore shared this story.
all in all, an enjoyable collection and look forward to reading more from moore.
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