Andy Lampl is my go-to literature guy. I have enjoyed 100% of the books he has recommended to me*, and will take any suggestion he offers without skepticism. Dorothy Lampl is Andy Lampl's mother. She is largely responsible for his upbringing and (I can only infer through logical conjecture based on my own experience with having a mother) helped to mold his tastes and interests. Ergo, when Dorothy Lampl emphatically says"Read this book," I shall take note.Over the course of this 50 books journey since its beginning in 2008, I have learned that I am far more impatient with fiction than I am with non-fiction. If non-fiction is written poorly, or weak in its structure, or not the page-turner that I hoped it would be, it's still pretty easy for me to see through to the finish because at the very least I will know something that I didn't know before. If fiction doesn't grab me right from the get-go, I'm a just a big fat quitter Just ask A Prayer for Owen Meaney. So kudos to you, Lorrie Moore. This was indeed a lovely, restorative fiction experience.
Dorothy already reviewed this one, so I won't worry about summarizing the plot or anything. Just that right from the first sentence I was digging it. Moore's prose style is both poetic and conversational, which is a balance that I always appreciate and admire. And although her narrative voice as a 20-something wasn't entirely convincing, seeming instead like a woman in her middle age reflecting back on a younger time (which, incidentally, she is), her insights into those unique first-college years are insightful and often heart-wrenching. It fell apart for me a little bit in the final 75 pages or so, but pulled itself back together by the end and still ultimately gets a big thumbs-up.
Nicely done, Lampl family. Your collective record of book recommending remains unbesmirched.
*Well, I didn't enjoy American Psycho, per se, as one does not enjoy such things, but I will still call it a successful recommendation.
3 comments:
Thank you. Thank you. I'm glad I didn't steer you wrong. I can just see the Fiction floodgates opening up for you now. Imagine the possibilities! I've got a few more recommendations for you....should you be ready to dip another toe in.
Lay 'em on me! I'm ready!
(Also, is it wrong that your review of "A Disorder Peculiar..." kind of made me want to read it? In that staring at a train wreck kind of way? That philosophizing five year old stuff was just too good...)
Well, enter at your own risk and don't say I didn't warn you. But I managed to like it enough to finish it, even though I was rolling my eyes at that precocious child! As to another book recommendation, hmmmm....."Love in the Time of Cholera". LOVED it!!!
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