Self-Help
Author: Lorrie Moore
List Price: $12.95
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ISBN: 0446671924
Publisher: Warner Books (01 September, 1995)
Sales Rank: 60,232
Average Customer Rating: 4.23 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Depressing stuff, but so is most emotionally evocative fare
I love short stories, mainly because I don't have the patience to get through the likes of War and Peace, or even Crime and Punishment, for that matter. I also seem to enjoy contemporary authors over authors of other time periods for the most part. The first short story that I remember capturing my full attention was "Desiree's Baby" by Kate Chopin. Love those surprise endings. That's why I used to like the tv show "The Practice" because of those twists at the end.Back to Self-Help: this book is a collection of vignettes, including the first, and my favorite "How to be an Other Woman." Lorrie Moore is such a genius because she includes a lot of wordplay in her writing, i.e. "How to be (an)other woman"- that makes reading her a delight. But I was also impressed by the imagery in her writing and the symbolism in the protagonists' often bizarre behavior, i.e. wearing their coats indoors symbolizes the characters' fears of intimacy. In a way, the writing is poetic and reminds me of some of Margaret Atwood's poetry, especially her poem with the line "Love is a many splendoured thing."
I can't say I enjoyed the rest of the stories as much as the first one, but then again, we can't be 100% effective all the time. A funny story about this book, when I was a senior in college my roommate Nicole wanted something to read for leisure that I recommended, as I was an English major, and I gave her this off my shelf. She came back saying this was the most depressing thing she had ever read. So it's not for the faint of heart!
Rating: 5 out of 5
an amazing debut
For me, Lorrie Moore's short stories have always been the literary equivalant of Kristin Hersh's songs. Both of these profoundly gifted women create chilling, personal revelations that give me goosebumps. Both explore the strange and sad parts of life that keep us awake at night, staring at the ceiling and thinking "why?" And both make me want to stop writing because I will never even approach their genius. Lorrie's peculiar style of telling a story backwards is especially endearing in this debut collection of faux "advice" stories, in which she mocks the genre of self-help. Absolutely not to be missed.p.s. Please *ignore* the review below from TGA@BIGPOND.COM.KH, as it is actually referring to Lorrie's most recent book, Birds of America (the "sick baby" story is "People Like That are the Only People Here.")
Rating: 2 out of 5
Lorrie Moore, Self Help
I first read Lorie Moores work in the absolutely putrid "Best American Short Stories 1999", compiled by none other than the awful Amy Tan. Keeping true to form, Ms. Tan ruined what has come to be one of the best annual collections of short stories, by including a bevy of boring, listless, absurd stories, one of which was written by Moore.
The story, of which I have forgotten the name, was about womanhood, angst, affairs and other such staples of feminine writing. (In an effort to not be seen as a vehement chauvinist, I would like to point out my interest and general enjoyment in the stories of Alice Munroe, Jhumpa Lhiri and other exceptionally talented woman writers. End of disclaimer.) She went out of her way to be delightfully "kooky" by, (Oh my God this is SO original), writing a full page of HA!'s. As in "HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!" for a whole page. Yes, to some this may come accross as a truly brilliant idea, a veritable stroke of genius, intelligence, originality and so on, so on. In my case, it came off as the work of a writer suffering from either A) ADD B) Too much cafeine and/or sugar C) Cocaine Abuse. Dont get me wrong, I have nothing against writers that are funny or original in the way they write, or what they write about, but this is just too over the top. Maybe in Ms. Moores crazy little mind, this all makes sense, and is just one big laugh, but for Gods Sake, why didnt I get it?
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