Self-Help

Author - Lorrie Moore ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Vintage was reviewed on 16-Oct-2008.

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1) Paperback Book Self-Help by Vintage. Maybe it was the mood I was in when I read this book, because I really loved "Birds of America," but man, did this book depress me. Every single story with the exception of maybe two ("How to Have an Affair" and "How to be a Writer") were so, so dark and sad - unnecessarily so, in my opinion. I couldn´t even finish the story about the dying woman saying goodbye to her daughter and husband. And the story it followed was about a woman losing her loving mother to mental illness. Oh, and did I mention that the story that proceeded it was about a woman burying her mother? At that point I was just begging for mercy, geez! I threw this book away after I read it, not because I hated it or thought it was poorly written, just because I didn´t want to spread its bad juju around any further.¤

2) Paperback Book Self-Help by Vintage. Lorrie Moore is famous for her humor, her wry use of language, and her honest look into the strangeness that is at the heart of human lives. Vintage Contemporaries has just republished her 1985 book of short stories, Self-Help, in which Moore takes the how-to genre and turns it on its head. Instead of high-minded advice about happiness, success and love, Moore provides stories that outline how to become "the other woman," lay out an ironic kid´s guide to divorce, and even advise the (best?) way to face the end one´s life when confronted with terminal illness.

These stories gain much of their power through the imperative voice. "Meet in expensive beige raincoats, on a pea-soupy night," Moore begins in "How to Be an Other Woman." She is talking directly to us, the readers. She is giving advice, and her characters take it, and we get to see, by the actions carried out, that she is not necessarily providing a hopeful fantasy of what we might want to be, but more a roadmap of what inherently is.

These stories are now more than 20 years old, but reading (or re-reading) them again today, they are as poignant and relevant as they were in 1985. Her subject matter is timeless--love and death and relationships with mothers--and her subjects, the characters of her stories, remain witty and edgy and current.

Moore is a writer of great talent, and her mirthful use of irony is one thing that separates her from other short story writers, has even made her a writer that other writers study and mimic and revere. Almost as if, in 1985, predicting this place she would occupy in the world, she gave us in this collection the story "How to Become a Writer," in which she bluntly lays out this admonishment: "First, try to be something, anything, else." We can only thank goodness that she didn´t seriously follow her own advice.

Armchair Interviews says: Check out Lorrie Moore on Wikipedia. She sold this first book of short stories derived from her 1985 thesis when she was 26. Lucky us.¤

3) Paperback Book Self-Help by Vintage. This and other Lorrie Moore books were favorites of almost all of the women in my MFA (creative writing) program, as well as of many of the men. We all started with Anagrams (one of my all-time favorites), then moved on to this, then Birds of America. I noticed that people who enjoy cheesey romance novels don´t like this book because it portrays love in a way that´s painfully familiar, lifelike. Moore is hilarious and tragic and so brutally honest she´ll give you road rash at the same time that she makes your creative self blush and feel elated.¤

4) Paperback Book Self-Help by Vintage. Wow. Lorrie Moore just gets it so right. These stories are piercing, exposing, pointing the finger right at the reader, yet sympathetic and just true, true, true. Moore certainly has a flair for drama, which comes out in stories like "What is Seized", but it´s never gratuitious or too far-reaching. Worth reading simply for "How to Be the Other Woman" (relevent not just for any woman who has had an affair, but for anyone who has loved a man who is less than fully committed) and the wonderfully inspiring "How to Become a Writer."¤

5) Paperback Book Self-Help by Vintage. "Self-Help" is an uneven collection of short stories, but the bad outweighs the good here. I suggest sticking with the standout pieces and skipping the rest. The opening piece, "How to Be an Other Woman" is an exceptional short story. Moore is great at finding the perfect turn of phrase. Her humor is often sardonic but never completely cold. Her writing style is cool, detached - but there´s enough warmth to strike a balance. The next story, "What Is Seized" has a very undergraduate feel. It is too long and not as fresh. So it is with much of "Self-Help." I am thankful, however, that I kept reading, holding out hope for something to match "Other Woman." "Amahl and the Night Visitors" is another strong story. It contains all of the tenderness and originality of "Other Woman" but with characters that are more fleshed out. Like "Other Woman" it also deals with an affair. "How to be a Writer" is also a good piece, though not as strong as the other two I´ve mentioned. "Self-Help" is the only book by Lorrie Moore I have read and though all of didn´t wow me, enough did to make me want to seek out more of her work.¤

6) Paperback Book Self-Help by Vintage. In these tales of loss and pleasure, lovers and family, a woman learns to conduct an affair, a child of divorce dances with her mother, and a woman with a terminal illness contemplates her exit. Filled with the sharp humor, emotional acuity, and joyful language Moore has become famous for, these nine glittering tales marked the introduction of an extravagantly gifted writer.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 13-Nov-2008, 03072772919780307277299, 830-910-240-640-180-291-8

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