Anagrams by Lorrie Moore
Lorrie Moore is a brilliantly funny writer and Anagrams sparkles with witty lines, puns, and anagrams, as well as clever observations and surprising, amusing comparisons. On that surface level, it is a wonderful book. Peer below the surface, however, and things are in disarray.
Anagrams is mostly about three principal characters: Benna Carpenter, through most of the book a teacher in a community college, Gerard Maines, a small-town nightclub singer with operatic aspirations, and Darrel Erni, a student in Benna's class. There are also Georgianne Carpenter, Benna's imaginary six-year-old daughter, and Eleanor, her imaginary overweight friend (maybe they're not quite, or not always, imaginary).
The story comes in disconnected bits, as if it had been cut in pieces, shuffled, and left for us to put together again. To some extent, we can glimpse a sort of story taking shape as Benna bounces back and forth between Gerard and Darrel, but in the end we might as profitably go to work on Humpty Dumpty. There are a lot of short vignettes, many of which seem to exist not to advance the story or provide insight, but for the sake of their punch lines. Granted, the punch lines are often very funny: "'Tell me Gerard, why is it that you keep your condoms in the same drawer as your carpet tacks and tape?' Gerard slurps and swallows. 'How else are you supposed to keep them on?' he says."
I have two conclusions: 1. Read it for the jokes. Don't try to think of it as a novel. 2. Lorrie Moore missed her calling. She should have been a stand up comic.
Anagrams is mostly about three principal characters: Benna Carpenter, through most of the book a teacher in a community college, Gerard Maines, a small-town nightclub singer with operatic aspirations, and Darrel Erni, a student in Benna's class. There are also Georgianne Carpenter, Benna's imaginary six-year-old daughter, and Eleanor, her imaginary overweight friend (maybe they're not quite, or not always, imaginary).
The story comes in disconnected bits, as if it had been cut in pieces, shuffled, and left for us to put together again. To some extent, we can glimpse a sort of story taking shape as Benna bounces back and forth between Gerard and Darrel, but in the end we might as profitably go to work on Humpty Dumpty. There are a lot of short vignettes, many of which seem to exist not to advance the story or provide insight, but for the sake of their punch lines. Granted, the punch lines are often very funny: "'Tell me Gerard, why is it that you keep your condoms in the same drawer as your carpet tacks and tape?' Gerard slurps and swallows. 'How else are you supposed to keep them on?' he says."
I have two conclusions: 1. Read it for the jokes. Don't try to think of it as a novel. 2. Lorrie Moore missed her calling. She should have been a stand up comic.