Like Life: Stories (Plume Contemporary Fiction) - Softcover

Moore, Lorrie

4.07

5,333 ratings by Goodreads

9780452266377: Like Life: Stories (Plume Contemporary Fiction)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452266378 ISBN 13: 9780452266377

Publisher: Plume, 1991

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In LIKE LIFE, Lorrie Moore turns her wry and razor-sharp gaze on men and women seeking connections with one another, leading lives that are something like-but mysteriously not like-the good lives they once wistfully envisioned for themselves. In "Two Boys," a woman juggling two relationships, which come to represent opposite poles of dissatisfaction for her, settles for the guilt-ridden, sometimes hallucinatory, strangely exalted state between the two. And in "Vissi d'Arte," a young, idealistic playwright sees himself moving toward accomplishment while his life is actually disintegrated in startling ways. With an astonishing agile use of language, Lorrie Moore depicts characters who stave off despair with touching sarcasm and a dark humor that somehow soars. The New York Times has celebrated her "enormous talent." This superb new collection of eight stories confirms her place as one of the most compelling writers at work today.

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From the Inside Flap:

In Like Life's" eight exquisite stories, Lorrie Moore's characters stumble through their daily existence. These men and women, unsettled and adrift and often frightened, can't quite understand how they arrived at their present situations. Harry has been reworking a play for years in his apartment near Times Square in New York. Jane is biding her time at a cheese shop in a Midwest mall. Dennis, unhappily divorced, buries himself in self-help books about healthful food and healthy relationships. One prefers to speak on the phone rather than face his friends, another lets the answering machine do all the talking. But whether rejected, afraid to commit, bored, disillusioned or just misunderstood, even the most hard-bitten are not without some abiding trust in love.

From the Back Cover:

“A brilliant collection. . . . The funny and the tragic dovetail with precision and poignancy.” –The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Hilarious and generous and true. Moore’s work continues to astound.” –Newsday

“Insightful and moving . . . A rewarding, even exhilarating book.” –The New York Times Book Review

“There’s no other writer quite like Lorrie Moore. . . . Startling and wonderful.” –The Plain Dealer

“Affecting and beautifully written. . . . Her keenly detailed language and unfailing generosity of spirit are irresistible.” –San Francisco Chronicle

“Lorrie Moore is a dazzler.” –Chicago Tribune

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