Even More Walser
I feel like I’ve gotten a little out of touch with contemporary American fiction (too much older American fiction plus contemporary translation), so I’m trying to figure out what American writers are worth reading.
I’ve been hearing lots and lots about Lorrie Moore’s new novel, A Gate at the Stairs. For instance, Maud Newton gives it a generally favorable review at the B&N Review.
On the other hand, Andrew Seal (whose opinion I respect a great deal) says “it reminds me, to some extent, of Tom Wolfe’s I Am Charlotte Simmons.” You can pretty much guess the rest . . .
So I don’t know . . . right now I’m thinking this book isn’t so good. Is Lorrie Moore an author I should be checking for? And what other U.S. authors are out there right now doing work I should be reading?
Here are some of the people I’m currently aware of:
- Brian Evenson
- Percival Everett
- Ron Currie, Jr
- Chris Adrian (who I know slightly, but could stand to know better)
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Steve Erickson is a-ok
Thanks, Brian, but actually Erickson is such a well-known figure that even someone like me has read him.
I like Lorrie Moore’s short stories better than her novels, generally speaking – but I haven’t read her in quite a while.
Chris Adrian is definitely worth reading. I got sucked into a several day reading binge with The Children’s Hospital.
I love her stories (i really do mean LOVE) and will buy her novel despite what any reviews say because I want to support her work and see more of it in the future.
That being said, Lethem loved her new novel:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/review/Lethem-t.html?sq=lethem%20lorrie%20moore&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print
You got into Cormac McCarthy recently. Stuart Dybek’s Childhood and Other Neighborhoods is fantastic.
Sounds interesting–will check out Dybek. Thanks!
For the record, I’ve been reading McCarthy for a couple years now. It was only recently that I decided to read it all again in order to write about it.
My reaction to A Gate at the Stairs is pretty mixed. If you haven’t read Moore before, this novel is probably not a good place to start.
I can vouch for all of Moore’s short fiction. Beautifully rendered domestic relationships with so much humor packed in. I haven’t read the novel yet.
As for Evenson, I am the world’s largest Brian Evenson adcovate. If you like your fiction visceral, stark, detatched, a bit creepy, and always deep you can’t go wrong. I recommend “The Wavering Knife” if you want to start with short fiction. For a novel, go with “Last Days.”
Lydia Davis is great.
Gate at the Stairs was way, way, way, better than I am Charlotte Simmons. Much more verisimilitude, greater plausibility, much more depth in the protagonist.
Read Everett. Start with American Desert. Really. Writes well…not ‘polished’ but honestly, not afraid to take some risks. How about early Coover. For an absolute delight read The Universal Baseball Association Inc., J. Henry Waugh Prop.
I’m going to have to vouch for Chris Adrian. “The Children’s Hospital” is addicting, and you will not read anything else like his short stories, collected in “A Better Angel.”
Course, I like Everett, too (he taught at my alma mater, USC), and Evenson’s “Fugue State” has been one of my favorite collections this year.
So at least you have good options. :)
You can actually read Adrian’s “Promise Breaker” — one of the best new short stories I’ve read in the last few years, and collected in “A Better Angel” — online at Esquire to see whether his work might appeal to you.
http://www.esquire.com/fiction/fiction/chris-adrian-promise-breaker-1207
As I said at IFC last year, I would like to see it made into a film. (Adrian and I took a couple of writing classes together at U.F., but I advocate his fiction — not all of it equally — independently of that.)
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:oDVSHKA0CbsJ:www.ifc.com/news/2008/07/list-ten-novels-and-short-stor.php+chris+adrian+ifc&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Here’s a discussion about “A Tiny Feast”, Chris Adrian’s story in the New Yorker:
http://vectoreditors.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/short-story-club-a-tiny-feast/
Niall’s points, expecially 1-3, summarize my reaction as well. I liked it but wasn’t particularly impressed. I’ll have to give the Esquire story a look.
The idea of mixing fantastical and mundane elements and the phrase “best new short stories I’ve read in the last few years” in the comment above, however, make me think of Kelly Link.
I like all her stories, but the best ones -”Lull” – “Magic for Beginners” – “Stone Animals” are really something else.
The last four novels David Markson has published are remarkable. If you don’t already know them, run, don’t walk. It is a good idea to read them in order beginning with Reader’s Block.
of the four names you list, Chris Adrian is the best by a wide margin – I’d start there (although I LOVE the sheer understated self-confidence that would prompt you to open the question in the first place … not enough readers have that, and it’s refreshing to see!)
I agree that Lorrie Moore’s short stories are generally excellent. Though I would also rep for Anagrams, which is sort of a novel.
Lorrie Moore has never made that strong an impression on me, though her stories are good. My favorite contemporary American writer is George Saunders, who you’ve posted about before. Somewhat in the Saunders vein there’s a young short story writer named Kevin Wilson who seems to be doing some good work. He put out a collection not long ago, and I think he has potential.
Thanks for the suggestion, but his work definitely appeals to me (I read The Children’s Hospital in a matter of days). I’ll probably take on A Better Angel Next, although as I understand it there are some interesting similarities between TCH and his first novel.
Oh yeah, Markson is definitely someone I like a lot.
Saunders is someone I could stand to read a little more systematically. Based on what I’ve seen, I think he’d be worth the effort.
Wilson is new to me. Will definitely check him out.
I read it. I was bored throughout most of it, yet couldn’t put it down. At the end, I wept like a baby. I, too, am the only sibling to my brother who has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan repeatedly. That was somehow the most beautifully written section of the book. I can see how Lorrie Moore would make a better short story writer than a novelist. The story is a bit of a ramble.