This was John Updike's choice from 1990. It is probably one of the nastier Lorrie Moore stories I have read-although nasty in the way many short stories of that time were. Humorous but acid-tongued protagonists. And so often set in academia.
Zoe Hendricks is a young English professor that the reader views as pretty privileged, but she sees herself as put upon-by her ungrateful students, her not up to snuff dates, dull Midwesterners and colleagues that surround her, and her sister who gets to live in New York. It is possible fate will catch up with her--she has just had a scan to investigate a mass, but she still flies to New York to attend her sister's Halloween Party without calling for the results. She meets a man at the party and the two exchange insults and she comes close to taking out her rage on him. Well- written, lots of humor, but not my favorite Lorrie Moore story. It must have been difficult to pick the best books of the century. I mean how many books are there to choose from a year.
No comments:
Post a Comment