“Set in a city much like Madison, with a restaurant remarkably like L’Etoile, the book pokes gentle fun, as does much of Moore’s fiction, at the semiprecious way high-minded liberal types—and there are many of us here in Madison—crush on whatever trends seem just and proper at the moment (in food, fashion, and politics). This smallish, somewhat self-regarding community is unaccustomed to having its tics and aches exposed for all the world to see—except by Moore, who’s been at it for a while, albeit less frequently than she used to now that she’s a single working mother with a teenage son. And so the novel’s release this month is sure to have more than a few locals scouring its pages for clues to who and what exactly she’s talking about—or, like me, simply gawping with awe at her ability to make so many startling, painful, funny, universally true observations about life’s closely intertwined stings and salvations. Moore has just sent off her final edits on A Gate at the Stairs, and the experience has left her feeling a little bereft. “It’s like you’ve had this 10-year dream,” she says. “And now you have to put on clean clothes and talk about it, and the more you talk about it, the less you can remember.” — Read About Lorrie Moore’s New Book Release on ELLE.com
[video]
AFK
Madison Sunrise (by jmac_100)
