Anagrams [Paperback]

Lorrie Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 2007

Gerard sits, fully clothed, in his empty bathtub and pines for Benna. Neighbors in the same apartment building, they share a wall and Gerard listens for the sound of her toilet flushing. Gerard loves Benna. And then Benna loves Gerard. She listens to him play piano, she teaches poetry and sings at nightclubs.

As their relationships ebbs and flows, through reality and imagination, Lorrie Moore paints a captivating, innovative portrait of men and women in love and not in love. The first novel from a master of contemporary American fiction, Anagrams is a revelatory tale of love gained and lost.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Moore, praised for her short story collection Self-Help, makes her debut as a novelist with this story about what may be the disintegration of the thoroughly modern protagonist's personality. PW called Anagrams "original and highly inventive."
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Who exactly is Benna, the 33-year-old poetry teacher (or singer? or aerobics instructor?) we meet in this inventive novel? It is hard to say. She hidesfrom us, from herselfbehind imaginary identities, relationships, and scenarios in which elements of character and action are transposed like the letters of those anagrams she scribbles on napkins. Her fantasies are offered as straight narrative along with a stream of wisecracks ("All the world's a stage we're going through"). For deep down, Benna is terrified of the contingencies of reality ("One gust of wind and Santa became Satan"), longs for the very continuity she mocks. This won't be everyone's cup of tea. Still, the virtuosity of Moore's widely praised Self-Help ( LJ 3/15/85) is once again evident, and when she fleetingly reveals the vulnerability beneath the sleight of hand, it is very affecting. Elise Chase, Forbes Lib., Northampton, Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (March 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307277283
• ISBN-13: 978-0307277282
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #625,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lorrie Moore is the author of the story collections Like Life, Self-Help, and Birds of America, and the novels Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? and Anagrams. She is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great ... but not Moore's best., May 23, 2001

By 

C. Burkhalter - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anagrams (Paperback)

Don't get me wrong, it's great, yeah. A quick and engrossing read stuffed with humor and Lorrie Moore's trademarked sardonic and somehow self-effacing wit(TM). Yet this is by no means her best book or even (I think) among her better material. I read it and very much enjoyed it, but I find weaknesses in her handling of her own style. And the ending, though clever and pretty ambitious, just doesn't do it for me (takes it too far out of the close-to-home we enjoy up to that point). I guess I would say that this was maybe a transitional work(?). I saw Moore read at Elliott Bay here in Seattle and she said the book resulted in part from publishers nagging for a novel (they sell better than collections I imagine). You can see how she cleverly handles the transition (being a writer of short stories up to that point) by writing a novel that, at the beginning, comes off a bit like a collection of related shorts. It ends up being an interesting way to write, but a bit schizophrenic. She works this trick more effectively some years later in "Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?" where a short story of a trip to Paris is woven through a longer narrative. In short, readers already gripped in the throes of Moore's prose shouldn't hesitate to read this -- its good! But those looking to try her work for the first time would do well to hit "Frog Hospital" (an awesome starting place I think) or one of her too-fab collections of short stories.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moore is a master, August 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Anagrams (Paperback)

Like reviewer Chris Burkhalter, I don't think is Moore's best (Birds of America and Self Help are it, for me), but her second or third best surpasses so much other fiction out there it's not even funny. There is no one better at inventive descriptions of emotions, physical characteristics, smells, clothing, etc. It's miraculous really; her way with words boggles this aspiring writer's mind. And, as an aspiring writer, I have to say that it is Moore's writing I strive to emulate. I wasn't wild about the structure of Anagrams; as others have noted, three short story-esque pieces to start, followed by 'the novel.' But if you're a reader that reveres language, and if you often find yourself pausing to savor sentences and phrases in whatever it is you're reading, pick up this book (and anything else by Moore) and savor those moments, because I guarantee there will be many of them.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilariously gut-wrenching, September 9, 1999

By 

C.Allison (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anagrams (Paperback)

I laughed out loud numerous times, little suspecting that I would put the book down upon completion and sob for about twenty minutes. I've never had this intense a reaction to a book, with the possible exception of Catcher in the Rye. Lorrie Moore is not only clever and funny as hell; she also has a spectacular dark side. The reader is at first a bit confused -- is this a collection of short stories? If not, why is this character's back story different in this chapter? What the hell's going on here? By the last chapter, you think you've settled into an acceptable reality, only to have the rug pulled out from under you again. For readers who take a perverse pleasure in this kind of experience, I highly recommend "Anagrams".