Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of A Gate at the Stairs

A Gate at the Stairs
A Gate at the Stairs
Author: Lorrie Moore
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
reviewed on + 134 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10


This book is an interesting case; I don't know that I've ever come across a book that had such positive critical reception and such poor general readership reviews (here, Amazon, and library-thing). That said, I have to agree with most reader-reviewers, as I didn't enjoy this book. The flow of the book felt very disconnected and as if I was reading a series of loosely connected short stories about a common protagonist, and the writing was extremely verbose. Parts of the book set up as a dinner discussion were almost unreadable due to the poor flow and disjointed nature of the conversation. There were also things scattered throughout the story that acted as red herrings although they really seemed like plot points the author simply forgot about instead of a well-used literary device. Finally, the book had no real sense of closure and what I assumed was the main storyline stopped suddenly about 60 pages from the end and didn't have any real resolution (the main "mystery" of this storyline was also far-fetched and fairly unbelievable). Obviously critics have found something redeeming about this novel, but I didn't, and don't plan on reading anything else by Moore in the future.