Like Life

In Like Life’s eight exquisite stories, Lorrie Moore’s characters stumble through their daily existence. These men and women, unsettled and adrift and often frightened, can’t quite understand how they arrived at their present situations. Harry has been reworking a play for years in his apartment near Times Square in New York. Jane is biding her time at a cheese shop in a Midwest mall. Dennis, unhappily divorced, buries himself in self-help books about healthful food and healthy relationships. One prefers to speak on the phone rather than face his friends, another lets the answering machine do all the talking. But whether rejected, afraid to commit, bored, disillusioned or just misunderstood, even the most hard-bitten are not without some abiding trust in love.From Publishers WeeklyShort stories chronicle the "like lives" (as opposed to love lives) of misfits whose romantic endeavors have gone awry. "Wondrously witty," said PW. "With gallows humor and unfailing understanding, Moore evokes her characters' quiet desperation and valiant searches for significance." Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalSharply rendered, the slightly wistful tone of these eight stories reflects their color: gray, yet less autumnal than springlike, with an attendant edge of hope coloring the best of them. "The Jewish Hunter" stands out as a portrait of possibilities: of love, of relationship, of selfhood. In fact, Moore dances around the edges of broken relationships with a delicacy that expresses both despair, acceptance, and a fledging resilience to try again. The title story and "Vissi d'Arte" are excellent examples of Moore's subtle insight. These are stories that bear rereading. Recommended.- Linda L. Rome, Mentor, OhioCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.