"A Gate At The Stairs"

"A Gate At The Stairs" is a novel by Lorrie Moore.  When a friend asked what I thought of it, I had a difficult time coming up with an answer.  Ms. Moore is a wonderful prose writer with great descriptions but sometimes I felt like the story got lost in the multitude of words and, no -- I have nothing against words!

The protagonist is 20 year old Tassie Keltjin who is off for her first year of college post 9/11.  Tassie has an unusual family consisting of her mother, father, and younger brother.  One of my favorite family dynamics story came on page 42 of the hardback when Tassie's brother brings a report card home with 4 F's and a D.  His father looks at the card and says, "Well, Robert, what can I say.  Four Fs and a D: it looks like you're spending too much time on one course!"

As Tassie goes off into the college world, she finds a job on her own as well as a relationship.  She has a roommate she shares an apartment with but her roommate has already abandoned her to live with a boyfriend so she sees her only occasionally.  Tassie divides her time between her job as a nanny, her boyfriend, and schoolwork.

The book is about relationships, love, and loss but they're odd relationships for the most part and how one young woman could be embroiled in so many strange scenarios is beyond me.  However, as the end of the book shows us, there is some learning going on with Tassie.
 
Although getting through this book was slow for me, I won't give up -- I will give the author another chance by trying another of Moore's books.  pazt