A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore

Published: 2009, Faber and Faber

Genre: Fiction

Themes: family, adoption, relationships, mental health

My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤

This is not a book to read if you want something uplifting, as it gave me a constant feeling that I was staring into something that ought to remain private. By that, I mean that the reader is peering into the dark corners of personal suffering that feels very real and unvarnished.

The central character is Tassie, a young woman of twenty who has been raised on a farm to parents who never fully adapted to farming in the traditional sense. The family are always considered outsiders in the local community, but Tassie's father has stuck to farming the way he wants to do it and has to be admired for sticking to what makes him happy even if it will never make him rich.

Tassie a bit of an oddball with a quirky sense of humour that is lost on many people, but those who understand her love her for her individuality. Roddy Doyle describes the book as 'hilarious and distressing' but I would not describe the subtle humour as strongly as that. The writing is certainly distressing in places, as there are parts of the story where we deliberately never hear the conclusion, and I found myself worrying about the future of a little girl whose life is pulled cruelly off course, and that may or may not have a terrible impact on her.

I was fully engaged with the book until the very last segment where I felt the story winding up but slightly drifting away from me. There is one scene at the end that is so improbable and awful to contemplate that I wanted to stop reading. Just as I was starting to wonder if the story might take a ridiculous twist, the unlikely event is suddenly bought to a close and I felt that Lorrie Moore had wanted one last shocking moment and it almost didn't work.

I am trying desperately hard not to give away the plot as this is one of those books where you should not be aware of what comes next.

Comments

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