"Birds of America"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Lorrie Moore, known for her sarcastic, funny, and painfully honest short stories, has written a darker, more painful book in "Birds of America". It looks at how she deals with the themes of death, cancer, and the loss of a child in a variety of stories that are increasingly difficult to read. It examines the stories in the book, discusses the themes the author presents, and questions the experiences behind the pain.

From the Paper:

"All of Moore's characters have that one quality in common. They all speak frankly, saying things we would love to be able to say, out loud, whenever something or someone irritates us. Most of us never dare to speak those words, but Moore's characters do and frequently, rudely, and in such a way that readers cheer for their forthrightness and guffaw at the reactions of those the characters address. While her characters are candid and blunt in Anagrams, Like Life, and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?, the characters in Moore's most recent work, Birds of America, are so desperate, downtrodden and inundated with life's misfortunes that they don't have time to couch their words carefully and Moore makes no effort to have them do so."

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