Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

For some reason I was not aware of Lorrie Moore until I heard about her most recent book "A Gate at the Stairs". I'm thrilled to have discovered her and I'm looking forward to reading as much as I can from her. "Frog Hospital" is a wander down memory lane. Moore and I are contemporaries so me (and a few billion other boomers) will easily recognize her sense of time. The place was a bit more foreign to me; it almost felt like Canadian though since Minnesota is so close to Canada that's not too surprising. She writes about two 15 year old girls, best friends, and best friends to the point of there being conscious only of one another. Best friends with an intensity only teenagers can conjure up, to the point that it feels like first love with all it's sensuality and body awareness, with lots of touching, not in a sexual way however. They chase boys or 20 something men in hopes of that but even when they're with men they're really just with one another, complete with a lover and a beloved. Silsby is Cinderalla, literally wearing that costume at the local amusement park, but also for awkward, late to develop Berie. Berie idolizes Silsby from close by. They've been friends since childhood so they know one another's layers; they have a short hand that locks everyone else out. Silsby finds herself in trouble and, as always, naturally accepts Berie's help. Silsby is used to tributes. This one costs Berie too much. The consequences is they taken apart, left to fend for themselves, without their other half. Humpty dumpty falls (and even puts in an appearance). Years later when they meet again they can't put him back together again though they try. They're grown women who've grown apart, there's still love but no commonality except their shared past. I love Moore's tragic sense of humor.

In this book Laurie Moore gives us a wonderful coming of age tale where a fifteen year old girl finds herself devoted to her dear friend, Sils. The two teenagers are working summer jobs at Storyland, a theme park for youngsters in Upstate New York , near the Canadian boarder. Berie sells tickets to the park and the lovely Sils dresses up as Cinderella, enchanting children in her pumpkin coach while taking them for rides around the park. On breaks they smoke cigarettes and laugh it up. After work they manage to sneak out to bars using fake I’d cards. There seem to be no consequences only fun until Sils develops an adult problem and Berie tries to help her I enjoyed this book as. I am a fan of coming of age tales. I liked the main characters as teenagers, although I found them to be depressing when they met up as adults at the end of the book.

The times Storyland to bible camp to living in Europe is deja vu… the seventies what a trip. Funny and poignant.

Disclaimer: I'm a boy. An old boy whose humor and understanding probably ended in eighth grade if I'm being generous. The story soared during the adolescent times and flattened during the adult times. Yet, overall, it was a surprise in how it ended and still it was so worthwhile. I don't think I've ever read a girl/woman coming of age story that provided so much understanding about being a woman. Perhaps, if I had read it as a younger boy, my relationships with women could have been a whole lot better. I can hear Lorrie Moore's voice in all she writes after listening to her read "Naked Ladies" by Antonya Nelson on the The New Yorker Fiction podcast. I recommend it highly.

The last 5 star book I read was "The Goldfinch" several years ago, so even though I read a lot, most books fall into the 3 or 4 star ratings. For me, the ingredients a great novel are well-drawn characters, believable situations and an ending that feels natural and right. In addition, if I'm sorry to see it end, I miss reading it, and I'm still thinking about it weeks later I know that it's a book I can recommend without reservations. I had a best friend from 2nd grade through 10th grade. We grew apart much like the girls in this book but she was an important and influential part of my childhood and I still think about her. This book will resonate with any female who experienced the bond that girls so often have growing up. For me, it was the most important relationship I had until reaching my early 20s.

Lorrie Moore's prose is, at just the right moments, lofty and lyrical without ever being pretentious. Yes, it's a coming of age story about the awkwardness of transition, a storyline that's been done over and over and over again, yet never quite like this. Moore makes it seem effortless. She introduces us to Berie and Sils and their small bubble of a universe and 148 pages later we're nostalgic and reminiscent and more than a wee bit sad. I get that this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. I mean, hey, not everyone listens to or likes Joni Mitchell. That doesn't make her any less fantastic to those of us who do.

I enjoyed this book, and it's well written. I liked the story of Berie's childhood -- very engaging, and as a reader I felt I go to know her as a child and teenager. But I didn't feel I knew who she was as an adult -- there was no segue, and as a grown woman Berie felt like a stranger to me. So I didn't understand her marriage, or her life choices as an adult. We chose this for book for my book club and haven't met yet, so I'm interested to hear what the rest of the book club thinks.

I can relate to the ending; having been living away from my hometown for many years the estrangement from your childhood friends brings to the fore some guilt, and a nagging sense of "What could have been if I kept in touch?" But all the more it is an exhortation to treat each relationship as an ephemeral bloom, a passing wonder, to be fully enjoyed and cherished while it lasts.

From the exquisite first paragraph, which is also a poem, which is also a joke, complete with Proustian punchline, I was falling in love with this book. The hilarious scene in the restaurant had me by turns giggling and awash with melancholy. So few authors write about friendship and that is what, for me, this book is about - a longing for the innocence of one’s youth seen through the prism of midlife, a long marriage, a settling. Lorrie Moore inhabits awkwardness in a way that I wholly relate to as I do the way the main character puts her best friend on a pedestal. There are many passages I marked and reread, and the passage about singing at the end I have returned to over and over and it still moves me to tears. I am a writer myself and it’s bitter sweet to know I will never be this good. But I’ll take it. This is one of my favourite books of all time.

Had this novella been longer than a hundred and fifty pages, I doubt if I would have persevered to the end.My misgivings about it arei it was a short story expanded into a novella. It carried excess baggage. There are two sections set in Paris. Why? They added nothing. Much of the book I thought just overwritten, as if Ms Moore was trying to get as many ideas into a sentence as she could. Few byways were left unexplored. Overload. Overload. I found myself skimming pages. In a story of 150 pages!ii OK, so I'm male, not American, and my teenage years are way behind me, so I may be way outside the book's target audience, but this just did not convince as a coming-of-age story.iii I was indifferent as to the fate of the narrator, in fact of all the characters except, just a little of Sil's. Ms Moore didn't make them live for me.iv the narrative lacked tension, nothing developed, there were no climaxes.Near the end, there were several pages of beautiful, uncluttered prose. Too little, too late.

I didn't really *get* this book, I'm afraid. From what I can decipher, this was based primarily on two teenage girls' friendship in the early 70's. Somehow the past reminiscing jumped to the present day in Paris with her husband - this link was lost on me.I guess I enjoyed parts of this but for the most part it was too "arty" and "wordy". I certainly didn't find the author to be "one of the funniest writers of all time" as described on the front cover. There was no humour here and certainly no definitive plot either.

I read this book as the monthly choice in my book group otherwise I would probably have abandoned it half way through.All I can say is, ignore the gushing reviews on the cover about it's comedic qualities. I don't think I managed more than a smile.I found it, on the whole although well written with interesting characters,a deeply depressing and gloomy book, full of failed ambition and mini tragedy.Several hours of my life I won't get back, though it's major redeeming feature is that it's mercifully brief

This was recommended by a writer friend and I can see why. I loved the poignant story and enjoyed the writing style too.