1.27.2011

Who Will Run The Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore


The subject of growing up is universal. We all grow up (albeit some faster than others) and share many of the same adolescent experiences: the feeling that the laws aren't real and we are free to create our own rules, the indescribable desire for a developed chest and the hopeless, carefree existence full of naivety - a time when you weren't sure who you really were or what life had in store for you; a time when you made mistakes and began to learn more truths than you cared to.
I didn't know my parents well enough to be doing this to them, inflicting such an episode upon their lives. I realized that it was harder to endure the wrath of disappointment of people who've been kept from you, and form whom you've kept yourself, than it was to endure it from the people whom you knew best.
I enjoyed Who Will Run The Frog Hospital? so much because Moore does a fantastic job recreating these adolescent experiences in a way that brought me back to the days of my teenage angst and uncertainty. It's a novel that poignantly conveys nostalgia for the wild, carefree times of our youth. But it's more than just a coming of age story; it also examines the brevity of fast friendships and what it means to go back home.

Publisher: Vintage, 1994

10 comments:

  1. Hm haven't heard of this one, but love a good coming of age story. Love that quote as well. Nice choice.

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  2. I haven't heard of this book either but it sounds like a great one. You always seem to find good books, I might need to add this to my TBR list.

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  3. Padfoot, Thanks! If you like coming of age stories I think you'd like this booki.

    Red, I picked this up after I read a review on Bookworm Meets Bookworm of another Moore novel. I couldn't find that one so this is the one I bought - wasn't disappointed!

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  4. Brenna, your reviews are always lovely and concise. Someone else recommended this book as well, so maybe I'll have to bump it up on my list.

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  5. Laura, Thank you :) Let me know what you think if you pick it up.

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  6. This sounds very similar to A Gate at the Stairs. I'm really glad you picked this up and enjoyed it. I felt that her writing very much captures the essence of the middle-class female growing up the last decade. I know she writes about the Midwest; was it set there, aswell? The fictionaly town featured in the novel A Gate at the Stairs is reportedly based on a hub in Wisconsin, so I think you'll probably appreciate it more than people that aren't familiar with that landscape. I'm really looking forward to reading this one.

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  7. Beth, It wasn't set in the Midwest but it was a small town in the Anironacks. I think you're right about Moore capturing the essence of the middle-class female growing up. I felt like 14 year old me would relate to Berie very much.

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  8. i read this book years ago...i am always impressed with moore when i'm reading her, but for some reason she's never top on my list when i'm deciding what to read next. but i've had her most recent novel on my kindle for a long time now (i preordered it a couple months before it came out...so almost two years ago now? so much for good intentions), and i think it's about time i read it. thanks for reminding me how good moore is!

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  9. fatbooks, This was my first Moore but I already look forward to reading more. She is great.

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  10. I kept seeing Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs displayed in the library, but something prompted me to look up her backlist and find a title of an earlier book to start with. I haven't read it yet, but Who Will Run the Frog Hospital is the one I picked out to read of hers first. I'm glad to see a positive review of it. Also, I think the title is great.

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