Lorrie Moore’s stories are truly remarkable, and it had been too long since I last read her work. Upon revisiting her short story “You’re Ugly, Too,” I realize that I had not fully grasped its uncanny nature, particularly the ending. The story revolves around Zoë, a sarcastic and sharp-tongued female historian working at a liberal arts college in Illinois. Misunderstood by the midwesterners, Zoë finds herself at a Halloween party where she encounters an obnoxious man dressed as a naked woman. Filled with a mixture of fear and anger, Zoë shoves him off the balcony, revealing her true, witch-like nature.
Moore’s fiction often incorporates elements of the supernatural, blurring the boundaries between reality and the otherworldly. Characters experience encounters with ghostly figures or unexplainable phenomena. In her novel “A Gate at the Stairs,” the protagonist Tessie is visited by the apparitions of her deceased brother and ex-boyfriend. Similarly, the short story “Terrific Mother” features Adrienne sensing the presence of a toddler ghost, haunted by her guilt over a tragic accident.
In her latest novel, “I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home,” Moore takes the supernatural to the forefront. The book intertwines two narratives set 150 years apart, each sharing a dark and peculiar atmosphere. The stories eventually converge, creating more mysteries while providing some answers. The novel requires multiple readings to fully grasp its complexities.
One part of the novel follows Elizabeth, the eccentric owner of a boardinghouse shortly after the Civil War. She writes letters to her sister, revealing her sinister methods of dealing with squirrels and the questionable ingredients in her lodgers’ stew. The boardinghouse is inhabited by a diverse group of individuals caught up in the excitement of the modern age. Elizabeth’s descriptions contain a macabre undertone, comparing one lodger to Lucifer.
The other part of the novel focuses on Finn, a high-school history teacher visiting his dying brother in Manhattan. The city overwhelms Finn with its chaos and decay, evoking a sense of purgatory. Moore suggests that both Finn and Elizabeth exist in a liminal state, detached from the mundane world. Finn’s journey to the hospice is fraught with symbolism, with hints of his own mortality. Likewise, Elizabeth’s fate remains ambiguous, leaving room for the possibility that she has somehow transcended death.
Death and life converge in Moore’s work, blurring the line between the two. Characters navigate through existence as if they are already dead, ghost-walking through life itself. Moore’s profound exploration of the supernatural enriches her storytelling, captivating readers with her unique blend of realism and the uncanny.
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