New: Book Report: Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

Last night, I watched Word for Word perform Lorrie Moore's short story "Which is More than I can Say About Some People." Wow, what a great short story. It was fun seeing it performed, but it was also fun remembering reading that story the first time.

After the performance, Lorrie Moore got up on stage and conversed with local author Dan Handler. One thing she mentioned is that many short story writers get people pestering them: "You should write a novel." She said that she herself had never been so pestered. Anyhow, I read her Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?. And it was nice, but not so exquisite as the stories in Birds of America. Am I damning Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? with faint praise? I hope not.

This novella has symbolism--our heroine has a job working at a place called Storyland, an amusement park of illusory innocence. When she grows up, she gets kicked out. It's about learning to live with acknowledged imperfections, about figuring out what doesn't matter, about friendship. If I were a high school student taking an English class, I'd probably prefer to read this book than to read, say, A Separate Peace.

Labels: book, juvenile, pastry