Writing Passionately From Madison, Wis.: Lorrie Moore

Has anyone out there read Lorrie Moore? I'm curious, since she writes about living in Madison, Wis., where I went to law school for 3 years, joined by my wife, who worked for the state Dept. of Health & Family Svcs., and C.J., who turned 2 years old when we arrived, 5 when we left. Ms. Moore's reviews appear to be very positive, but note that she writes right down to the bone.

In this article, the writer mentions passing by an Indian restaurant near the capitol ("Strolling by an Indian restaurant near the state capitol, she sniffed the air and noted: 'You walk around and you get a whiff of garlic and you feel like you are in a real city.'”), and I know exactly where that is (State St.), and I also know just what that experience is like.

If anything can encapsulate Madison, Wis., it is walking up State Street from the UW to the capitol building, seeing the students, the bars, the fixtures of landmark and personality, and then passing by the Indian and Mediterranean restaurants and taking in those exotic smells, while at the same time knowing that your feet are planted in the heart of the Midwest. It's as if you are surrounded by the entire world, and it's all nearly in reach.

from the New York Times, 9/2/09
Books

Hate, Love, Chores: Lorrie Moore’s Midwest Chronicle

By MOTOKO RICH

Published: September 2, 2009

Lorrie Moore described her new book, “A Gate at the Stairs,” as a meditation on “what it meant to be in this town in the Midwest in this particular time in contemporary America.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/books/02moore.html
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