Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

I like Lorrie Moore’s stream-of-consciousness style of bringing us into the minds of characters. I love her use of pop culture & nostalgia to enrich the settings, moving us backward & forward in time. I wanted to know more about these people’s adult lives though, or at least the narrator’s; I was hoping for more introspection coupled with concrete scenes of daily life. But I’m thinking the point is they still aren’t self-aware (or brave) enough to really examine their choices and so we’re left all feeling unsatisfied & melancholy.

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whitne_ey's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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lydiature_'s review

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3.5

I randomly found this tiny book on Pangobooks for super cheap and i thought “why not?” while i didn’t feel emotionally connected to any of the characters nor the plot, i do appreciate moore’s detailed exploration of female friendship— specifically young girls. sometimes books like these are kind of tricky. i often find myself unconvinced that the friends are actually friends—there’s no magic in their relationship, no natural banter, etc. but this pleasantly surprised me. i saw (and felt) the natural friendship between berie and sils. i loved how vivid it was; i could imagine them as young teenage girls just experiencing adolescence & figuring out their lives on their own.

what didn’t work for me personally was Adult berie. i don’t think the story should’ve been told from an older version of bernie when she’s married, more experienced. it took away from the magic of the story. because of this, the story jumped around too much & i (a lot of times) felt annoyed whenever adult berie would come out of nowhere and talk about daniel. i didn’t care about her as an adult nor her husband. i wanted more about young bernie and her friendship with sils.

this is a good summer read though!

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raelong12's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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savvylit's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is the third book by Lorrie Moore that I've read and I found myself blown away by her talent yet again. Moore's writing is so realistic and immersive that you almost feel, while reading, as though you have become her narrators. Who Will Run the Frog Hospital perfectly captures how being a young girl feels: both awful and thrilling at the same time. In the way that only relationships in your young teens can be, the central friendship of this book is perfectly imperfect and obsessive. Moore has expertly crafted a palpable atmosphere that evokes the ephemerality of youthful summers gone by. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who likes top-tier writing and short, slice-of-life novels.

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