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| Plot Summary of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? |
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"Lorrie Moore's novel is a coming of age comedy of errors, about two best friends, Berie and Sils, and their fateful summer of lost innocence in 1972. It is packed with quirky characters such as a dwarf taxi driver, her best friend Sils oddball French-Canadian mother, and Berie's aloof grandmother. The story is told in flashback by Berie, who now middle aged, is looking back with bittersweet remembrance at her childhood and adolescence while at a Parisian cafe. She recalls her life growing up in a small town in upstate New York along with her equally misfit friend and neighbor, Sils. The highlights of their pivotal summer included sneaking out at night to bars, hitch hiking, smoking cigarettes, going to an outdoor concert where they ditched her socially inept sister, and of course hooking up with boys. The bad memories were of Sils getting pregnant, Berie stealing money from the cash drawer at Storyland Park for Sils abortion, the uncomfortable visits to her grandmother's house, and eventually being shipped off to boarding school as a result of the theft.
Despite the traumatic events and deteriorating friendship, life in Horsehearts, New York has it's tender side, as the girls perform triage on injured frogs at the pond near their house and make fools of themselves wearing fairytale character costumes for their job at Storyland. However, Berie is continually re-immerging to the present day, reminded of her faltering marriage to a man she can hardly stand to be around anymore and the disconnect with her remaining family. Berie eventually returns home to try to reconnect with long-lost friends and relations only to learn that it can be painful to cling too tightly to some memories."
David Fletcher, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- humorous
Time/era of story
- 1960's-1970's
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Age group of kid(s) in story:
- high school
Parents/lack of parents problem?
- rebelling against parent's expectations
Wild kid(s)?
- committing crimes
Loving/sexing?
- bun/oven
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- descript of kissing
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Lorrie Moore Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Fletcher
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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