Author Lorrie Moore on her first novel in 14 years

Life and Art from FT Weekend

Forhecz Topher

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2023

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, author Lorrie Moore is on the show. Lorrie is one of the most celebrated living writers in the United States, drawing comparisons with Chekhov and Alice Munro. And she just released her novel, I Am Homeless if This is Not My Home. It's her first in 14 years, and it is hard to describe. Let's call it a magical realist love story, in which a man takes a road trip with the corpse of his dead ex-lover. Lorrie talks to Lilah about her writing process, and how she treads the line between hilarious and devastating.

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We love hearing from you! You can email us at [email protected]. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap.

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Links:

– Lorrie Moore’s novel is called I Am Homeless if This is Not My Home

– FT review: https://on.ft.com/44puMaB

– Lorrie’s best-known books include A Gate at the Stairs (2009), Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? (1994), and Self-Help (1989).

Special offers for Weekend listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial are here: http://ft.com/weekendpodcast.

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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The other week we had my colleague Matt Vela on the show, the FT Weekend magazine editor.
0:08.1	And during our conversation, he brought up a new novel coming out by one of his favorite authors.
0:13.0	He was really excited about it.
0:15.2	And it's like a mystery about a therapy clown and an assassin or something like that.
0:20.3	Cannot wait. I cannot wait.
0:21.1	I've never laughed out loud so much to the point of people around me worrying that maybe I was having a medical condition as I have when I read her previous books.
0:33.8	Matt is talking about the new novel from the writer Laurie Moore.
0:37.7	It's called I Am Homeless if this is not my home.
0:40.7	And if his description sounds wacky, it's wacky.
0:43.8	There is a therapy clown and an assassin.
0:46.3	And at its core, it's the story of a man taking a road trip
0:50.3	with the animated corpse of his former lover.
0:53.7	So it's a love story.
0:55.4	And it's also a meditation on loss and grief.
0:58.9	Lori herself has really been enjoying watching all of us try to describe this book.
1:04.1	Somebody in the press called it tender and gross.
1:10.7	Which I thought was funny.
1:12.6	Yeah.
1:12.9	Because I hadn't seen those two words put together before.
1:16.5	But I thought, yeah, that's probably right.
1:18.7	It's tender and gross.
1:20.1	Yeah, it is tender and gross.
	...

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