Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? | 1994 | Lorrie Moore | Buy |
| 2 | Vissi d’Arte | 2014 | Lorrie Moore | Buy |
| 3 | Real Estate | 2016 | Lorrie Moore | Buy |
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? (1994) is often grouped with Moore’s novels but is better understood as a short novel or novella. It is a memory piece, recalling a teenage summer friendship with the brevity and emotional compression that characterizes Moore’s best work. The title, drawn from a game the two girls played as children, captures the mixture of whimsy and loss that runs through the book.
Vissi d’Arte (2014) and Real Estate (2016) are shorter still — novellas that show Moore working at her most compressed and lyrical. Both share the preoccupation with loss and the small humiliations of contemporary American life that runs through all her fiction.