With its publication in 2014, Bark became Lorrie Moore’s first all-new collection of short stories since her highly regarded Birds of America appeared in 1998. Among the plaudits which this volume earned were short-list nominations for two prestigious literary awards: the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the Story Prize.
The book features eight stories by Moore which, perhaps surprisingly, are not all about either dogs or trees. In fact, the subjects of the tales cover a broad range of topics and situations that touch upon, among other things, the consequences of the 9/11 attacks, the consequences of divorce, the consequence of teaming up with a lesser talent than yourself, and the consequence of death.
In comparison to the almost universal raves that met the release of Birds of America, critical reception for Bark was far more tempered yet also being, in an odd way, nearly universal. Few reviewers seemed to be completely overwhelmed by every one of the stories, but many still found the collection as a whole worthy of high praise. The greater majority of positive reviews, however, tended to single out individual stories for high praise while moderating their reaction to others. What binds each of these groups to each other is that regardless of whether the volume as a whole viewed as a success or just certain stories, nearly every major review seemed to single out “Debarking” (the opening story) and “Wings” as unquestionable highlights which rise far and above the other six tales.
