Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

I think it is an injustice to peg this book as "young adult" or written for teenagers. Simply because the beginning of the book involves a friendship between two girls does NOT mean the rest of the book stays in that era of the characters life. This book was refreshing and I actually laughed out loud on the second page; a real rarity for me. I've read her previous writings and also enjoyed them, but I passed this book along because I thought more people should know about it.

I adored this book. It is written with such understated humor and peppered with subtle, core-shaking moments. Read it in one sitting and was in tears by the end of the book.

I first read this book almost 10 years ago, when it first came out, and it is one of the books I keep returning to. Certain passages keep echoing back to me, they are so well written, poetic and apropos of certain hard-to-describe situations and states of mind. When I read some sentences they seemed to vibrate like musical chords. Want a "lite" summer beach read? Go elsewhere. This is a beautiful examination of the depth and complexity of teenage female friendships and feelings, how people change over time, and how life is both uplifting and disappointing. It's a wonderful book.

This book deals with 2 major issues pertaining to teenagers: teen pregnancy and the friendship that sort of withers away as the two close friends become mature individuals and start to value different things. Though the author describes these issues quite casually without overly burdening the readers or pressuring them, I really think that these issues are not something we should feel lightly about. The writer touches upon two crucial issues that all teenagers are so susceptible to and that's why I credit the author so highly. The most apparent issue discussed in the book is teen pregnancy: Sils, the main character's closest friend gets pregnant after dating an older man. Judging that the boyfriend, Mike, would not be responsible for the baby, Sils decides to get an abortion. At the time, because Sils and Berie, the main character, are only sixteen years old, they don't have time to think much about morality of their decision. The decisions are hasty, largely concerned with their budget and how to get the abortion without causing much trouble. The scene when she goes through the surgery brings forth a lot of emotion from the reader because Sils lies alone in the operation room, in a shabby facility. Going through these unbearable crisis as teenagers, Berie and Sils confirm their long friendship and bond. Because Sils was more developed and began dating boys at earlier age, Berie sometimes felt distant from Sils. When they sneaked out to dance parties, boys chased after Sils and Berie was left untouched until Sils rejected them. The devision that Berie and Sils went through because of popularity and appearances disappear as Sils learn that Berie is her true friend who can stay by her side when such difficulties surround her. This book is highly recommended to teenagers as well as adults. The value of friendship and also the danger of unsafe sex is critically described in this novel. The writer posses the magic of getting her messages across without physically shocking us with explicit scenes and language.

I can't believe this novel is so maligned! I've read a lot of Moore, most of her short stories and part of her "Anagrams" (I got so mixed up reading that one I had to put it down), and "Frog Hospital" is by far my favorite. It is such a delicate little book... As for plot: the book alternates from the protagonist's present state of middle age marital ambiguity (while in Paris, which is described as "Anne Frank in a dress") to the narrators memories of her childhood friend Sils. Sils is manifest throughout, the book is really an elegy for what they meant to each other as girls, before boys came and school changed and adult awkwardness set in. One of the main themes is the narrators attempt to connect with those around her, to both "split her voice" and join in with the voices of those around her in perfect synch. I'm sorry too ramble, but there is just something so indescribably beautiful about what Moore is trying to illustrate, that I think it goes beyond basic opinions that the book is "depressing." I myself don't like to read heavy solemn novels, I've read all the "Princess Diaries" and not a thing by Hemingway or Faulkner, etc. With Moore I feel like the writing overcomes the sorrow it catalogues, in that it makes it something beautiful ("Middlemarch" is similar, it is depressing but the writing makes it uplifting). The only negative I can think of is that I did find it hard initially to get into the book, but that may be because Moore is accustomed to the short story form. Anyway, please read this novel, and ignore the negative reviews: it is worth the time.