Last Night at the Lobster
A frank and funny yet emotionally resonant tale set within a vivid work day world, from the author of Emily, Alone and Henry, Himself--named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Entertainment Weekly
A Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Perched in the far corner of a run-down New England mall, the Red Lobster hasn't been making its numbers and headquarters has pulled the plug. But manager Manny DeLeon still needs to navigate a tricky last shift--just four days before Christmas and in the midst of a fierce blizzard--with a near-mutinous staff and the final onslaught of hungry retirees, lunatics, and holiday office parties. All the while, he's wondering how to handle the waitress he's still in love with, his pregnant girlfriend, and where to find the present that will make everything better.
Stewart O'Nan has been called "the bard of the working class," and Last Night at the Lobster is a poignant yet redemptive look at what a man does when he discovers that his best might not be good enough.
A Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Perched in the far corner of a run-down New England mall, the Red Lobster hasn't been making its numbers and headquarters has pulled the plug. But manager Manny DeLeon still needs to navigate a tricky last shift--just four days before Christmas and in the midst of a fierce blizzard--with a near-mutinous staff and the final onslaught of hungry retirees, lunatics, and holiday office parties. All the while, he's wondering how to handle the waitress he's still in love with, his pregnant girlfriend, and where to find the present that will make everything better.
Stewart O'Nan has been called "the bard of the working class," and Last Night at the Lobster is a poignant yet redemptive look at what a man does when he discovers that his best might not be good enough.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
O'Nan does not plead Manny Deleons'case... he just let's his action speak; the good, the bad, and the dumbstruck. A far more compelling, and empathetic "loser" than Bellow's Tommy Wilhelm of Seize the Day, and Exley's... well, Exley... of Fan's Note.
Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, among other franchises, are owned by the Darden Restaurants, Incorporated, who employ 185,000 employee's.
Next time you visit, be kind... and tip well.
Not because of this company, and their depressing brands, but because you might run across a Manny Deleon, or a Ty, an Eddie, a Roz, or a Jacquie.
Quotes:
"Jacquie's probably punched in and hung her coat up (puffy, quilted baby blue, with a white fake-fur collar, when they were together, she thought it was funny to hang hers right beside his, the two pressed together like a clue, though to everyone it must have seemed they were flaunting their happiness)".
"As he's finishing the crosshatched patch between the handicapped spots, another car turns in, a boat of an Olds with a rust-specked bumper- Mr. Kashynski, Manny's old gym teacher and coach from high school, retired now. He was ancient then, with a chapped ham of a face and a greased-down comb-over. Living twenty more years as a widower hasn't helped. He's a regular, with his own window booth. He'll order the broiled tilapia and a cup of coffee and quietly read the Herald, then leave Roz a three-dollar tip. He wheels the big '98 wide and noses into the first spot."
"Hey, Coach."
"From here in it's all checklist. He turns up the house lights, turns on the fake stained-glass lamps over the tables in all four sections. He powers up the sound system and dials the house music to the approved volume, and there's Bonnie Raitt singing "Something to Talk About" for the millionth time. Window by window he gently tugs the cords of the blinds and lets in the gray light of day."
"He remembers working beside her like this just this spring, how sharp and rich it was, carrying their secret; it could pop out in a deep kiss back by the coatrack, a tug on his hand out on the loading dock. Now the same silence between them carries a negatie charge, and a dull one, as if they've agreed to keep their emotions muffled, or pretend they have none. He keeps forgetting, they've declared a truce. He's supposed to be neutral."
"He uses the phone on the host stand and gets their answering machine, waits while the message plays, studying the muscular curve of the marlin's body, its hinged mouth and tiny teeth disappointing beneath the spear of a beak. Somewhere under the dust and shellac there must have been a real fish once. How long ago? He can almost see it swimming, thrashing in water blue as a swimming pool, the last minutes before it was hauled on board."
"Who,besides the people who actually work here, thinks about Red Lobster? And even they don't really think about it. Maybe Eddie, who seems happy to have a place to come every day, or Kendra, who doesn't always, but Manny can't imagine Rich or Leron wasting much thought on what's just a job. Maybe Manny didn't think enough of it either, all the years he took for granted that the Lobster would be here. In that way, he thinks, he's just like Eddie. And now it's too late."
"She turns, a cue for him to turn too. He wants to make a final declaration out here in the dark before they rejoion the others- "I love you" or something equally futile- but she's already headed for the door, escaping him again, as always."
"He needs to change the mood, and remembers the two of them in her low bed, motionless and sated after making love, lying there as if asleep.
That was the best time, even with the picture of Rodney in his cricket whites smiling down from the dresser. Silently he'd raise himself on one elbow to admire her, crane over and kiss her eyelids. It might seem like an illusion now, but he felt stronger then, smarter, thinner.
'You made me feel lucky,' he says."
Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, among other franchises, are owned by the Darden Restaurants, Incorporated, who employ 185,000 employee's.
Next time you visit, be kind... and tip well.
Not because of this company, and their depressing brands, but because you might run across a Manny Deleon, or a Ty, an Eddie, a Roz, or a Jacquie.
Quotes:
"Jacquie's probably punched in and hung her coat up (puffy, quilted baby blue, with a white fake-fur collar, when they were together, she thought it was funny to hang hers right beside his, the two pressed together like a clue, though to everyone it must have seemed they were flaunting their happiness)".
"As he's finishing the crosshatched patch between the handicapped spots, another car turns in, a boat of an Olds with a rust-specked bumper- Mr. Kashynski, Manny's old gym teacher and coach from high school, retired now. He was ancient then, with a chapped ham of a face and a greased-down comb-over. Living twenty more years as a widower hasn't helped. He's a regular, with his own window booth. He'll order the broiled tilapia and a cup of coffee and quietly read the Herald, then leave Roz a three-dollar tip. He wheels the big '98 wide and noses into the first spot."
"Hey, Coach."
"From here in it's all checklist. He turns up the house lights, turns on the fake stained-glass lamps over the tables in all four sections. He powers up the sound system and dials the house music to the approved volume, and there's Bonnie Raitt singing "Something to Talk About" for the millionth time. Window by window he gently tugs the cords of the blinds and lets in the gray light of day."
"He remembers working beside her like this just this spring, how sharp and rich it was, carrying their secret; it could pop out in a deep kiss back by the coatrack, a tug on his hand out on the loading dock. Now the same silence between them carries a negatie charge, and a dull one, as if they've agreed to keep their emotions muffled, or pretend they have none. He keeps forgetting, they've declared a truce. He's supposed to be neutral."
"He uses the phone on the host stand and gets their answering machine, waits while the message plays, studying the muscular curve of the marlin's body, its hinged mouth and tiny teeth disappointing beneath the spear of a beak. Somewhere under the dust and shellac there must have been a real fish once. How long ago? He can almost see it swimming, thrashing in water blue as a swimming pool, the last minutes before it was hauled on board."
"Who,besides the people who actually work here, thinks about Red Lobster? And even they don't really think about it. Maybe Eddie, who seems happy to have a place to come every day, or Kendra, who doesn't always, but Manny can't imagine Rich or Leron wasting much thought on what's just a job. Maybe Manny didn't think enough of it either, all the years he took for granted that the Lobster would be here. In that way, he thinks, he's just like Eddie. And now it's too late."
"She turns, a cue for him to turn too. He wants to make a final declaration out here in the dark before they rejoion the others- "I love you" or something equally futile- but she's already headed for the door, escaping him again, as always."
"He needs to change the mood, and remembers the two of them in her low bed, motionless and sated after making love, lying there as if asleep.
That was the best time, even with the picture of Rodney in his cricket whites smiling down from the dresser. Silently he'd raise himself on one elbow to admire her, crane over and kiss her eyelids. It might seem like an illusion now, but he felt stronger then, smarter, thinner.
'You made me feel lucky,' he says."
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.